840.48 Refugees/2073
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Cultural Relations (Thomson)
Mr. Warren45 called to discuss the program for placement of refugees in the Dominican Republic. He stated that Mr. Rosenberg who is now in the Dominican Republic was studying the possibility of accompanying the program by some cultural gesture such as the donation to the Government of the Dominican Republic of one or two important documents on Columbus.
Mr. Warren explained that the committee to date, in outlining plans for refugee settlement in the Dominican Republic, had necessarily worked largely through General Trujillo and the success of the experiment was largely dependent on the General’s ability to take a far-sighted view of the degree to which these refugees might contribute to the economic development of the country. The General has repeatedly indicated that he desires to augment the white population of the island. Mr. Warren stated that the committee recognizes that it needs a wider and more secure basis of support if the eventual success of the project is to be assured. Consequently it desires to educate general public opinion in the country on the matter and to arrange that correct factual information is furnished to members of the political opposition, to avoid misunderstanding in that quarter. Mr. Warren stated that the committee had been disturbed by reports fathered by General Trujillo that 100,000 refugees were to be introduced into the Dominican Republic. At present the settlement of only 500 families is being considered and estimates made for the committee indicate that a maximum of 28,000 persons is all that the country could absorb. Of these it is possible that 60% might be Jewish. All the money which has been made available for the program to date is Jewish, although efforts have been made to interest Catholic and Protestant groups. Mr. Warren declared that the committee fully recognizes the necessity of proceeding slowly and making sure that the initial group of refugees, as well as subsequent groups, are wisely settled in a way to assure their continuing welfare. The committee further recognizes that it would be fatal to the long time success of the program to introduce a number of refugees so [Page 214] large as to affect harmfully the general welfare of the Dominican people.
The problem for the committee is complicated by the permission granted on the part of the Dominican Government for the entry of Spanish refugees. Two thousand have already been introduced with inadequate provisions for their settlement. It is expected that two additional groups of 2,000 each will soon be brought to the country making a total of 6,000 Spaniards.
With respect to the education of public opinion in the island on the program Mr. Thomson suggested that statements published in organs such as the New York Times, La Prensa of New York City, and La Nueva Democracia of New York City, might be expected eventually to sift through to a certain number of leading persons in the Dominican Republic. He also offered, if such a move were approved by the officers in the Department charged with the responsibility for refugee matters, to make available in a personal capacity to Dr. Angel Morales, leader of the Dominican opposition, a factual statement outlining the program of the committee and its desire to take every precaution to develop the project in a way which would be ultimately beneficial to the Dominican people.
- George L. Warren, Executive Secretary of the Presidents Advisory Committee on Political Refugees.↩