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ABSTRACT
This article provides a detailed account of the British – American Bermuda Conference on Refugees, held in April 1943, and re-evaluates its effect on Jewish refugee organizations and the international migration regime. It argues, firstly, that the delegates’ inaction had a profound effect on Jewish organizations and their humanitarian efforts, and secondly, that the decision to revive the dormant Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees – a measure intended to cover for the failure to agree on any decisive rescue operation for European Jewry – provided the foundations for the international migration regime of the post-war era.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 As we argue in this article, the Bermuda Conference has not received the attention it unquestionably deserves. Scholars of Allied refugee policy have thus far paid the most attention to the conference. However, many facets remain in the dark, and a proper contextualization is still missing. The following works address the Bermuda Conference directly: Abella and Troper. None is Too Many; Bauer, Rethinking the Holocaust; Dwork and van Pelt. Flight from the Reich; Erbelding, Rescue Board; Feingold, Politics of Rescue; Friedman, Haven for the Oppressed; Kushner, Refugees in an Age of Genocide; Kushner, “The Western Allies and the Holocaust”; London, Whitehall and the Jews; Marrus, Die Unerwünschten; Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet; Musch, “Zwischen Bermuda und Palästina”; Newman, Nearly the New World; Packer, Britain and Rescue; Patt, “No Place for the Displaced”; Penkower, “The Bermuda Conference and its Aftermath”; Rass and Tames, “Negotiating the Aftermath of Forced Migration”; Schubert, Der Fleck auf Uncle Sams weißer Weste; Sompolinsky, Britain and the Holocaust; Taylor, Refugees in Twentieth-century Britain; Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews of Europe; Wyman, The Mock Conference: Bermuda; Wyman, The Abandonment of the Jews.
2 World Jewish Congress, “The Bermuda Conference on Refugees. Documents and Essays.”
3 See, for example, Newman, Nearly the New World, 236.
4 Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 159.
5 “The Bermuda Conference in 1943, on which so many hopes were set, when the extermination in Eastern Europe was already in high gear, was a great disappointment.” Grossmann, “The Final Solution,” 67.
6 Newman, Nearly the New World, 236.
7 Goldstein, quoted by Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 159.
8 Dickstein, quoted by Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 160.
9 Ibid.
10 Marrus, Die Unerwünschten, 326–327.
11 Marrus, Die Unerwünschten, 323. See also Kushner, Refugees, 200.
12 Rathbone, quoted by Newman, Nearly the New World, 238.
13 Newman, Nearly the New World, 236.
14 New Republic, quoted by Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 160.
15 Feingold, Politics of Rescue, 167.
16 Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews, 188–189.
17 Bauer, Jüdische Reaktionen, 106.
18 Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 152.
19 Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 159.
20 Newman, Nearly the New World, 240.
21 Newman, Nearly the New World, 240; United Nations: “Allied Declaration on the Persecution of Jews (December 17, 1942),”
22 Newman, Nearly the New World, 240; Kushner, Refugees, 199.
23 See The Jewish Telegraphic Agency wondering whether Bermuda “will become a by-word of indecision, compromise and deferred hope.” “London Press Silent on Bermuda Results; British Empire Can Absorb Million Jews.” The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 6, 1943. Also quoted by Newman, Nearly the New World, 236.
24 Abella and Troper, None is Too Many, 127;
25 Schubert, Der Fleck, 151–154; similar to Bajohr and Pohl, Der Holocaust, 86–88 and Kushner, Refugees, 193, 195–196.
26 Schubert, Der Fleck, 154–155; see also Bajohr and Pohl, Der Holocaust, 88, 92–94 and Gerste, Roosevelt und Hitler, 220.
27 Schubert, Der Fleck, 155; Gerste, Roosevelt und Hitler, 219–220.
28 Feingold, The Politics of Rescue, 169f.
29 Schubert, Der Fleck, 155–172; similar to Wallance, “The World Jewish Congress during World War II,” 26–30.
30 Wyman, Abandonment, 61. Bauer also speaks of a turning point in Rethinking the Holocaust, 220.
31 Wallance, The World Jewish Congress, 30; similar to Schubert, Der Fleck, 177–178 and Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 146.
32 Marrus, Die Unerwünschten, 321; Schubert, Der Fleck, 172; Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 146. Kushner, Refugees, 199.
