Progress is expected to be made in the now-deadlocked problem of transferring emigrants’ capital with the projected visit to Berlin of George Rublee, director of the Intergovernmental Bureau.
According to figures of the Hilfsverein Der Juden in Deutschland, Jewish emigration from the Old Reich in the first half of this year was 20 per cent greater than in the corresponding period of 1937, due to the altreu transfer scheme. (The Altreu financed emigration of poor Jews under an arrangement whereby the government granted 1,500,000 Marks in foreign exchange for 3,000,000 Marks collected.)
Since July, however, the transfer has lapsed, land after land has shut its gates and emigration prospects have become extremely discouraging. The government is so far not inclined to renew the Altreu fund by a further grant of foreign exchange.
Some quarters ascribe the curtailment of emigration possibilities since the Evian conference to the introduction a “preparatory phase” in the emigration problem, pointing out that before the conference most nations had not clearly defined their immigration policies, receiving hundreds of refugees on humanitarian grounds, while now the Governments are preparing laws for selective immigration and meanwhile are shutting their gates.
The Hilfsverein figures for the first six months do not indicate a change in the direction of the flow, except an increase for Colombia and a few other countries resulting from the Altreu fund.
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.
