Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, the League of Nations’ High Commissioner for Russian refugees sees no hope for the admission at the present time of some 1750 Jewish refugees, mostly in Roumania, who are in possession of the United States visas, but who are chargeable to the Russian quota.
This statement is contained in a letter from Dr. Nansen to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, in which he says, in part:
“It is quite true that I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Motzkin in London and that I told him at that time that I would endeavor to do whatever was possible in the question with the American Government.
“I was in Washington for several days, and after considering the matter at some length, I am very sorry to inform you that I believe it will be quite impossible for me to do anything further regarding the question. I was informed that the Secretary of Labor did have the right in exceptional cases to make special exemptions. There are, however, some 1750 refugees above the quota, who desire admission. All of these are in Europe at the present time. Under these circumstances, I am firmly convinced that no exception would be made through any efforts that I might put forward”.
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.
