Letter of Resignation of James G. McDonald, High Commissioner for Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming From Germany.

(HOLOCAUST).

Headley Brothers

London

1935

Addressed to The Secretary General of the League of Nations. With an Annex containing an analysis of the measures in Germany against "Non-Aryans," and of their effects in creating refugees.

In 1933 US Ambassador James Grover McDonald was assigned to chair the High Commission for Refugees (Jewish and Others) Coming from Germany. During his time as High Commissioner McDonald sought out numerous avenues for support in his efforts to rescue the suffering German Jews. Multiple appeals to organizations and nation states were made, promises of financial aid were pledged but very few were kept. Ultimately McDonald found himself isolated and thus resigned in protest from the refugee commission over the failure of the international community to pay anything but "lip service" to the plight of Jews fleeing Hitler. This booklet contains a copy of McDonald's letter of resignation as League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Coming from Germany, as well as an annex containing an analysis of German non-Aryan policy that created the refugee problem. James Grover McDonald (1886-1964) later served as the first US Ambassador to the newly formed State of Israel. See M.N. Penkower, Honorable Failures Against Nazi Germany: McDonald's Letter of Resignation and the Petition in its Support, in: Modern Judaism 30, no. 3 (2010) pp. 247-98. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40926547.