The Holocaust and the Lost Caribbean Paradise; W. Perl

7 The Holocaust and the Lost Caribbean Paradise by WilliamR. Perl I t is widely believed that the Nazi "Final Solu tion" would have claimed fewer victims if the free world had shaken off its apathy and helped the Jews to escape. This theory, that the world stood passivelyby as the genocide was being committed, is now being challenged. Evidence has been produced that arrives at the shattering con clusion that the Western powers were more than passive, apathetic bystanders. Contrary to popular belief, the problem for Jews during the Holocaust was not how to get out, but where to go. The key figures in most govern ments throughout the world, instead of liberalizing their immigration laws, closed their borders to the hunted Jews, or at most admitted token numbers only. The Nazis set the house aflame, and the free world barred the doors. Some of the measures taken by the free world that contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands remain little known. Foremost among these was the thwarting by the United States Department of State of rescue plans that would have brought oth erwise doomed refugees to the Caribbean, specif ically to the sparsely inhabited U.S. Virgin Islands as well as the Republic of Haiti.

The U.S. Virgin Islands had been acquired by the United States from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million. Most people are aware of only three Dr. Perl is a Holocaust researcher. A retired Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army, he served on the war crimes prosecution team in Germany. He is the author of The Four Front War: From the Holocaust to the Promised Land; Operation Action: Rescue from the Holocaust; and The Holocaust Conspiracy: An International Policy of Genocide. islands: St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. The group, however, consists of 68 islands of diverse sizes.Although most are tiny,they comprise 86,000 acres. At the time when their inhabitants invited refugees from Nazi barbarism, the islands had .a population of approximately 25,000, most of whom were very poor and uneducated. Many of the islands are quite mountainous, dot ted with picturesque little ports and cozybays. The climate is ideal in the spring, fall, and winter, and quite comfortable in the summer as the trade winds provide a cooling breeze. Temperatures vary only slightly from the warmest to the coolest months. There is a rich diversity of native plant and animal life.

Resolved:A Havenfor Refugees As early as November 18, 1938, the legislature of the Virgin Islands adopted the following reso lution: WHEREAS, world conditions have created large refugee groups, and WHEREAS, such groups eventually will migrate to places of safety, and WHEREAS, the Virgin Islands of the United States being a place of safety can offer surcease from misfortune. NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the Virgin Islands of the United States in session assembled that it be made known to Refugee peoples of the world 8 THE FREEMAN • JANUARY 1992 that when and if existing barriers are removed that they shall find surcease from misfortune in the Virgin Islands of the United States. AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this Resolution be forwarded to the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of the Interior, and members of the Press.1 The State Department immediately started action to obstruct the islanders' humanitarian efforts and to close this possible avenue of escape.

On December 15,1939, the Secretary of State sent a letter to all authorities possiblyconcerned, calling this resolution "incompatible with existing law."2 The Department of the Interior and the Labor Department began a probe of the legal issues. The Labor Department announced on February 3, 1940,that the invitation was "consistent with exist ing law and unobjectionable from the standpoint of policy."3 It was November 6, 1940,almost two years after the announcement of the invitation, when the Solicitor of the Interior Department published his 22-page report. The report concluded that "the proclamation in question is, in all respects, legally unassailable."4 The Attorney General, however, who on October 16, 1939,was asked by the Secre tary of the Interior for his evaluation of the legali ties, refused on March 29, 1940,to study the issue "for the reason that the Secretary of State had not invited such an opinion."5 "Delayand Delay"

