The League of Nations and the Refugees From Nazi Germany : James G. McDonald and Hitler's Victims

## Th e League of Nations and the Refugees from Nazi Germany Th ose who called for intervention to aid the refugees from Nazism recalled the League's achievements in the face of the refugee crises that emerged aft er the First World War. Th e measures that the League had adopted for the legal protection of refugees from the Soviet Union and the newly independent states of the Middle East signifi ed the great impact it could have on international aff airs. Its achievements of the 1920s were found in the humanitarian responsibilities it assumed, one major part of which was the new international refugee regime that it was creating. But these ideals did not endure. By 1933, the world seemed exhausted -by economic depression, a resurgent nationalism, the drift towards political extremes, the breakdown of the spirit of international cooperation which the peace settlement and the League of Nations had fostered and, fi nally, the seemingly endless fl ow of exiles, the stateless and the unwanted, all seeking refuge from homelands in dramatic change and turmoil. Th e League, in short, refused to assume responsibility for the refugees from Germany. Th is was in part because it was already moving away from involving itself in the seemingly endless problem of refugees of all backgrounds. It was also because important high-ranking offi cials believed that if it had assumed this responsibility it would have alienated Germany from the League -this creation of the hated Treaty of Versailles -and would therefore have given the new Nazi regime grounds to accuse it of political interference in its domestic aff airs. Th e League therefore chose to appease this agent of persecution rather than to assist its victims. One measure of its failure was the extent to which expressions of post-war idealism reappeared in the discourses about and debates within the League. By restating the principles that gave the League its purpose in the 1920s, many hoped to revitalize its humanitarian culture and to give it a renewed purpose in world aff airs. Th ese expressions of idealism may have been rhetorically signifi cant, but were eff ectively meaningless, however. Th e appointment of a League of Nations High Commissioner for the Refugees from Germany in October 1933 was one expression of this past idealism. It was created in the belief that it could continue the successes of the League's work for refugees, but without the political, legal, fi nancial and administrative backing of the League, it had little authority, and therefore had little impact on the task it was set. Without the authority or resources of the League behind it, it had to fi nd its own way and was left to sink or swim, while it tried as best it could to fi nd a place for the refugees in countries that did not want them. \*\*\* Refugees, for the most part Jews but also communists and socialists, democrats and pacifi sts and other anti-Nazis, began to leave Germany on Hitler's assumption of the Chancellorship in January 1933. More followed, in greater numbers, aft er the Enabling Act of 24 March paved the way for Nazi single party rule and Hitler's dictatorship. Persecuted in their daily lives and stripped of positions in German education, the civil service and culture, many thousands of Jews sought to fl ee the country. Sought to fl ee, that is, as it was not always possible for them to do so. Foreign consulates in the major German cities faced long queues as Germans applied for visas to leave immediately for France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Britain and the United States. Intellectuals and scientists dismissed from their university posts were in high demand abroad, and those with the means to live independently presented few problems. Initially, those seeking to fl ee were favoured generously with the grant of visas, but as the Nazis' hold on power grew more certain, the anti-Jewish and anti-Left ist reactions showed no sign of moderation. As the rush to leave became more urgent, governments grew more reluctant to admit them. Concerned about exposing their borders to communist infi ltration, and giving unwelcome foreign workers and professionals access to labour markets that were under the strain of economic depression, governments instructed their consuls to be more circumspect in granting visas, and to be prepared to say 'no' more oft en. Th ose who could aff ord to wait in the lengthening queues had less to fear from the Nazis than others, for whom any wait was simply too much. Th ey fl ed without authorization and entered one of Germany's neighbours illegally. Others could not provide the necessary documents or demonstrate suffi cient wealth to support themselves and their families. Th ey had the choice of remaining behind or seeking clandestine passage. A good part of the refugee problem in the countries on Germany's borders was the high numbers of illegal immigrants scrounging a living as best they could. Th e narratives of victimhood in exile lend themselves to narratives of fl ight, escape, survival and even doom, in the longer history of the Holocaust. Th e plight of refugees is therefore a history oft en retold through the optic of the tragedy of Europe's Jews during the Second World War. Th is history chooses another optic, that of its 'present' in the early 1930s. It aims to explain the failures of this history through the events of the time and to avoid the distortions of the historian's own present. It aims to examine why