The Evian Conference of 1938 and the Jewish Refugee Crisis - Hardcover

by Paul R. Bartrop (Author)

​Provides the first comprehensive examination of the Evian Conference of July 1938Addresses a gap in the historiography of the Holocaust
Draws upon previously untapped archival material from the UK, Australia, Canada, and the United States

Back Jacket

This book provides the first dedicated study of the Evian Conference of July 1938, an international initiative called by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. While on the surface the conference appeared as an attempt to alleviate the distress faced by Jews being forced out of Germany and Austria, in reality it only served to demonstrate that the nations of the world were not willing to accept Jews as refugees. Since the Holocaust, a generally-held assumption has been that the Evian Conference represented a lost opportunity to save Germany's Jews, and that the conference failed to rescue the Jews of Europe. In this study, Paul Bartrop argues that in fact it did not fail when measured against the original reasons for which it was called. Exposing many of the myths surrounding the meeting, this work addresses a glaring lacuna in the literature of the Holocaust, and places the so-called 'failure' of the Evian Conference into its proper context.

Author Biography

Paul R. Bartrop is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, USA. He is an award-winning author, co-author, editor and co-editor of several major works in the field of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, as well as author of numerous scholarly articles.