George Backer, American Jewish leader is one of three advisors to the United States delegation to the Anglo-American Refugee Conference which opens here tomorrow. The other two advisors are George Warren, executive secretary of the President’s Advisory Committee on Refugees and Robert Clark Alexander, assistant chief of the State Department’s Visa Division. (Mr. Backer is vice-president of the Joint Distribution Committee; a member of the executive committee of the American Jewish Committee and its overseas committee; president of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency; member of the board of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, and president of the American ORT.)
Maintenance of refugees in neutral countries and asylum for them in other friendly nations until the termination of the war will be the two chief points of discussion at the conference, it was indicated by the American delegation.
At a pre-conference meeting with the press, Prof. Harold W. Dodds, president of Princeton University, who heads the American delegation, stated that the agenda of the parley would be based on the contents of the note sent by Secretary of State Cordell Hull to the British Government on March 3. This note stressed the necessity of securing inter-governmental collaboration in solving the refugee problem and suggested the maintenance of the refugees in neutral nations, financial guarantees to those nations providing havens and also guarantees that the refugees would be repatriated after the war. It also proposed that the possibility of securing asylums in “countries other than neutral” be explored together with the availability of shipping.
The American delegates expressed doubts that it would be possible to send food to persecuted persons in Axis-occupied Europe, if it develops that it is impossible to secure their emigration. Congressman Sol Bloom, one of the delegates, pointed out that Congress appropriated $50,000,000 two years ago for that purpose, but that it had been found impossible to secure guarantees that the food would not be diverted to Nazi uses. He added that there is “no doubt that some of the food sent to Greece has been taken by the Germans.” It was indicated that the food question was a military one and would have to be decided by the military authorities. Prof. Dodds also expressed doubt that any appeal to Germany either on feeding persons within its territories or on obtaining their release could accomplish anything.
Answering criticism appearing in the newspaper PM to the effect that the conference would not be able to make any binding decisions, the U.S. delegation emphasized that only two nations are represented at Bermuda while there is in existence an Intergovernmental Refugee Committee which represents 18 nations, and which is consequently more entitled to make any final decisions.
It was announced today that the conference will be officially opened tomorrow by Acting Governor Murphy of Bermuda. This session will be open to the press, although subsequent sessions will be held in camera. The third member of the U.S. delegation, Senator Soott Lucas, is expected here for the opening.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
