POSITION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL REFUGEES IN THE PREPARATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RESETTLEMENT PROJECTS (1938–1945)
Keywords:
refugees, US president, James McDonald, Franklin Roosevelt, Stephen Wise, George Warren.Abstract
The article deals with one of the episodes of humanitarian policy of the United States which is related to the operational work of the advisory body of the American president. The activities of Franklin Roosevelt Personal Initiative as the Presidential Advisory Committee on Political Refugees is investigated. The group of consultants founded in April 1938 was assigned to the task of technical preparation for the relocation of forced migrants from Austria and Germany. In this study key aspects of the work of the committee are revealed. In particular, there is shown one of the most important vectors of activity – projects on the resettlement of European refugees from Nazism to South American countries and other regions of the world. Thus, the participants of the researched organization investigated both theoretical and practical ways of possible relocation of Jews and other discriminated groups. The analytical search for potential regions of refugee resettlement was carried out under the supervision of one of the most authoritative American geographers Isaiah Bowman. The World War II made an intrusion into the work of the committee as a result the realization of the idea of establishing settlements in the Orinoco basin stopped at the stage of negotiations with the Venezuelan authorities, it also appeared impossible to launch the «Guiana project». On the other hand, some resettlement projects were implemented. Refugees from Central Europe migrated to Shanghai, the Philippines (Mindanao) and the Dominican Republic. After the USA officially entered WWII the Presidential Committee for some time provided assistance to European refugees of Jewish origin in obtaining American visas.
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