During all that time, people who could have been rescued and living in a Caribbean paradise remained in the hell of Nazi Europe until they fell victim to the death camps. The effectiveness of this "delay and delay" policy was praised by the Assis tant Secretary of State, Breckinridge Long. In a memo dated June 26, 1940, he wrote: "We can delay and effectively stop for a temporary period of indefinite length the number of immigrants into the United States. We could do this by simply advising our consuls to put every obstacle in the way and to resort to various administrative advices which would postpone and postpone the granting of the visas."6 This policy was criticized by the General Coun sel of the U.S. Treasury, Randolph Paul, as "murder by delay." He charged high officialsin the State Department with forming "an American under ground movement ... to let the Jews be killed."7 This strategy was in sharp contrast with the pub lic statements of concern made by State Depart ment officials. On October 17, 1939, at a meeting in the White House, speaking before the Intergov ernmental Committee on Political Refugees, Sec retary of State Cordell Hull declared: "We do know that at this period there are an increasing number of people who are draining the cup of bit terness and of disappointment to its very dregs. We do know that they are on a level below that of the common animal, which is able to find something to subsist, to find some place where it can relax and sleep."8 Lawrence H. Cramer, Governor of the Virgin Islands, surprised and frustrated by the turmoil created in Washington by his legislature's rescue attempt, finally signed on November 2, 1940, two years after the resolution had been adopted, a decree according to which 2,000 families were to be admitted initially. To appease State Depart ment critics, certain requirements were imposed, but tens of thousands qualified.

The invitation's main purpose was to provide a haven for those who had applied for immigration to the United States and had obtained a quota number for their registration and eventual pro cessingwhen their number came up. Waitingtimes were usually long, sometimes three years or more. The Nazis, of course, didn't abstain from arrests and deportations just because the victimshad quo ta numbers, and thousands with such numbers per ished. The islands were thus to have provided a refuge during the dangerous waiting period. As a prerequisite to entry, the refugees were not to become public charges-but that would have been no obstacle since many had relatives in the U.S. who were willing to provide such an affidavit, as were many major Jewish welfare organizations. A NewWeapon Notwithstanding the thousand miles of ocean separating the U.S. mainland from the Virgin Islands, the State Department went into even higher gear when it learned that Cramer had signed the proclamation. Breckinridge Long con tacted his friend Representative Martin Dies, THE HOLOCAUST AND THE LOST CARIBBEAN PARADISE 9 Chairman of the House Committee on Un American Activities.9 The weapon they used was the old canard that spies would arrive among the refugees. That not a single such case had been proven mattered little to Long and Dies. Presi dent Roosevelt, "informed" by Long of the undoubted arrival of spies among the refugees, was won over. Apparently no consideration was given to the fact that, whatever the security con cerns, refugees in the Virgin Islands could be kept under close supervision.

Finally,to clinchthe matter, Long had a brilliant idea. He went to see Admiral Alan G. Kirk, Chief of Naval Intelligence. "If the Navy could declare it [the Virgin Islands] a restricted area for strictly naval reasons," Long explained, "[that would] pre vent the raising of the political questions involved in this refugee and undesirable citizens traffic which is going on.... [Then] we would have no more trouble. "10 This settled the case. Nobody in wartime could defend an issue that threatened the security of the United States. The attempt to tear a few thousand of the doomed from Moloch's jaws had been sab otaged. This victory by the State Department was achieved 20 months after the Kristallnachtpogrom and nine months after the Nazi massacres began in Poland. The State Department expanded its intrigues into other parts of the Caribbean. A little known, but particularly blatant example occurred in Haiti.

Heavy pressure was mobilized against Haiti when it planned to admit 100refugee families.The Haitian President was accused of undermining the American war effort and thus the safety of the United States. The usual contrivance-the claim that there would be spies among the refugees-in the case of Haiti was extended to the misinforma tion that (although they might not be straight Hit lerites) all refugees were "at the least" pro German. The American Minister to Haiti, on September 30, 1940, received the following tele gram from Secretary of State Cordell Hull: The Department desires you to discourage at every opportunity and in a manner which can leave no doubt in President Vincent's mind all projects for bringing additional European refugees to Haiti under the circumstances that have prevailed in the past. ... The Department therefore would deplore further interest by the Haitian Government in the admission of refugees among whose numbers will doubtless be found elements prejudicial to the safety of the Republic of Haiti and this country.... 11 The Charge in Haiti, fully understanding what his superiors expected of him, lost no time. On October 2 he wrote to the Secretary of State: I made the following points: One, all refugees from Germany are at most only anti-Hitler....

