The opinion that “many more Jews could be rescued even at this late day if the British and American officials entrusted with framing the refugee policy had a better understanding of the problems confronting the Jewish people, and more concern with them,” is expressed in an analysis of the British and American official documents of the Bermuda Conference, prepared by Ilja Dijouri for the Jewish Scientific Institute.
“It is true that there are different ways of looking at the matter,” Mr. Dijour writes. “It may be held that at present the only hope for the Jews is the coming victory of the United Nations, when, perhaps, practically no Jews will be left in the Nazi-dominated countries.”
The United States did not absorb the full quota of refugees possible under the law, the expert further declares. On the basis of the annual reports issued by the Commissioner General of Immigration and by the Attorney General of the United States, Mr. Dijour argues that under the fixed annual immigration quota, more than 1,500,000 immigrants could have entered the United States during the years 1933-1942, but not more than 453,205 entered. Of these, only 291,112 came from Europe, including 243,420 from the Axis-countries.
Mr. Dijour reveals that during the ten years since Hitler came to power, only 163,423 Jews were admitted to the United States, half of them since 1939. He calls upon the officials of the British and American Governments to refrain from attempting to conceal the fact that Nazism has been a greater catastrophe to the Jews “than to any other group,” and to cease publishing “long documents heavy with statistical data, to create the impression that something tangible is actually being done.”
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.
