The Tragedy of the S.S. St. Louis After Kristallnacht in November 1938, many Jews within Germany decided that it was time to leave. Though many German Jews had emigrated in the preceding years, the Jews who remained had a more difficult time because emigration policies had toughened. By 1939, not only were visas needed to be able to enter another country but money was also needed to leave Germany. Since many countries, especially the United States, had immigration quotas, visas were near impossible to acquire within the short time spans in which they were needed. For many, the visas were acquired after it was too late. The opportunity that the S.S. St. Louis presented seemed like a last hope to escape. The black and white ship with eight decks held room for four hundred first-class passengers (800 Reichsmarks each) and five hundred tourist-class passengers (600 Reichsmarks each). The passengers were also required to pay an additional 230 Reichsmarks for the "customary contingency fee" which was supposed to cover the cost if there was an unplanned return voyage. On Saturday, May 13, 1939, the passengers boarded.At 8:00 p.m. on that Saturday (May 13) evening, the ship sailed. Only a half an hour after the S.S. St. Louis set sail, it received a message from Claus-Gottfried Holthusen, the marine superintendent of Hapag. The message stated that the S.S. St. Louis was to "make all speed" because there were two other ships (the Flandre and the Orduna) carrying Jewish refugees and heading for Cuba. Once the Captain received a cable on May 23 which stated that the S.S. St. Louis passengers might not be able to land in Cuba because of Decree 937, he felt it wise to establish a small passenger committee. The committee was to explore possibilities if there were problems landing in Cuba. In Cuba in early 1939, Decree 55 had passed which drew a distinction between refugees and tourists. The Decree stated that each refugee needed a visa and was required to pay a $500 bond to guarantee that they would not become wards of Cuba. But the Decree also said that tourists were still welcome and did not need visas. The director of immigration in Cuba, Manuel Benitez, realized that Decree 55 did not define a tourist nor a refugee. He decided that he would take advantage of this loophole and make money my selling landing permits which would allow refugees to land in Cuba by calling them tourists. He sold these permits to anyone who would pay $150. Though only allowing someone to land as a tourist, these permits looked authentic, even were individually signed by Benitez, and generally were made to look like visas. The President of Cuba, Frederico Laredo Bru, and his cabinet did not like Benitez making a great deal of money - that he was unwilling to share - on the loophole in Decree 55. Also, Cuba's economy had begun to stagnate and many blamed the incoming refugees for taking jobs that otherwise would have been held by Cubans. On May 5, Decree 937 was passed which closed the loophole. Without knowing it, almost every passenger on the S.S. St. Louis had purchased a landing permit for an inflated rate but by the time of sailing, had already been nullified by Decree 937. Late Friday afternoon, the last full day before the ship was to arrive, Captain Schroeder received a telegram from Luis Clasing (the local Hapag official in Havana) which stated that the St. Louis would have to anchor at the roadstead. Originally planning to dock at Hapag's pier, anchoring at the roadstead had been a concession by President Bru since he still disallowed the St. Louis passengers to land. Captain Schroeder went to sleep that night wondering about this change. Though a major player in the fate of the refugees since it was he who had signed their landing permits, he continually underestimated President Bru's stance. Benitez constantly maintained that Bru would back down since the St. Louis was allowed in the harbor. He wanted $250,000 in bribes so that he could try to amend his relations with Bru and rescind Decree 937. President Bru refused to listen to Benitez' requests. Joseph Goebbels and Anti-Semitism Goebbels had decided to use the S.S. St. Louis and her passengers in a master propaganda plan. Having sent agents to Havana to stir up anti-Semitism, Nazi propaganda fabricated and hyped the passengers' criminal nature - making them seem even more undesirable. The agents within Cuba stirred anti-Semitism and organized protests. Soon, an additional 1,000 Jewish refugees entering Cuba was seen as a threat. The world followed the fate of the passengers aboard the St. Louis. Their story was covered around the world. The U.S. Ambassador to Cuba met with an influential member of the Cuban government and spoke diplomatically about the precarious position the Cubans were now in. The Ambassador had spoken without direct instructions from the President but he made the concerns of the U.S. known. The Cuban Secretary of State stated that the subject was to be determined by the cabinet. By Thursday, June 1, , Bru said he would not negotiate