Report from Charles Bewley to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)¹
(32/33D)

I desire to refer to the minute of 8th December, 143/112², in which it is stated by the Department that 90 non-Aryan Christians are to be 'temporarily' admitted into Ireland, fifty for the purpose of receiving training in agricultural work, twenty adults whose maintenance will be guaranteed by well-todo families, and twenty children whose maintenance and education will be guaranteed by well-to-do families. A notice in the Irish Press of 26th November states that 'it is expected that this first group will be able to emigrate to some other country at an early date.'

I had supposed that further details would be sent me with regard to the measures to be taken in order to secure that the persons admitted should not be of an undesirable type and that only such persons should be admitted as would be able to leave Ireland after their 'temporary' sojourn and could be deported in the event of their refusing to leave voluntarily. As no such details or instructions have been sent, it is my duty to make the following comments.

1. It is a notorious fact that in the last few months thousands of Jews have been baptized for the purpose of avoiding certain inconveniences to which they were exposed by membership of the Jewish religion (see my minute of 20th January, 32/33D)³. No statement is made by the Coordinating Committee or the 'non-Aryan Christian refugees' themselves at what date their baptism took place. There is therefore, so far as I have been informed, no safeguard that the 'non-Aryan Christians' admitted into Ireland are not Jews who have applied for Christian baptism merely for the material benefits which they hoped to derive from such a step.
2. None of the persons so far admitted under the schemes referred to has, so far as I have been informed, been given any guarantee by any other government that they will be admitted to such other country after the expiration of their 'temporary' sojourn in Ireland. It is clear from the statement issued by the Coordinating Committee that its members have not the slightest idea to what country it will be possible for the refugees to emigrate. It is doubtful where a territory can be found for the numerous Jews, whether belonging to the Christian religion or not, who are desirous of leaving Germany, Poland, Hungary and other European countries, or whether such territory can be found at all. Even if such territory is found, it will scarcely be sufficient for all the Jews from Central Europe. In any event, the last persons to be considered for it will be those who have been voluntarily admitted by such states as Ireland.
3. Even if territory were found for the settlement of Jews from Europe, and permission were given to the Jews admitted into Ireland to obtain citizenship of it, there is no guarantee whatever that the Jews in question would wish to leave Ireland for, say, Guyana or Madagascar, and in this event it would not be possible to deport them. There would therefore be no possibility of getting rid of these persons for the rest of their lives, while their children would presumably be Irish citizens.
4. This Legation has been informed that no enquiries are to be made about various persons who, it is presumed, are recommended by the Coordinating Committee (see minute of 29th Nov. No. 102/302B)⁴. It is not known what enquiries, if any, have been made by the Committee or the persons with whom it has correspondence in Vienna and other parts of Germany. There is therefore, so far as I have been informed, no guarantee whatever as to the character of the persons admitted.
5. In the case of persons called Karrach the Department decided that visas should not be given (see minute of 12th October 1938, 102/453)⁵; apparently their decision is overridden by a minute of 16th November 1938⁶, no reference number, in which it is stated that the persons in question are to be granted visas immediately, and that no enquiries are to be made. This would apparently indicate that the Committee, working in cooperation with such bodies as the Society of Friends or the Swedish Mission, is entitled to overrule previous decisions of the Department.
6. It has been the experience of numerous other countries that the Jews admitted for the purpose of agriculture abandon their agricultural work at the first opportunity and go to live in the cities. In Ireland it would in any event be impossible for them to obtain holdings of land. It is therefore safe to say that the fifty persons admitted for training in agricultural work will abandon the country for the cities, where they will live at the expense of the Irish community.
7. The well-to-do families who have guaranteed to maintain 'temporarily' twenty adults and twenty children have obviously no idea of the impossibility of getting rid of these people after the expiration of the temporary period. It cannot be expected that they will continue to maintain them for the rest of their lives. Therefore the persons in question will either be supported directly by the Irish taxpayer, or will obtain employment and thereby increase the number of Irish unemployed.
8. The twenty children will presumably enter one of the already overcrowded professions, thereby increasing the difficulty of making a living for the Irish students who have received the same education at the expense of their families. These objections to the admission into Ireland of young persons were recognized by the Minister in the case of Buchholz (see minute of 13th October 1938, 102/427).⁷

I have put forward these considerations in some detail in the hope that they will be of assistance to the Minister for Justice in connection with the carrying out of the scheme of the Coordinating Committee and because they have to my knowledge been submitted by various Ministers accredited in Berlin to their respective governments in connection with similar schemes. I shall be glad to have full instructions as to what steps should be taken in order to avoid the various difficulties which I have outlined above.

I should like to add in conclusion that I should much regret if it were thought that I was in any way lacking in sympathy towards Jews desirous of leaving Central Europe. I cannot however help feeling that when their interests are for the reasons above set out in obvious conflict with the interests of the people of Ireland, it is my duty, as it is that of all persons concerned, to subordinate all feelings of personal sympathy to the protection of Irish interests.