[4.7. McDonalds quits
his job - his call for "collective
action"]
[Early 1935: France refuses work
permits to Jewish refugees [also] because of economic crisis]
McDonald's main problem was France. There, in early 1935, French Jewish
committees defending French government policy explained why no work
permits could be given without increasing anti-Semitism in an economic
crisis situation. JDC, McDonald's main ally, was represented by Kahn,
who stated his strong disapproval of the French Jews and argued that
many people, including 1,200 children, were literally starving in Paris
- a situation that was completely unjustifiable.
(End note 33: R16)
The partial or complete failure of his efforts finally led McDonald to
consider resigning his post. By the autumn of 1935 the French were
treating McDonald "like a small office boy whose services are no longer
needed and who should be dismissed on the spot", as Kahn put it.
(End note 34: WAC, Box 323 (c), Kahn to Warburg, 10/30/35 [30 October
1935])
[Sep 1935: McDonalds gives up his
post and suggests Norman Bentwich]
McDonald was too independent, too demanding, and too energetic. He was
moving to radical positions. In a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt he
prophesied a further great exodus of German Jews and asked how long
these matters were to be regarded as purely of German domestic concern."
(End note 35: WAC, Box 324 (a), McDonald to Mrs. Roosevelt, 7/24/35
[24 July 1935])
Finally in September he decided to resign, and suggested Norman
Bentwich as his successor.
(End note 36: WAC, Box 324 (a), McDonald to Warburg, 9/9/35 [9
September 1935])
[On 15 September 1935 the Third Reich is issuing the Nuremberg Laws].
[McDonald's demission letter:
McDonalds calls
for "collective action"]
His resignation was a political act. It took the form of a letter to
the secretary-general of the League of Nations and was published in the
world press either verbatim or in fairly extensive (p.149)
form.
(End note 37: Dated 12/27/35 [27 December 1935]; see Jewish
Chronicle, 1/3/35 [3 January 1936])
Norman Bentwich, James N. Rosenberg, and Felix M. Warburg had been
fully consulted, and the letter was really something of a collective
effort. Specifically, McDonald condemned Nazi policy toward Jews and
called for "collective action" by the League of Nations, denying that
this was an internal German problem. Practically speaking, his demand
for "friendly but firm intercession with the German Government, by all
pacific means on the part of the League of Nations, of its Member
States and other members of the community of nations" was hardly likely
to move the Germans, even had it been accepted. But the value of the
document lay mainly in the unequivocal condemnation of German policies
emanating from the international official charged with dealing with the
refugee problem.
[British voices mean, Hitler would
give in]
McDonald's resignation had no immediate positive effect. Some papers in
Britain that published extracts from the letter showed in their
comments how far removed they were from a realistic appreciation of the
situation.
On December 10, 1935, for example, the London
Times wrote that Germany would not
be able to withstand the pressure of public opinion, and the
News Chronicle added that Mr.
Hitler would ignore world opinion at his peril.
[14 February 1936: New high
commissioner is Sir Neil Malcolm]
On February 14, 1936, the League of Nations designated a retired
British general, Sir Neil Malcolm, as the new high commissioner. When
asked what his policy would be, he replied clearly and succinctly: "I
have no policy, but the policy of the League is to deal with the
political and legal status of the refugees. It has nothing to do with
the domestic policy of Germany."
(End note 38: Quoted in Morse, op. cit [While Six Million Died; New
York 1968], p. 191)
[Joint sees that the High
Commission cannot help - Joint has to help directly]
The attempt to deal with the Jewish refugee problem on an international
and humanitarian level had met with its first failure; it constituted a
severe check to JDC's efforts of rescue and aid to German Jewry. These
efforts centered mainly. (p.150)
