A three-point memorandum defining the German position on the Jewish emigration question and establishing a basis for an orderly exodus of German Jewry over a stipulated period of years has been brought from Berlin by Director George Rublee of the Intergovernmental Refugee Committee and will be communicated to all members of the committee, it was learned today.
The memorandum, which drops the export guarantee and the international loan provisions of the original Schacht plan, would, if put into effect, go far to eliminate “panic emigration” from the Reich and permit an orderly, systematic emigration and resettlement program. The plan covers the following points:
1. It establishes the conditions of emigration, providing for a fixed number annually, which is less than the 100,000 figure envisaged by the Evian body. All Jewish emigration would be under the direction of a Reich central Jewish emigration office under the direct control of Field Marshal Hermann Goering, thus taking the question out of the hands of Nazi district leaders, local authorities and police. It is stressed that the memorandum entails no change in the Nazi anti-Jewish policy, since the Nazis are determined that all Jews must leave within the stipulated time; the difference is that hence-forth control of emigration will be in the hands of a central, responsible authority.
2. The memorandum establishes the conditions under which Jews who are unable to emigrate and others who must await their turn may live in the Reich. It is understood that this point contains assurances against establishment of a ghetto and similar measures.
3. Some arrangements are made for the transfer of property, but the general question of Jewish capital transfer is left open. Arrangements covered in the memorandum do not go so far as to provide emigres with sufficient funds for emigration and resettlement.
Carrying out the program on the scale envisaged by the memorandum will require very extensive financing, considerably in excess of present funds available to private organizations and voluntary contributions such as the Baldwin Refugee Fund. Officials of the Intergovernmental Refugee Bureau are of the opinion that a large international loan will be required to raise funds for the resettlement of the refugees. This loan, of course, would be entirely different from that proposed by Dr. Schacht, since it would have no connection whatever with the Reich.
Mr. Rublee will report to Lord Winterton, chairman of the committee, on Monday. The plan will then be discussed at a meeting of the committee’s directorate on Feb. 12 and at a plenary session of the committee the following day, Mr. Rublee may return to Berlin afterward to inform the Reich of the extent to which the committee members are willing to cooperate in the program.
Meanwhile, it is understood that the bureau’s negotiations with the Dominican Republic on settlement of many refugees are progressing rapidly.
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.