things turned out the way they did by examining events in their own contexts, and not through our knowledge what what happened aft er September 1939. By October 1933, the impact of the refugees from Germany was so great that the League of Nations decided to appoint a High Commissioner to coordinate the eff orts for refugee relief and resettlement. Th is gave hope that a solution was 4 Th e League of Nations and the Refugees from Nazi Germany possible -indeed, the mandate of the High Commission assumed that it would work towards a solution -and that the refugees from Germany could be resettled peaceably in other countries. Th ere was a belief that Germany might be embarrassed by world opinion of it race policies and that it could be persuaded to moderate them and fall in behind international standards of humanitarian behaviour towards its citizens. Th e optic of this historical present is off ered by the personal papers and diaries of James G. McDonald, the man selected to lead the rather awkwardly named High Commissioner for the Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming from Germany. He was a direct witness to, and a key participant in, the transition from these hopes to the weary despair of his letter of resignation in December 1935. McDonald had an academic background in history and international relations from Indiana and Harvard universities. He had carved out an important public profi le for himself in contemporary politics as president of the American Foreign Policy Association since 1919. He came to the notice of Europeans for his interest in German aff airs, twice visiting Europe and Berlin to see for himself the unfolding of the National Socialist revolution of 1932 and 1933. He impressed many during his second visit in early 1933 when he represented world opprobrium towards the persecution of the Jews directly to the leaders of the Nazi Party. His close personal and professional associations with leading American Jews and their philanthropic organizations made him an attractive nomination for the League of Nations, which then refused to back its own creation with fi nancial and administrative support. McDonald served as High Commissioner until his resignation on 31 December 1935 with little to show for his eff orts, in despair, disappointment, frustration and sheer exhaustion over wrestling with international intransigence in the face of the refugees and Nazi barbarity towards its citizens. 2 Why had it come to this in just twenty-fi ve months? Th ere was no major initiative for refugee assistance or resettlement at this time and the refugee crisis seemed even worse at the end of 1935 than it was in 1933. Historians point to the intransigence of governments when faced with the burdens that refugees imposed on them in the depths of worldwide economic depression and an uncertain international political climate. Governments could not ensure employment for their own citizens and bitterly resented the imposition of foreign workers on their labour markets. Moreover, the refugees were mostly Jews and communists. Either way, they upset their delicate social harmonies. Anti-Semitism spread, aff ecting local Jewish communities in the backlash against the Jewish refugees, and German communists could only be a political danger, just as they were portrayed in Germany itself. Historians also point to fl aws in the Th e League of Nations and the Refugees from Nazi Germany Denationalization decrees in the Soviet Union in 1921 and Turkey in 1924 left the vast majority of the 'Nansen' refugees without nationality. Th ey were an anomaly in international law. Th eir classifi cation as refugees under the Intergovernmental Arrangements gave them access to emigration opportunities and welfare services to assist them in their integration and their dealings with national governments. Fridtjof Nansen was recognized as a statesman of great standing because of his success in overseeing the resettlement of so many thousands, perhaps millions, of refugees and stateless people. Nansen died in 1930 and his High Commission was absorbed into the League of Nations Secretariat as the Nansen International Offi ce for Refugees. It was with these successes in mind that member states moved in the League of Nations in 1933 to create the High Commission for the Refugees from Nazi Germany. Th e legacy of Nansen was very real, and his shadow fell over all talks on the refugee problem in the League. A new High Commissioner would undoubtedly be compared to him, but men of such stature were rare. 6 No prospective candidate stood out. Th e League of Nations Council decided to turn to the American, James McDonald, believing that he might draw the United States more closely into European aff airs, and that he would be able to tap into the vast fi nancial resources of America's Jewish community. McDonald was forty-seven years of age at the time of his appointment as High Commissioner. He was born in Ohio on 29 November 1886, had studied at Indiana University, obtaining his Bachelor of Arts in 1908 and his Master of Arts in 1910 in history, political science and international relations. His thesis was on the subject of diplomacy and the Spanish-American War. This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. Greg Burgess's important new study explores the short life of the High Commission for Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming from Germany, from its creation by the League of Nations in October 1933 to the resignation of High Commissioner, James G. McDonald, in December 1935. The book relates