and Nazi-dominated parts of Europe...and the applicants were charged 800 francs upon receiving a visa, which was well above the regular fee, and, as was reported to me, the money was divided between one certain travel agency, through which only the Jewish applicants could get the passports from the consulate-general annex, and the Chinese consulate-general. It was evidently an illicit, unauthorized and unjustifiable attempt by the issuing group to exploit the situation of the Jews". Huang was suspended and the Waichiaopu told Koo that the visas were invalid. The leaders of several French Jewish groups met with Koo to ask him to lobby the Waichiaopu to allow the Jewish refugees to travel with the visas, arguing that through Huang was corrupt, that the refugees had purchased the visas in good faith to escape Europe. Koo did press the Waichiaopu to allow the Jewish refugees to go to China. On 22 June 1939, Koo stated he read reports in the French press of a plan to settle Jewish refugees in Yunnan province, leading him to ask his superiors what was the Chinese attitude towards accepting Jewish refugees. Koo also noted the refugees wanted to settle in Shanghai, which was the largest and most wealthiest city in China, and which had been occupied by the Japanese in November 1937. Koo argued through it was not clear if the Japanese would actually allow the Jews to settle in Shanghai, but that allowing Jewish refugees to travel to Shanghai with visas issued by the Republic of China was an important symbolic gesture that the Republic of China was still the legitimate government of all China. This was especially important as the Japanese had created the sham state of Manchukuo in Manchuria under the Emperor Puyi and the puppet "reorganized" government of Wang Jingwei that claimed to be the legitimate government of the rest of China. War in Europe On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and on 3 of September, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Koo wrote in his diary on 3 September 1939: "These are momentous days in history, the beginning of a war which may alter the face of the world and of civilization itself". Shortly afterwards, Koo suggested in a message to Chiang Kai-shek that China formally declared its wish to align with the Allied powers and to offer Chinese resources and manpower to aid the Allied cause in