[A. Destruction of the Jewish
existence in Poland 1929-1939]
[5.7. Plans for emigration of the Polish Jews to
Soviet Union and to Madagascar]
[1936 approx.: Plans for
Jewish emigration to the Soviet Union and to Madagascar]
In early 1937 JDC changed its attitude even further,
because by that time there seemed to be hope for a
practical plan of emigration. We have seen that Joseph A.
Rosen tried to organize the emigration of German and
Polish Jews into the Soviet Union [to Birobidzhan,
Biro-Bidjan]. At the same time, there appeared on the
horizon another plan for mass emigration - to Madagascar.
[Chlapowski: Madagaskar
is not good enough for Poles - but good enough for Jews]
Polish interest in that tropical island under French rule
was by no means new. In 1926 the Polish ambassador to
France, Count Chlapowski, had inquired about the
possibility of Polish peasants emigrating there, but the
information he received regarding climate and soil
conditions convinced him that this was out of the
question. However, if it was not suitable for Poles, it
might still be good enough for Jews.
[Jewish mission in
Madagaskar - no possibility for a mass immigration to
Madagascar]
The French government was quite willing to encourage
European immigration into the Malagasy highlands, and the
Poles sent a mission there, under Major Lepecki; this
mission included two Jews. Lepecki's report was not
favorable, and the two Jewish members reported that "there
is no possibility for a mass immigration to Madagascar."
(End note 44: Marcell Olivier: Madagascar - Terre
d'Asile?;
Illustration,
February 19, 1938, pp. 197-98)
[1937: France government
supports the Madagascar plan - Polish anti-Semitic
foreign minister Beck presents his plan]
The French Colonial Office, for its own reasons,
nevertheless began exerting pressure on JDC to lend its
support to Jewish settlement in Madagascar or other French
possessions. In June 1937 Rosen and Kahn were received by
officials at the Colonial Office and assured of French
interest and cooperation. Despite Lepecki's report, the
Polish foreign minister, Józef Beck, discussed the problem
in France and proposed a Jewish emigration of 30,000
families yearly, or 120,000 families (about
500,000-600,000 individuals) within five or six years.
(End note 45: ITA, 12/6/37 [6 December 1937]; 44-29 Rosen
and Kahn to Liebman, 6/12/37 [12 June 1937])
Rosen thought Madagascar had possibilities, and he wanted
an independent JDC commission to go there to investigate
the island. Tentatively JDC allocated $ 12,000 for such a
commission, but it never got under way.
(End note 46: CON-2, 8/18/36 [18 August 1936], Rosen to
Lehman)
The concrete results of all these developments were
practically nil. Despite the change of attitude on JDC's
part and the great need (p.193)
of Polish Jewry to flee Poland, not more than 8,861 Jews
emigrated in 1937; of these 3,423 went to Palestine.
(End note 47: 44-29, HICEM report)
[This is the official emigration figure. The illegal
emigration is not counted. The emigration from Poland in
total is estimated by Graml to 100,000 every year in the
1930s;
In: Herman Graml: Die Auswanderung der Juden aus
Deutschland zwischen 1933 und 1939; Gutachten des
Instituts für Zeitgeschichte; im Selbstverlag des
Instituts für Zeitgeschichte. München 1958, S.79-84;
Tel.: 0049-(0)89-12688-0].
This emigration was considerably less than the birthrate
for Polish Jewry,
(End note 48: About 30,000 a year)
and the Poles had before them the shining example of Nazi
Germany, which had managed to rid itself of a large number
of Jews by forcing them out.
[Supplement: There is proved that Zionist Jewish
organizations have well organized the immigration of
German Jews to Palestine, and the Yiddish speaking Polish
Jews should be exterminated because Yiddish should not be
spoken in the "Holy Land"].
