Why Didn’t They Just Leave?

Technology & Persecution All governments gather info on their citizens Census, tax records, drivers’ license, birth certificates, property transfers As early as 1934 Nazi Gov. compiled info on “social deviants” Jews, Gypsies, ethnic foreigners, people suffering from genetic diseases, Freemasons

“Enemies of the State” Jews were the primary target, but not the only ones Political opponents: communists, socialists, liberals, trade unionists, clergy Gypsies: Racially undesirable, did not conform to society, nomadic Jehovah’s Witnesses: refusal to army enlistment, nonparticipation in air-raid drills, refused to give up their meetings, wouldn’t swear oath to anyone but God Homosexuals: exclusively aimed at males, threat to “Aryan” breeding policy Freemasons: secret fraternal order, seen as a cover for a Jewish conspiracy to destroy Christianity

Documentation Requirements to leave Germany: had to relinquish their titles to homes and businesses heavy emigration taxes German authorities restricted how much money could be transferred abroad from German banks, and allowed each passenger to take only ten reichsmarks (about US $4) out of the country.. Documents required to obtain a Visa link

Anschluss March 12, 1938 German troops peacefully occupied Austria, added it into the Reich Considered a reunification Antisemitism already high in Austria 90% of the Austrian Jews lived in Vienna Jews were attacked on the street, apartments looted, forced to clean sidewalks & gutters

By summer 1939 21,000 Jewish businesses were closed & 5,000 transferred to non- Jewish ownership By outbreak of war in September 1939, 75% of Austrian Jews had left

Lebenstaum Living space for the members of the Reich March 1939 - Annexation of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia

Journey of the St Louis May 13, 1939 -937 passengers aboard the St Louis luxury liner left Germany for Cuba Video on http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_nm.p hp?MediaId=3544 Jewish Refugees link

Why Didn’t Other Countries Step In? Evian Conference July 1938 Delegates from 32 countries and 39 private relief agencies met in Evian, France to deal with the international refugee crisis Called by President Roosevelt Hailed by American Jews Opponents to conference accused Roosevelt of forgetting about the depression in the US Each country professed their sympathy for the plight of the refugees, yet they also offered plausible excuses for declining to open their country’s doors

Evian Conference cont. Britain: small island with limited room US: political refuges (glossing over that most refuges were Jewish) Australia: “We don’t have a racial problem and we don’t want to import one” Canada: none was too many, but did take farmers Venezuela: reluctant to disturb the “demographic equilibrium” Dominican Republic: offer to receive 100,000 Jews Solved nothing…..no place for Jews to go

Germany’s response to Conference Hitler: “I can only hope that the other world which has such deep sympathy for these criminals (Jews) will at least be generous enough to convert this sympathy into practical aid. We on our part are ready to put all these criminals at the disposal of these countries, even on luxury ships” “Since in many countries it was recently regarded as wholly incomprehensible why Germany did not wish to preserve in its population an element like the Jews…..it appears astounding that countries seem in no way anxious to make use of these elements themselves now that the opportunity offers.”

Quotas 1939 also marked the first time the United States filled its combined German-Austrian quota (which now included annexed Czechoslovakia). However, this limit did not come close to meeting the demand; by the end of June 1939, 309,000 German, Austrian, and Czech Jews had applied for the 27,000 places available under the quota.

By September 1939, approximately 282,000 Jews had left Germany and 117,000 from annexed Austria. Of these, some 95,000 emigrated to the United States, 60,000 to Palestine, 40,000 to Great Britain, and about 75,000 to Central and South America, with the largest numbers entering Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Bolivia. More than 18,000 Jews from the German Reich were also able to find refuge in Shanghai, in Japanese-occupied China. At the end of 1939, about 202,000 Jews remained in Germany and 57,000 in annexed Austria, many of them elderly. By October 1941, when Jewish emigration was officially forbidden, the number of Jews in Germany had declined to 163,000. The vast majority of those Jews still in Germany were murdered in Nazi camps and ghettos during the Holocaust.