33 Schubert, Der Fleck, 183–184; Patt, No Place, 111–112; Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 146; Kushner, Refugees, 199.
34 Marrus, Die Unerwünschten, 321.
35 Newman, Nearly the New World, 233, 240.
36 Similarly addressed by: Newman, Nearly the New World, 232; Wallance, The World Jewish Congress, 33; Schubert, Der Fleck, 186; Patt, No place, 112; Medoff, The Jews should Keep Quiet, 154–156.
37 Viscount Halifax. “Telegram No. 1798,” April 16, 1943, CO 323/1846/11.
38 Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 301.
39 Taylor, Refugees in Twentieth-century Britain, 43; Schubert, Der Fleck, 184–185; Marrus, Die Unerwünschten, 321–322; Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 153–154. For further information on Britain’s immigration and refugee policy during the 1930s and ‘40s, please see: London, “The Agenda of British Refugee Policy, 1933–48,” 57–72l; and Grenville, “Immigration and Reception of Jewish Refugees,” 75–91.
40 Statement by Senator Lucas, April 13, 1943, as quoted by Viscount Halifax in “Telegram No. 1779,” April 16, 1943, CO 323/1846/12.
41 Marrus, Die Unerwünschten, 321–322; Newman, Nearly the New World, 240–241.
42 Feingold, The Politics of Rescue, 173.
43 Erbelding, Rescue Board, 23–24; Musch, Zwischen Bermuda und Palästina, 578; Taylor, Refugees in Twentieth-century Britain, 88–89.
44 Internal meeting of the US delegation to Bermuda on April 25, 1943, published by Wyman in America and the Holocaust, 233.
45 Quoted by Feingold, The Politics of Rescue, 174.
46 Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews, 192.
47 Musch, Zwischen Bermuda und Palästina, 577.
48 Wyman, Abandonment, 105. See also Schubert, Der Fleck, 184.
49 Marrus, Die Unerwünschten, 321; Wallance, The World Jewish Congress, 33.
50 From the beginning, the British government ruled out deviating from the White Paper policy of 1943. See Middle East Department, “Directive to Sir Bernard Reilly: Palestine,” March 30, 1943, CO 323/1846/12.
51 Schubert, Der Fleck, 186.
52 Ibid.; see also Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 155.
53 United Kingdom Delegates. “United Kingdom Delegates to the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem to Mr. Eden,” June 28, 1943, CO 323/1846/14.
54 Viscount Halifax. “Telegram No. 1650,” April 7, 1943, CO 323/1846/11; Medoff called Bloom the “State Department’s Jew,” see Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 156.
55 Newman, Nearly the New World, 232–233; Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 155.
56 United Kingdom Delegates. “United Kingdom Delegates to the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem to Mr. Eden,” June 28, 1943, CO 323/1846/14. Regarding the State Department’s attempt to keep control, see Kushner, The Western Allies, 386.
57 Colonial Office. “Internal Memo on the Composition of the United Kingdom Delegation to the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem,” March 24, 1943, CO 323/1846/11.
58 Newman, Nearly the New World, 233; Schubert, Der Fleck, 186.
59 Medoff, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 153–154; Schubert, Der Fleck, 185–186; Kushner, Refugees, 199.
60 Wallance, The World Jewish Congress, 33.
61 Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews, 191. See also: Delegates to the Bermuda Conference. “Internal report on the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem for the US and UK Governments,” May 3, 1943, FO 371/36725.
62 Minutes of the US delegation, April 20, 1943, published in Wyman, America and the Holocaust, 78–82.
63 Delegates to the Bermuda Conference. “Internal Report on the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem for the US and UK Governments,” May 3, 1943, FO 371/36725.
64 Musch, Zwischen Bermuda und Palästina, 577; Newman, Nearly the New World, 240–241. See also: Friedman, No Haven, 158; Kushner, The Western Allies, 384.
65 Statement by Richard K. Law in minutes of the US delegation, April 20, 1943, published in Wyman, America and the Holocaust, 78.
66 Bauer, Jüdische Reaktionen, 105.
67 Kälin, “Internal Displacement,” 163.
68 On the Lausanne Convention, see, for example, Marrus, Die Unerwünschten, 111ff. and Schult, “Interwar Statistics,” 4–5.
