The Letter

By Steve Rodan

In August 1933, the Nazis were in complete control of Germany. As chancellor, Adolf Hitler launched a charm offensive, seeking to convince the international community that he was a moderate who could reason and be reasoned with.

The exception was the Jews. Here, Hitler informed every foreign dignitary that the Jews no longer have a place in Germany. Any other country could have them. There would be no compromise or moderation.

Still, most of the diplomatic community in Berlin was pleased and relayed this to their governments. James Grover McDonald, however, envisioned disaster. As one of the first Americans to meet Hitler, McDonald, with a German mother and fluent in the language, saw Hitler as evil and fanatic. The tall Harvard graduate was chairman of the influential Foreign Policy Association, comprised of leading ex-diplomats and close to the White House and State Department. Soon, he would be appointed to chair the High Commission for Refugees Coming from Germany, a group with a longer name than its bank account.

On Aug. 22, 1933, McDonald wrote a long letter from Geneva on the state of Nazi Germany and the attitude of the international community toward Hitler. He focused on the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations and formed after World War I to ensure world peace.

The letter marks one of the clearest windows into Hitler and those around him. Even Germans long seen as reasonable could not or would not try to influence Hitler regarding the Jews, whose position was worsening daily.

The Chancellor insists that no matter what the cost, the Third Reich must be built on the basis of an Aryan race unimpeded by the foreign influence of Jews in governmental, cultural or high professional and financial posts. I don't doubt therefore that anything save the most direct and telling pressure can modify his unqualified intransigency. [1]

McDonald, regarded as close to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was pessimistic about using the League of Nations to pressure Berlin to stop Germany's anti-Jewish campaign. Senior officials in the League were willing to help Jewish refugees, but there were caveats. The first condition was the "whole-hearted co-operation of Germany."

The second was that the League not play into Hitler's hands:

It is that the approach to Germany should be made in such a way as to make sure that Hitler would not reply: Of course we are delighted to have the League take care of Jewish refugees. We accept this proposal enthusiastically, but we must ask that the League agree to take charge of all the Jews.

Another condition was that the League not pay for refugee resettlement. The organization simply didn't have the money.

As high commissioner, the 47-year-old McDonald spent much of his time raising money. In two years, his group, not formally part of the League of Nations, spent $25 million to care for some 100,000 refugees from Gremany.

But McDonald was unable to rally the international community to help the Jews. Indeed, he complained that many of the rich Jews in Germany and the United States failed to share his concern. The Jewish organizations fought among themselves and were ineffective.

Despite his close ties to Chaim Weizmann and his deputy, Norman Bentwich, the Zionist movement did not want to rock the boat. The movement he admired was beginning what would become a huge trade relationship between Berlin and Palestine. [2] American gentiles, in the words of McDonald's daughter, Barbara, a historian, "gave almost nothing."

McDonald tried to use his contacts with Roosevelt to help the German Jews. FDR made promises but never kept them. He also turned to the Vatican and appealed to them as a Catholic. There was no response

In December 1935, McDonald, after a year of consideration, resigned as high commissioner. He submitted a 3,000-word letter that he hoped would move the world to act against the intensified persecution of Jews and anybody else classified as non-Aryan. Three months earlier, Germany instituted what was known as the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped non-Aryans, particularly Jews, of citizenship and rights.

At the time, Hitler told the Reichstag that if the new legislation failed then the problem must be "turned over to the National Socialists for a final solution." Unlike most of his colleagues, McDonald saw Hitler's words as signaling the next stage -- murder.

In many parts of the country, there is a systematic attempt at starvation of the Jewish population...Again, as so often during their long heroic and tragic history, the Jewish people are used as the scapegoat for political and partisan purposes." [3]

His parting letter was regarded as a cry for help. At a time when Britain, France and the United States sought appeasement with Hitler, McDonald called for "fresh collective action" by the League.

Finally, McDonald sent a message that appealed to Western interests: Do not think that Hitler will stop at persecuting the Jews. He will threaten your countries as he become bolder and concludes that you are weak.

Pity and reason alike must inspire the hope that intercession will meet with response. Without such responses, the problems caused by the persecution of Jews and the "non-Aryans" will not be solved by philanthropic action, but will continue to constitute a danger to international peace and a source of injury to the legitimate interests of other states.

Notes

1. The James G. McDonald Papers. Edited by Karen J. Greenberg. Columbia University. Garland Publishing, 1990

2. In 1949, McDonald became U.S. ambassador to Israel

3. Letter of Resignation of James G. McDonald, High Commissioner for Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming from Germany. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_11604/?sp=24&r=0.024,0.42,0.888,0.545,0

Below: James G. McDonald