Jewish immigration in the 1930s

Briefing Sheet #4.9

Jewish immigration in the 1930s

The MS St. Louis surrounded by smaller vessels in its home port of Hamburg, Germany.

Contextual information

? When the Nazi party came to power in Germany in 1933, many of the 523,000 Jews living in Germany

sought to leave because Nazi policies increasingly removed their political, legal, and social rights and

privileges.

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After Germany occupied neighbouring Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland by late 1939, over 3.5 million Jews were living under Nazi control.

? As Jews hi Nazi-occupied Europe faced increasing oppression and persecution, Canadians were experiencing the economic consequences of the Great Depression.

? The government did not want new immigrants coming to Canada when there were not enough jobs for the population already living in Canada. In 1931, Canada passed a law that restricted immigration to all but a few select groups.

Immigration to Canada declined from 169,000 new immigrants in 1929 to 12,000 in 1935. Throughout the rest of the interwar period and into World War II, Canada maintained a "closed-door" immigration policy.

In 1938, Canada, along ?with 30 other countries, took part in the Evian Conference that focused on what to do with the Jewish refugees fleeing anti-Jewish policies in Nazi-occupied Europe. Canada decided not to accept a fixed number of refugees.

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Briefing Sheet #4.9

Jewish immigration in the 1930s (cont.)

Textbook account: Jewish?immigration in the late 1930s

Excerpt from a textbook about Canada's response to Jewish refugees, written by two secondary school teachers, published by Prentice Hall, and intended for use in high schools.

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While [William Lyon Mackenzie] King knew that the Nazis were persecuting Jews and other groups, he saw no need for Canada to become involved or to accept Jewish refugees. In 1938 he wrote in his diary:

"We must ... seek to keep this part of the Continent free from unrest... Nothing can be gained by creating an internal problem in an effort to meet an international

one. "

? Canada's Secretary of State, Pierre Rinfret, had other reasons for rejecting Jewish refugees. In 1939, he told a meeting of his supporters that, "despite all sentiments of humanity, so long as Canada has an unemployment problem, there will be no 'open door' policy to political refugees here."

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After the Kristallnacht incident, Thomas Crerar, who was now a Liberal cabinet member; ipade a recommendation that 10,000 Jews be 'allowed to emigrate to Canada. The Cabinet refused Crerar's suggestion. Immigration director Fred Blair ~as agains?t J~ws coming to Canada, maintaining that "none is too many." Canada's policy had tragic consequences in 1939 when the ocean liner the St. Louis, with?~~er 900 Jewish refugees on board, was refused permission to dock

th~. when it appeared off east coast of Canada. Th~ ~hip was forced to return to

Europe, where many of the passengers later died in concentration camps.

Many Canadians did not share the government's anti-Semitic views. In 1938 there were 165,000 Jewish people living in Canada, the vast majority of whom were citizens. Rallies were held in many parts .of the country in support of a more humane immigration policy. When the St. Louis was turned away, and its . passengers sent back to Nazi Germany, newspaper editorials also lashed out at the government:

"The country still has the bars up and the refugee who gets into Canada has to pass some mighty stiff obstacles-deliberately placed there by the government... Immigration bars... are undesirable... We are deliberately keeping out of this country [people] and money who would greatly add to our productive revenues.

We are cutting offour nose to spite our face." (Winnipeg Free Press, July 19, 1939) .

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Briefing Sheet #4.10

Documents on Jewish immigration in the 1930s

Personal diary of Mackenzie King

Excerpt from Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's diary from Tuesday, March 29, 1938, in which he outlines his views on admitting Jewish refugees.

Titesdat March 29) 1938:

A very difficult question has presented itself. .. in admitting refugees from Ai1stria, Germani etc. That means, in a word, admitting numbers of]ews. My own feeling is that nothing is to be gained by creating an internal problem in an if.fort to meet an international one... vlie must nevertheless

seek to keep this continentfree fi'om unrest andfrom too great an intermixture efforeign strains efblood... Ifear we would have riots ifwe agreed to apolicy that admitted numbers ofJews.

Frederick Blair letter

Excerpt from a letter written in 1938 by Frederick Blair, the director ofimmigration in the Department

of Mines and Resources from 1936 to 1944, to F. Maclure Scalders, former commissioner of the Saskatoon Board of Trade.

To R Maclure Scalders,

I cften think that instead efpersecution it would befar better ifwe more cften told [Jews] fi'ankly why many efthem are unpopular... Ifthey would divest [rid] themselves ofcertain oftheir habits

I am sure they could be just as popular in Canada as our Scandinavians.

(Signed) Frederick Blair Director ef Immigration Department of Mines and Resources 1938

None Is Too Many

Excerpt from the book, None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews ef Eiitope, 1933-1948, written by

historians Irving Abella and Harold Troper about Canada's policy towards Jewish refugees.

That Jews were not welcome in Canada during the early 1930s .is not surprising; neither was anyone else. With one third of its people out efwork, the country was understandably reluctant to acceptjob-hungry immigrants... As the man responsiblefor enforcing Canadian immigration policy) [Frederick] Blair mirrored the increasingly anti-immigration spirit efhis times. He believed, said one observer, "that people should be kept out of Canada instead of being let in"; ... for Blair the term "refugee" was a code wordforJew... But did Blair see himself as an anti-Semite? No, for he was, in his own view, just being realistic-realistic

about Canada's immigration needs and about the unsuitability ef the Jew to those needs. To keep Jews out ef Canada, he would cften m;gue, did Jews afavour, even if they could

not see it. The arrival ofJews would create anti-Semitism in Canada, undermining the

security ef the existing Canadian Jewish community and little benefitting the new arrival.

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