69 The following count is based on minutes of the US delegation from Wyman, America and the Holocaust, 77; and Delegates to the Bermuda Conference, “Internal report on the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem for the US and UK Governments,” May 3, 1943, FO 371/36725: 12,300 Polish civilians stranded in Persia, 16,500 Greeks who had fled their country, approximately 20,000 refugees in Spain, including 14,000 French, 800 other Allied nationals, and 6,000 to 8,000 Central Europeans. In addition, there were 4,000 children and 500 adult refugees in Bulgaria. In total, the delegates were seeking solutions for between 48,300 to 56,100 people.
70 Delegates to the Bermuda Conference, “Internal Report on the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem for the US and UK Governments,” May 3, 1943, FO 371/36725.
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid. On the ICGR, see also: Friedman, No Haven, Chapter 3; Jaeger, “The International Protection of Refugees,” 727–738.
73 Delegates to the Bermuda Conference, “Internal Report on the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem for the US and UK Governments,” May 3, 1943, FO 371/36725.
74 Ibid.; see also Sjöberg, The Powers and the Persecuted.
75 Minutes of the US delegation, published in Wyman, America and the Holocaust, 156–162; Marrus, Die Unerwünschten, 322.
76 Minutes of the US delegation, published in Wyman, America and the Holocaust, 81, 87, 89, 125–131.
77 United Kingdom Delegates, “United Kingdom Delegates to the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem to Mr. Eden,” CO 323/1846/14.
78 United Kingdom Delegates, “Draft Internal Report on the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem for Anthony Eden,” FO 371/36725.
79 Ibid.
80 Delegates to the Bermuda Conference, “Internal Report on the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem for the US and UK Governments,” FO 371/36725.
81 Ibid.
82 Ibid.
83 Minutes of the US delegation, published in Wyman, America and the Holocaust, 131, 137.
84 Delegates to the Bermuda Conference, “Internal Report on the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem for the US and UK Governments,” FO 371/36725.
85 Minutes of the US delegation, published in Wyman, America and the Holocaust, 98.
86 Delegates to the Bermuda Conference, “Internal Report on the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem for the US and UK Governments,” FO 371/36725.
87 United Kingdom Delegates, “Draft Internal Report on the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem for Anthony Eden,” FO 371/36725.
88 Quoted by London, Whitehall and the Jews, 217; see also: Musch, Zwischen Bermuda und Palästina, 577–578; Penkower, The Bermuda Conference, 424; United Kingdom Delegates, “Draft Internal Report on the Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem for Anthony Eden,” FO 371/36725.
89 Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews, 200.
90 Abella, None is Too Many, 147.
91 Abella, None is Too Many, 143–144; see also Richard Law as quoted by Dwork and van Pelt, Flight from the Reich, 289.
92 Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews, 200–201.
93 Jewish Telegraphic Agency, quoted by Newman, Nearly the New World, 235.
94 Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews, 191. See also: Tartakower and Grossmann, The Jewish Refugee, 438.
95 Newman, Nearly the New World, 241.
96 Ibid.
97 See: Tartakower and Grossmann, The Jewish Refugee; Musch, Zwischen Bermuda und Palästina, 579.
98 Tartakower and Grossmann, The Jewish Refugee, 495.
99 Feingold, The Politics of Rescue, 217.
100 Feingold, The Politics of Rescue, 218f.
101 “Even so, the perceived failure of the international community to address the Jewish refugee crisis before and during the war set the backdrop for the solutions that would emerge after the war for the Jewish displaced persons.” Patt, No Place, 114.
102 Newman, Nearly the New World, 240–241; Musch, Zwischen Bermuda und Palästina, 577; Schubert, Der Fleck, 183–184.
103 Rass and Wolff. “What is in a Migration Regime?,” 46f., 50–51.
104 Rass and Tames, Negotiating the Aftermath, S. 18.
105 Warren, “The Development of Intergovernmental Collaboration in Migration,” 112–117.
106 Warren, “The Development of Intergovernmental Collaboration in Migration,” 114.
107 Gatrell, The Making of the Modern Refugee, 107f.
108 For the institutional history and development of the UNHCR, see Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics, especially Chapter 2.
109 Gatrell, The Making of the Modern Refugee, 109.
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Sebastian Musch
Sebastian Musch is Alfred Landecker Lecturer at the Department of History and the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at Osnabrück University.
Annika Heyen
Annika Heyen is a PhD Candidate at the the Department of History at Osnabrück University.