the history of the first stage of refugees from Germany through the prism of McDonald and the High Commission. It analyses the factors that shaped the Commission's formation, the undertakings the Commission embarked upon and its eventual failure owing to external complications. The League of Nations and the Refugees from Nazi Germany argues that, in spite of the Commission's failure, the refugees from Nazi Germany and the High Commission's work mark a turn in conceptions of international humanitarian responsibilities when a state defies standards of proper behaviour towards its citizens. From this point on, it was no longer considered sufficient or acceptable for states to respect the sovereign rights of another if the rights of citizens were being violated. Greg Burgess discusses this idea, amongst others, in detail as part of what is a crucial volume for all scholars and students of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and modern Jewish history. Umfang und Inhalt: "Greg Burgess's important new study explores the short life of the High Commission for Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming from Germany, from its creation by the League of Nations in October 1933 to the resignation of High Commissioner, James G. McDonald, in December 1935. The book relates the history of the first stage of refugees from Germany through the prism of McDonald and the High Commission. It analyses the factors that shaped the Commission's formation, the undertakings the Commission embarked upon and its eventual failure owing to external complications. The League of Nations and the Refugees from Nazi Germany argues that, in spite of the Commission's failure, the refugees from Nazi Germany and the High Commission's work mark a turn in conceptions of international humanitarian responsibilities when a state defies standards of proper behaviour towards its citizens. From this point on, it was no longer considered sufficient or acceptable for states to respect the sovereign rights of another if the rights of citizens were being violated. Greg Burgess discusses this idea, amongst others, in detail as part of what is a crucial volume for all scholars and students of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and modern Jewish history "--(Provided by publisher.) Greg Burgess's important new study explores the short life of the High Commission for Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming from Germany, from its creation by the League of Nations in October 1933 to the resignation of High Commissioner, James G. McDonald, in December 1935.

The book relates the history of the first stage of refugees from Germany through the prism of McDonald and the High Commission. It analyses the factors that shaped the Commission's formation, the undertakings the Commission embarked upon and its eventual failure owing to external complications.

The League of Nations and the Refugees from Nazi Germany argues that, in spite of the Commission's failure, the refugees from Nazi Germany and the High Commission's work mark a turn in conceptions of international humanitarian responsibilities when a state defies standards of proper behaviour towards its citizens. From this point on, it was no longer considered sufficient or acceptable for states to respect the sovereign rights of another if the rights of citizens were being violated. Greg Burgess discusses this idea, amongst others, in detail as part of what is a crucial volume for all scholars and students of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and modern Jewish history. Scope and content: "Greg Burgess's important new study explores the short life of the High Commission for Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming from Germany, from its creation by the League of Nations in October 1933 to the resignation of High Commissioner, James G. McDonald, in December 1935. The book relates the history of the first stage of refugees from Germany through the prism of McDonald and the High Commission. It analyses the factors that shaped the Commission's formation, the undertakings the Commission embarked upon and its eventual failure owing to external complications. The League of Nations and the Refugees from Nazi Germany argues that, in spite of the Commission's failure, the refugees from Nazi Germany and the High Commission's work mark a turn in conceptions of international humanitarian responsibilities when a state defies standards of proper behaviour towards its citizens. From this point on, it was no longer considered sufficient or acceptable for states to respect the sovereign rights of another if the rights of citizens were being violated. Greg Burgess discusses this idea, amongst others, in detail as part of what is a crucial volume for all scholars and students of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and modern Jewish history " Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 List of Illustrations 9 List of Tables 11 List of Abbreviations 13 Introduction 17 1. The Refugees from Nazism, 1933 29 2. James G. McDonald in Berlin and Geneva 45 3. The High Commissioner for Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming from Germany 63 4. The Lausanne Office, December 1933 81 5. Pricking Their Conscience: Winter 1933–3 4 93 6. A Peaceable and Just Solution 105 7. Plans and Illusions 117 8. Reckoning: Winter 1934– 35 133 9. Mission to South America 143 10. Disillusion: Spring and Summer 1935 151 11. Reform and Resignation 165 12. Postscript 177 Conclusion 185 Notes 195 Bibliography 223 Index 233