Refugee Crisis

   Between 1933 and 1938, most refugees emigrating from Germany sought entry into France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. Not all of these countries were willing to absorb large numbers of Jews. For example, Switzerland allowed some 21,000 Jews to enter the country, but approximately 30,000 others were refused entry at the borders. In many instances, when Jews were allowed entry, it was on a temporary basis. A number of Jews went to Palestine, the United States, and Great Britain. In the aftermath of the Anschluss on 13 March 1938, approximately 96,000 Jews from Germany and Austria migrated, with the majority going to Palestine and the United States. Between 1939 and October 1941, approximately 121,500 escaped from Germany. Once the war broke out, the refugee crisis became more acute and centered on approximately 100,000 Jews who were spread throughout Europe. In some countries, such as France, the Netherlands, and Belgium, Jews were interned. Jewish refugees who fled the Nazis in Poland and the Baltic states migrated to the Soviet Union, where many of them were placed in Soviet Gulags in Siberia.

   See also Evian Conference; St. Louis.