France
(Europe)

France also felt the effects of the Great Depression, creating political turmoil. There was resistance to immigration, but the country did receive 150,000 Jews by the end of the decade. Most were not able to receive French citizenship though.

In 1938 the Evian Conference was held in France to address the Jewish refugee issue. However, apart from the Dominican Republic, all the other 31 countries in attendance refused to allow the entrance of more Jewish refugees.

Economy and Politics

At the beginning of the Great Depression of 1929 France seemed immune to the economic crisis that ravaged Europe. However, by 1931 the country also succumbed to the severe effects of the Great Depression. This caused a political crisis, which opened the way for left-wing parties to take control of the government.

The rise of Adolf Hitler to power in Germany in 1933 had implications beyond immigration in France. Right wing movements grew in size and activity in the country. This was countered by unity of all members of the French left, including communists. The left pulling together helped establish the Popular Front in 1935. But it soon crumbled. At the same time, French foreign policy had to deal with the effects of Nazi Germany’s advances. France was isolated, and its resolve showed signs of weakness.

Immigration and Antisemitism

At this time France experienced political turmoil and high unemployment. There were growing objections to immigrants because they amounted to an increase to the workforce, and the country was already having a tough time with so many citizens out of work. Some people also feared that Jewish immigration in particular would eventually pull France into yet another war. The thought was that those who arrived in the country might try to seek retribution against Nazi Germany for its actions against Jews. Still, by the end of the 1930s around 150,000 new Jewish immigrants were admitted into France. Many were fleeing Nazi Germany, and immigrated to France from Poland illegally.

The majority of these immigrants never received French citizenship, even after years of living in France. Most of the Jewish immigrants who succeeded in obtaining citizenship had immigrated to France from Eastern Europe before the World War I.

Starting in 1936, Leon Blum was the Socialist French premier for a year. This marked the first time that a French premier was of Jewish origin. His election ultimately served to increase antisemitism in France, however.

Evian Conference

In July 1938, U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt organized a conference in the French resort town of Evian. The conference was designed to address the issue of Jewish refugees with delegates from 32 countries. The main goal was to facilitate the emigration of refugees from Germany and Austria. A second goal was to create an international organization that would work to find solution to the refugee problem. No country would be forced to change its immigration policies. Instead, the idea was to have countries volunteer to make such changes. The delegates of most countries expressed sympathy for the refugees. Yet only the Dominican Republic agreed to receive them. The others offered only condolences. The United States, Great Britain and France failed to offer any meaningful help. Many other countries in Europe, Latin America, North America, and Australia and New Zealand copied this underwhelming approach.

The only outcome of the conference was the creation of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (ICR). That organization was tasked with the responsibility of approaching "the governments of the countries of refuge with a view to developing opportunities for permanent settlement." It was also supposed to get Germany’s cooperation in creating "conditions of orderly emigration." But the ICR received little authority, and almost no funds or other support from its member nations. In the end it achieved next to nothing and made no real difference.