The Emigration Department was full of bold plans, but after the outbreak of war in September 1939, most of those who wanted to leave were unable to do so. There was no way to reach the European ports from which ships sailed to safety overseas.
It's no coincidence that Hanna Steiner was in charge of the emigration department. She was one of the few who already had the necessary contacts in the world, especially with the American humanitarian organisation Joint Distribution Committee that helped with communication with relatives abroad, but also with payments in foreign currency, with negotiations in the Caribbean and with helping refugees from the Protectorate stranded on the road to freedom. Steiner also participated in difficult negotiations with the Protectorate Ministry of Finance regarding the transfer of money from the so-called Emigration Fund, to which all the property of Protectorate citizens who were considered Jews in the light of the laws in force at the time was gradually transferred.