Difference between revisions of "Category:MS St. Louis (subject)"

MS St. Louis (see Holocaust Children Studies)

Overview

On May 13, 1939, the Hamburg-Amerika luxury liner, MS St. Louis, sailed for Havana, Cuba, carrying 937 Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany (including 200 children). The plan was to wait there for permission to enter the US.

All passengers bore legitimate landing certificates for Cuba. However, during the two-week period that the ship was en route to Havana, the landing certificates granted by the Cuban director general of immigration in lieu of regular visas, were invalidated by the pro-fascist Cuban government. As a result, when the St. Louis reached Havana on May 27, 1939, Cuban authorities denied entry to all but 28 of the passengers. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) dispatched Lawrence Berenson to Cuba to negotiate with local officials but Cuban president Federico Laredo Bru insisted that the ship leave Havana harbor. After a week, the ship sailed to the American coast, but was denied entry.

The US government likewise refused to make any exception to the quota limits. On June 6, 1939, the ship was forced to head back to Europe. While the ship was en route to Antwerp, Belgium, Jewish aid organizations negotiated with European governments to admit the passengers rather than return them to Germany (287 to Great Britain; 214 to Belgium; 224 to France; 181 to the Netherlands). The ship docked in Antwerp, Belgium, on June 17, 1939.

Only those who were accepted by Great Britain found relative safety. The others were soon to be subject once again to Nazi rule with the German invasion of western Europe in the spring of 1940. A fortunate few succeeded in emigrating before this became impossible. In the end, 227 of the 619 St. Louis passengers who found temporary refuge in Belgium, France and the Netherlands died at the hands of the Nazis, but the majority survived the war.

The Children

• Full Passenger List

Group portrait of children on the deck of the MS St. Louis. Pictured in the front row, from left to right are: Herbert Karliner, Harry Guttmann, Hans Schelansky. In the second row: Eugene Moser, unknown, Erich Stein, Walter Karliner, and Hans Fischer.

Among those pictured are Evelyn Klein (back row, center), Herbert Karliner (front row, left), Walter Karliner (front row, second from the left), Eric Stein (front row, second from the right), and Harry Fuld (font row, far right).

Disembarked in Cuba

Disembarked in England (all saved)

• Rosi Guttmann Adler (F / Germany, 1924), Holocaust survivor
• Helga Guttmann Fixler (F / Germany, 1926), Holocaust survivor
• Harry Guttmann (M / Germany, 1928), Holocaust survivor
• Gerd-Fritz Grünstein / Gerald Granston (M / Germany, 1933), Holocaust survivor
• Hans Meyerstein (M / Germany, 1935), Holocaust survivor
• Ruth Blumenstock Mandel (F / Austria, 1938), Holocaust survivor

Disembarked in Belgium, France or the Netherlands

Emigrated to England by the Summer 1939

• Gerd Altschul / Gerry Allan (M / Germany, 1930), Holocaust survivor
• Rolf Altschul / Rolf Allan (M / Germany, 1933), Holocaust survivor

Emigrated to Morocco

• Clark Blatteis (M / Germany, 1932-2021), Holocaust survivor

Emigrated to the United States by 1942

• Friedrich Reif (M / Austria, 1927), Holocaust survivor
• Liesl Joseph Loeb (F / Germany, 1928-2013), Holocaust survivor
• Hans Fisher (M / Germany, 1928), Holocaust survivor
• Sol Messinger (M / Germany, 1932), Holocaust survivor
• Rudolf Jacobsohn / Rudolf Cohen (M / Germany, 1933), Holocaust survivor
• Liane Reif Lehrer (F / Austria, 1934), Holocaust survivor
• Thomas Jacobsohn (M / Germany, 1938), Holocaust survivor

Survived in hiding

• Walter Karliner (M / Germany, 1924), Holocaust survivor
• Herbert Karliner (M / Germany, 1926), Holocaust survivor
• Judith Köppel Steel (F / Germany, 1938), Holocaust survivor

Survived by crossing the Swiss border

• Heinz Goldstein / Henry Gallant (M / Germany, 1928-2019), Holocaust survivor
• Fritz Vendig (M / Germany, 1932-2001), Holocaust survivor
• Heiner Vendig (M / Germany, 1937-2003), Holocaust survivor

Survived in camps

• Michael Fink / Michael Barak (M / Germany, 1935), Holocaust survivor

Perished in the Holocaust

• Ruth Karliner (F / Germany, 1927-1942), Holocaust victim
• Werner Stein (M / Germany, 1936-1943), Holocaust victim
• Joachim Hirsch (M / Germany, 1937-1944), Holocaust victim

External links