Language:
English
Year of publication:
2010
Titel der Quelle:
Refugees from Nazi Germany and the Liberal European States
Angaben zur Quelle:
(2010) 57-81
Keywords:
Jews Persecutions 1933-1939
;
History
;
Antisemitism History 20th century
;
Jewish refugees History 20th century
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
France Emigration and immigration 20th century
;
Government policy
;
History
Abstract:
At the time of the Nazi takeover in Germany, France's refugee policy was very liberal; it did not demand entry visas from German refugees. Almost half of all the refugees who fled in 1933, ca. 25,000, went to France; ca. 85% of them were Jews. However, in October 1933, due to economic considerations, the liberal visa provisions were abrogated, and restrictions were imposed on those refugees already in France. Examination of France's refugee policy in the 1930s shows that there was not a steady progression toward harsher policies; rather, the policy fluctuated between periods of intense crackdowns, such as 1934-35 and 1938-39, and periods of liberalization, such as the Popular Front era and the period between the "Kristallnacht" pogrom and the outbreak of World War II. Growing antisemitism, not only in the expanding Reich but also in Eastern Europe and Italy, drove tens of thousands of Jews to France. Many of the refugees were illegal, and the official policies toward them in the late 1930s were imprudent: by declaring that all refugees of that period are illegal, the administration created a huge population of clandestine refugees. This fact then caused the government to grant them some sort of provisional asylum. After the war broke out, most of the refugees were interned or placed under strict police surveillance.
Note:
An abridged version appeared in "Legacy; Journal of the International School for Holocaust Studies" 6 (2013) 2-13, and in Hebrew in
,
"בשביל הזיכרון" 13 (תשעג) 2-11
URL:
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