840.48 Refugees/1588b
Memorandum by Mr. Theodore C. Achilles, of the Division of European Affairs, for President Roosevelt
The following background information is furnished in connection with the appointment which Mr. Myron Taylor has with you at 12 o’clock on May 4. He will bring with him a small group interested in the creation of the International Refugee Foundation.
You will recall that as a result of Mr. Rublee’s negotiations in Berlin the German Government agreed to create a trust fund from Jewish property in Germany for the purposes of facilitating emigration. It was also contemplated that a private international corporation for the financing of refugee settlement should be set up concurrently outside of Germany. The carrying out of orderly emigration from Germany and the amelioration of the lot of Jews remaining in Germany are to a considerable extent dependent upon the early establishment and successful working of these two organizations.
This Government and the Intergovernmental Committee have consistently made clear that this plan involved no “agreement” between the Intergovernmental Committee and the German Government. On the contrary it has been distinctly understood that the Germans would carry out unilaterally a program of emigration and that the Intergovernmental Committee and the private corporation would unilaterally carry out a parallel program of settlement.
In attempting to set up this corporation, Mr. Taylor has encountered great reluctance in Jewish circles to take definite action for the following reasons: (1) fear of accusation that there is such a thing as “international Jewry”, (2) fear that creation of the corporation in accordance with the Rublee program would constitute an agreement with the German Government and consequently a condonation of the racial policies of that Government, including confiscation of Jewish property, and (3) fear that the carrying out of the program might in some way assist the German Government.
Mr. Taylor has made great progress in convincing representative Jewish financiers that each of these fears is groundless. On April 15 a meeting of some seventy representative Jews agreed unanimously to proceed with creation of the corporation. This meeting appointed [Page 106] a sub-committee consisting of the following persons who will accompany Mr. Taylor on May 4: Edward Greenbaum, Alfred Jaretski, Henry Ittleson, Harold Linden Judge Joseph H. Proskauer, James W. Rosenberg, Judge Samuel I. Rosenman (chairman), Lewis L. Strauss, Solomon M. Stroock, Paul Baerwald, Rabbi Stephen Wise.
Mr. Taylor contemplates that the corporation, which he suggests be called the “Refugee Foundation”, will have a capitalization which will at first be limited but which will be capable of indefinite expansion to meet actual needs. He envisages a high official of the Bank of England as chairman, to be assisted by well-known American, French, and perhaps other vice-chairmen, a small directorate of very prominent persons, and large national advisory committees which will also consist of prominent persons. All of these bodies will be widely representative of the Jewish, Catholic and Protestant faiths.
Mr. Taylor contemplates that the Foundation, or smaller organizations affiliated with it, will carry out the financing and execution of settlement projects, and that it will take over from the Intergovernmental Committee all dealings with the German Government.
The present status of mass settlement possibilities may be summarized as follows:
British Guiana. The survey commission’s report recommends experimental settlement as soon as possible of from three to five thousand carefully selected and supervised young persons in camps similar to C. C. C. camps. The estimate is that from three to five million dollars will be necessary to bring those numbers to British Guiana, establish them, and maintain them for two years. The experience of these groups should indicate within two years whether or not settlement on a much larger scale is practicable.
Dominican Republic. The survey commission has returned and its report should be completed shortly. It also will probably recommend experimental settlement by carefully selected and supervised pioneering groups along C. C. C. lines, with somewhat more assurance that large scale settlement will be practicable. Comparatively large sums will be necessary in carrying this out.
Mindanao. The survey commission is at work and should report within six weeks. In view of the favorable attitude of the Philippine Government and of the favorable climate of Mindanao, it is believed that at least ten thousand settlers may be colonized there and that the work may proceed fairly rapidly as soon as the preliminary planning has been completed. Large amounts of capital will be necessary.
Angola. The matter is in suspense pending the tentative mobilization of sufficient capital to enable someone to go to Lisbon to offer the Portuguese Government a very large sum either for the outright [Page 107] purchase of Angola or for the creation of a chartered company along the lines of the old British East India Company. There is no present indication, however, that an offer along either of these lines would be accepted.