The First Final Solution: Humanitarianism, Emigration, and Ethnic Cleansing in 1930s Europe

This paper explores the intersections of humanitarian activism and ethnic cleansing in the international schemes that emerged to resettle East European Jews in the 1930s. As the refugee crisis of the 1930s intensified in Europe, a broad consensus emerged regarding the “solution” to the so-called “Jewish problem.” Humanitarian activists, western leaders, Zionists, East European diplomats, and Nazis themselves came to agree that Jews needed to emigrate en masse from Europe. The motivations, goals, and politics of the groups invested in Jewish emigration differed starkly. But the Jewish emigration schemes that developed in the late 1930s were rooted in emigration politics and colonial aspirations dating back to the late nineteenth century, both within East Central Europe and beyond. Since at least 1918, East European governments had attempted to restrict the mobility of nationally desirable citizens and encourage the emigration of national and religious minorities. At the same time, East European governments were seeking colonial outlets for their so-called “surplus” populations. These emigration schemes were justified as a form of humanitarian intervention, serving not only emigrants themselves, but also the greater interest of “humanity” through the promotion of peace, stability, and demographic “equilibrium.” This story suggests that the lines between rescue and forced removal, between emigration and expulsion, and between humanitarianism and ethnic cleansing had already grown hazy by the late 1930s, in both dictatorships and democracies alike.