until the St. Louis was out of Cuban waters. The St. Louis was given notice to leave within three hours. Pleading by Schroener that he needed more time to prepare for departure, the deadline was set back until Friday, June 2 at 10 a.m. No options were left for the St. Louis, if they did not leave peacefully, they were to be forced out by the Cuban navy. The St. Louis was going to encircle Cuba, waiting and hoping for the conclusion of negotiations between the Joint representative, Lawrence Berenson, and President Bru. The Cuban government wanted $500 per refugee (approximately $500,000 in total). The same amount as required for any refugee to obtain a visa to Cuba. While the negotiations continued, the St. Louis milled around Cuba and then headed north, following the Florida coastline in the hopes that perhaps the United States would accept the refugees. At this time, it was noticed that because of the lack of time to prepare for leaving port, the St. Louis would run into food and water shortages in less than two weeks. Telegrams continued to arrive insisting the possibility of landing in Cuba or even the Dominican Republic. Once a cable arrived stating the S.S. St. Louis passengers could land on the Isla de la Juventud (formerly Isle of Pines), off of Cuba, Schroeder turned the ship around and headed toward Cuba. Around noon on Tuesday, June 6, President Bru closed the negotiations. Through a misunderstanding, the money allotment had not been agreed upon and Berenson missed a 48 hour deadline that he didn't know existed. One day later, the Joint offered to pay Bru's every demand but Bru said it was too late. The option of landing in Cuba was officially closed. With a diminishing supply of food and pressures from Hapag to return to Germany, Captain Schroeder ordered the ship to change heading to return to Europe. The following day, Wednesday, June 7, Captain Schroeder informed the passenger committee that they were returning to Europe. Though the situation was desperate there was still hope that negotiations for their landing in Europe somewhere other than Germany could be possible. Through miraculous negotiations, the Joint committee was able to find several countries that would take portions of the refugees. 181 could go to Holland, 224 to France, 228 to Great Britain, and 214 to Belgium. The passengers disembarked from the S.S. St. Louis from June 16 to June 20. Other ships were transformed to carry the passengers to their locations. http://www.blechner.com/ssstlouis.htm http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/stlouis.html
SS St Louis: The ship of Jewish refugees nobody wanted SS St Louis: The ship of Jewish refugees nobody wanted On 13 May 1939, more than 900 Jews fled Germany aboard a luxury cruise liner, the SS St Louis. They hoped to reach Cuba and then travel to the US - but were turned away in Havana and forced to return to Europe.
One of the great errors by both Cuba and the US. The fact that these people were denied admitance to either country was a disgrace. They could have been saved, but short-sightedness (and antisemitism) led to disaster for the people on the St. Louis. My heart still bleeds for them.
LRusso. Well said. They could have stopped Hitler by other ways too but still refused to see the ugly truth.
The US had admitted thousands of Jewish refugees by the time of this incident. That's never mentioned.
Sorry but can you give any source from where and numbers? That is why I put the source almost always as it is asked anyway. Lately I have tried to use BBC or other reliable sources as much as I can.Kph
I found it "Foreign Relations of the United States" when I was in Grad School. I no longer have my notes for that class, sorry. Historical Documents - Office of the Historian
L Look your discussions. Thank you. Anyway, I expected answers not possible long sites. Not how we did it back in time. We gave answers if we had the site. Long or not
The Kitten was not Yours. I am sorry I was wrong.. However reading FDR foreign relations all the parts say all. Too much.
I have over 60 ww2 movies. Thanx but no. And I am a MD, cardiologist and internal medicine doctor. Such little things and you offer me 26 disks of files to read. Very well and good night.
Are you US people such that you have to pay to get help? The site is getting really messy in my opinion. Even if you had been there since 2002 with heart and soul. And that is me for free. You guide it. You lead it. It is like saying to a ww2 invalid " well, you started it!" My time to meet old ww2f people.
Well, I'm taking morphine four times a day so I'm really sure I could be called the leading light of this place.
I put my Lyrica 150 mg 1x4 against your Morphine. The bad thing is they try to invent better treatments I do not like. The smaller light is still a light. To be honest for me physiotherapy has helped alot but still the bus is falling..
I survive, that is all. However i figured the differences out but ******** would not suit as things are not allowed here. Btw Canada youngsters lead 4-0.
