Only the Dominican Republic agreed to accept additional refugees. But most countries, including the United States and Great Britain, offered excuses for not letting in more refugees. Taylor, a businessman and close friend, to represent the United States at the conference.ĭuring the nine-day meeting, delegate after delegate rose to express sympathy for the refugees. In early July 1938, delegates from 32 countries and a number of non-governmental aid organizations met at the French resort of Evian on Lake Geneva. Roosevelt called for an international conference that would discuss the plight of refugees seeking to flee Nazi Germany and establish an international organization to work for an overall solution to the refugee problem. The US Congress had established immigration quotas in 1924 that sharply limited the number of immigrants from certain countries and discriminated against countries whose populations were considered racially or ethnically undesirable.įollowing the Anschluss, President Franklin D. A substantial percentage tried to go to the United States but were unable to obtain the necessary immigration visas. It was difficult for them to find countries willing to take them in, however, especially since the Nazi regime did not allow them to take most of their assets out of the country. Increasing persecution and public displays of cruelty and violence following the Anschluss persuaded many German and Austrian Jews that they should emigrate. After Germany annexed Austria (the Anschluss) in March 1938, however, an additional 185,000 Jews came under Nazi rule. By 1938, about 150,000 German Jews had already left. The national cloth made up of woven strips of cotton or silk was called faso dan fani (this will be the subject for another post).Įnjoy this video, and travel to Burkina Faso, the land of the upright people.Evian Conference Between 19, the Nazis sought to make Germany judenrein (cleansed of Jews) by making life so difficult for the 525,000 German Jews that they would be forced to leave their country. Sankara was then addressed as the PF or the President of the Faso.
Thus, Thomas used three of the main languages in his country to choose a name that was truly representative of the country and its people. The people of the country are known as the Burkinabé, where the suffix ‘bé’ comes from the Foufouldé language spoken by the Peulh people (a tribe found in many countries across West Africa), and means ‘men or women’. Thus the Burkina Faso is ‘ the land of upright people‘ or ‘ the land of honest people‘. Burkinafrom Mòoré means ‘ men of integrity‘, while Fasoin Diouala means ‘ fatherland‘. He chose two names after two main languages of the country: the Moore (or Mossi language) and the Dioula. Well, on 4 August 1984, Thomas Sankara, with his usual charisma and revolutionary spirit, decided to change the country’s name to Burkina Faso. No wonder the name needed to change, as it had no real meaning! Thomas Sankara a Ouagadougou The Volta river also flew into Ghana, which was never known as the ‘Lower Volta’. Since the river had three tributaries: the Black Volta, the white Volta, and the red Volta, Upper Volta’s flag also had those three colors. Thus Upper Volta was named for the region above the Volta river flowing in the area the people of that country/area where thus known as the ‘Voltaics’ ( Voltaiques in French). Originally, Haute Volta or Upper Volta, was just given by the European colonizer, the French, more as an indicator or geographic pointer, and had no real attachment to the people of that region themselves. Burkina and then Faso? or even simply two names in its history: Upper Volta and then Burkina Faso? Well, the country named Upper Volta was given a new name in 1984 by then President Thomas Sankara, who chose the name Burkina Faso. Have you ever wondered about the name of the country Burkina Faso? Why would a country have two names, i.e.
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