Therefore, we regard these refugees as suspects and cannot view with approval their migration from place to place. I added that since my Gov ernment is spending in excess of twelve billion dollars for the defense of the United States, and the Western Hemisphere, it would be unrea sonable to expect that we would view without concern the uncontrolled movement of alien suspects.12 During all the time that the State Department was thwarting the refugees, letters arrived from those who had heard of the possibility of escape. On May 20, 1941,Robert M. Lovett, Acting Gov ernor of the Islands (Lawrence Cramer had resigned) wrote to James McDonald, Chairman of the President's Committee for Refugees: "I have been overwhelmed by correspondence of a most poignant nature." "OurLastChance" Of the dozens of pleading letters in the National Archives, one by Gerhard Neumann, who writes for himselfand sixothers, is particularly tragic.The letter, dated February 14, 1941, was written from Camp de Gurs, a collecting place in France for shipment either via the infamous Drancy Camp, or directly to the annihilation places in the east.

Neumann wrote: "We should be very much obliged to you, if you could improve our actual sit uation by giving us the permission to stay in your territory till we can immigrate to U.S.A. We are aware, that we do an extraordinary step in apply ing to you. But that is our last chance." On March 25,1941, Robert Lovett answered: "I regret to inform you that a procedure for giving effect to the plan of affording temporary refuge in the Islands has not been worked out by the State Department and the Department of the Interior."

10 THE FREEMAN • JANUARY 1992 Refugees looking/rom a porthole ofthe liner St. Louis as it docked in Antwerp, Belgium, after thousands ofmiles of wandering. Another applicant awaiting deportation was Walter Bruehl. He wrote: "We are still a small number of passengers on the steamboat St. Louis, departing from Hamburg May 13, 1939 [on the infamous Voyage of the Damned], to Havana, Cuba who after an adventurous crossing were forced to return to Europe .... Please, Honorable Sir, let me know what we can do. I shall act imme diately in the required direction." On May 20, 1941,Lovett answered: "I regret to inform you that the State Department has refused permission to put into effect the plan proposed for the reception of the refugees.... " Each of the applicants' letters, preserved in the National Archives, is a mute witness to the inhu manity of man against man. D 1. NationalArchives,TerritoryGovernment,VirginIslands,1938.

2. "ChronologicalAccount of Inter-Departmental Negotiations on Admission of Alien Visitors into Virgin Islands," National Archives,TerritoryGovernment,VirginIslands,1940,paragraph 7. 3. Ibid., paragraph 8. 4. Department of the Interior, Officeof the Solicitor,M. 31037, November6, 1940,p. 22. 5. "ChronologicalAccount,"paragraphs4 and 10. 6. Memo to Adolf A. Berle, Jr., and James C. Dunn, June 26, 1940, as quoted by Henry L. Feingold,The Politicsof Rescue(New Brunswick,N.J.: Rutgers UniversityPress, 1970),pp. 142,330.See also ForeignRelationsofthe UnitedStates,DiplomaticPapers,1940, vol. II, pp.178-79,194-95. 7. Morgenthau Diaries,688II/138,694/67-8;RR, 181, as quoted by DavidS. Wyman,TheAbandonmentoftheJews (NewYork:Pan theon Books,1984),pp. 191,383. 8. NationalArchives,IntergovernmentalCommitteeon Political Refugees,WashingtonConference,October 17,1941.See alsoState Department Bulletin400, October 21, 1939,and Department of the Interior,Officeof the Solicitor,M. 31037,November6,1940,p. 7.

9. LongDiary,November27,1940,in Feingold,pp. 148,331. 10. LongDiary,April22, 1941,in Feingold,pp. 157,332. 11. Ibid., DiplomaticPapers,1940,vol. II, p. 241. 12. Ibid.,p. 242.