Source 8

‘I have replied quite definitely that under no circumstances will I permit these unfortunate people to be absorbed into our population. It is quite impossible. They are the class of people who come from the east of Europe that we do not want, and America does not want them either.’ 

February 1935, Conservative Home Secretary, William Joynson-Hicks.

In February 1935, a sympathetic Labour MP asked the Conservative Home Secretary, William Joynson-Hicks, in the House of Commons whether a number of stranded Jewish refugees could be allowed to stay permanently in Britain. This was Joynson-Hicks’s response.

Questions to consider:

1. How does Joynson-Hicks describe the Jewish refugees?
2. What are his objections to allowing the refugees to remain in Britain?
3. Why might Joynson-Hicks have mentioned that America would not accept the refugees either?