Jewish Trail of Tears II: Children Refugee Bills of 1939 and 1940 Dennis Ross Laffer University of South Florida, [email protected]
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University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School March 2018 Jewish Trail of Tears II: Children Refugee Bills of 1939 and 1940 Dennis Ross Laffer University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the European History Commons, and the United States History Commons Scholar Commons Citation Laffer, Dennis Ross, "Jewish Trail of Tears II: Children Refugee Bills of 1939 and 1940" (2018). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7186 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Jewish Trail of Tears II Children Refugee Bills of 1939 and 1940 by Dennis R. Laffer, M.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: John Belohlavek, Ph.D. Graydon Tunstall, Ph.D. Kees Boterbloem, Ph.D. Robert I. Weiner, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 29, 2018 Keywords: Intergovernmental Committee, refugees, children, quota, Wagner-Rogers Bill, Hennings Bill. Copyright © 2018, Dennis R. Laffer, M.D. DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to Ellen, my wife of almost thirty-two years, whose love, encouragement, and strength enabled my long journey to reach this milestone in my life. The realization of a Doctorate in history would not have occurred without her boundless patience, understanding, and companionship, and for this I will always be profoundly grateful. I also dedicate this work to my daughters, Lauren Abigail and Jenny Elizabeth, for their love, exuberance, and heartfelt support. I hope that I have set an example for them that it is possible, even in the latter years of my seventh decade, to attain new levels of accomplishment. My greatest achievement remains, however, the family with which I am blessed. Finally, I dedicate this work to the victims of Nazi and modern day persecution whose lives might have been saved, had the nations of the world shown greater compassion and resoluteness in confronting despotism and evil. The lessons of the Holocaust era continue to resonate through time and, hopefully, they will finally be learned. I laud those exceptional individuals and institutions, the upstanders that possessed the courage to speak out against tyranny and offer relief and refuge to the innocent victims of man’s hatred against his fellow man. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The late tennis star Arthur Ashe once said “success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” Since childhood history has been a passion for me. I tend to remember dates in my life and that of my family due to their connection with historical events. My mother was born on December 16; the date the Battle of the Bulge began. My brother was born on June 25; the anniversary of the Battle of Little Bighorn. My wedding anniversary occurs on June 22; the day Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Perhaps, ironically, my birthday fell on March 12, thirteen years after the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Hitler. Events that stemmed from that act formed the basis of my Master thesis and now my Doctoral dissertation. My personal odyssey through the academic world of history was initiated and influenced by a number of people and institutions, without whom I could not have reached this milestone. I want to mention Dr. Donald M. Goldstein, Richard Frank, the National Museum of the Pacific War, and the Florida Holocaust Museum. I particularly want to thank Dr. Mary Johnson of Facing History and Ourselves for encouraging me to focus attention on the Evian Conference of 1938 and to tell its story. This dissertation was the natural outgrowth of that research. I hope that this work continues to warrant her confidence. My journey through the Master’s and Doctoral program would not have been possible without the kindness, support, expertise, guidance and incredible patience of Drs. John Belohlavek, Graydon Tunstall, Kees Boterbloem, and Robert I Weiner. I hope that this dissertation warrants their confidence and a sharing of the pride of ownership. I also want to acknowledge Lisa Thieryung, whose adroit skillfulness and calmness helped guide me through the steps of formatting and submitting this work. Without the help of these individuals and many others this excursion into the past could never have been undertaken. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: The Anschluss and the Road to Evian ...........................................................8 Chapter Two: Kristallnacht and the Freedom Path to the United Kingdom .....................22 Chapter Three: The Wagner-Rogers Bill: A Path to Nowhere .........................................48 Chapter Four: The Press and the Wagner-Rogers Bill ......................................................66 Chapter Five: The Proponents ..........................................................................................79 Chapter Six: The Opponents ...........................................................................................105 Chapter Seven: Reconsideration: Return to the Final Roadblock the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization ...................................................129 Chapter Eight: Failure of the Wagner-Rogers Bill .........................................................152 Chapter Nine: The Hennings Bill: The Road to Nowhere ..............................................174 Chapter Ten: Appraisals of Opportunities Lost ..............................................................196 Conclusion: A Common Thread .....................................................................................240 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................247 Primary Sources ...................................................................................................247 Secondary Sources ...............................................................................................258 Appendices .......................................................................................................................278 Appendix A: Admissions Under Three Variations of Annual Quota System ....279 Appendix B: Total German Immigration into U.S. by Year...............................280 Appendix C: Clerical Petition to President Roosevelt with List of Signatories .281 Appendix D: Text of S.J. Res. 64 and H.J. 165 and 168, 76th Congress, 1st Session: Joint Resolution To authorize the admission into the United States of a limited number of German refugee Children ...............................283 Appendix E: List of Contributors to Plan for the Care of German Refugee i Children...........................................................................................................284 Appendix F: Composition of House and Senate Immigration Committees and Subcommittees .........................................................................................285 Appendix G: List of Senators For, Uncertain or Against Wagner-Rodgers Bill based on March 24, 1939 Polling Data ...........................................................287 Appendix H: List of Officers of Allied Patriotic Societies .................................289 Appendix I: Committee on Immigration and Naturalization Hennings Bill.......290 Appendix J: Text of Hennings Bill .....................................................................291 About the Author ................................................................................................... End Page ii ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation was to compare and contrast the origins, formulation, course, and outcome of three major American immigration schemes to provide haven for German Jewish and non-Aryan refugees and British children: The Intergovernmental Committee for Political Refugees (better known as the Evian Conference), and particularly the German Refugee Children’s Bill (also labeled as the Wagner-Rogers Bill) and the Hennings Bill. The Evian Conference, called for by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the aftermath of the Anschluss, the German annexation of Austria, sought to create a global solution to the problem of forced migration.1 The Wagner-Rogers Bill, influenced by the November 1938 nationwide pogrom of Kristallnacht and the British Kindertransport, a project to resettle Jewish and Christian children from the Reich into the United Kingdom, attempted, by legislative means, to allow the entry of ten thousand children outside of the annual German and Austrian quotas in 1939 and 1940. The Henning Bill endeavored to rescue British children from the perils of aerial warfare in 1940. This measure necessitated the amendment of the Neutrality Act of 1939, which prohibited American shipping from entering war zones. It has been argued that the Evian Conference was, at its core, a publicity ploy, designed to express sympathy for persecuted German