The League of Nations and the Refugees from Nazi Germany: James G. McDonald and Hitler's Victims

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This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. Greg Burgesss important new study explores the short life of the High Commission for Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming from Germany, from its creation by the League of Nations in October 1933 to the resignation of High Commissioner, James G. McDonald, in December 1935. The book relates the history of the first stage of refugees from Germany through the prism of McDonald and the High Commission. It analyses the factors that shaped the Commissions formation, the undertakings the Commission embarked upon and its eventual failure owing to external complications. The League of Nations and the Refugees from Nazi Germany argues that, in spite of the Commissions failure, the refugees from Nazi Germany and the High Commissions work mark a turn in conceptions of international humanitarian responsibilities when a state defies standards of proper behaviour towards its citizens. From this point on, it was no longer considered sufficient or acceptable for states to respect the sovereign rights of another if the rights of citizens were being violated. Greg Burgess discusses this idea, amongst others, in detail as part of what is a crucial volume for all scholars and students of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and modern Jewish history.

Reviews

This timely book highlights a sorry tale that illuminates the past and has relevance to modern-day global refugee crises. * European History Quarterly *
Burgess offers a comprehensive analysis of the problems that beset the work of the League of Nations High Commission for Refugees, Jewish and Other (HCR), in the early 1930s, told from the vantage point of its director, James G. McDonald. Although many blamed McDonald for the HCR's failures, Burgess depicts him as a dedicated and tireless crusader for refugee rights whose work was thwarted by structural obstacles. This book serves as a timely reminder of the severe limitations on what even the most dedicated human rights activists can achieve in the face of these hurdles, which confound the work of refugee resettlement even today. * Vicki Caron, Diann G. and Thomas A. Mann Professor of Modern Jewish Studies, Cornell University, USA *
In the history of the failures of the Western world that led to the Holocaust, there is a special place for the story of Jews in flight from Nazi Germany and the sad, frustrated American diplomat James G. McDonald, the man with the graceless title and his unhelpful League of Nations mandate: High Commissioner for the Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming From Germany. In this sympathetic portrait, drawn from McDonalds informative private papers and diaries, Greg Burgess takes us into the unpitying world with which McDonald had to work. This is a history that obeys Clios cardinal rule: it places context at the centre of things helping us to understand not only the mid-1930s refugee crisis, but also that of today. * Michael R. Marrus, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor Emeritus of Holocaust Studies, University of Toronto, Canada, and author of Lessons of the Holocaust *
A substantial and informative study that can be recommended to all readers who would like to deal in detail with the role of the League of Nations in the development of modern refugee regimes. * Comparativ - Zeitschrift fr Globalgeschichte *

Author Bio

Greg Burgess is Senior Lecturer in History at Deakin University, Australia, and specialises in the history of France and its experiences of refugees and their protection during the 19th and 20th centuries. He is the author of Refuge in the Land of Liberty: France and its Refugees from the Revolution to the End of Asylum, 1787-1939 (2008).