28 Days in the District: The Holocaust - Voyage of the St. Louis

Washington, D.C. is home to one of the world's largest museums dedicated to remembering the victims of the Holocaust, one of the most horrific and devastating events in history. I had visited the museum once before at the age of ten, but this time I vowed to take the time to get the full effect of the experience. Instead of simply repeating how sad the Holocaust was without gaining a thorough understanding of it, I wanted to delve deeper into the machinations of the Nazi regime and the terror undergone by the Jews and others the Third Reich deemed "outcasts", so I would not be numb and desensitized to the disgraceful injustice that Hitler called "The Final Solution." On Tuesday that opportunity came, and I discovered just how many things they do not teach in school. A particular event about which I learned a lot is the Voyage of the St. Louis. It probably resonated more because of the United States' involvement in it (or lack thereof). In May 1939, a transatlantic ship called the St. Louis, full of Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany, left for Cuba. Many of these passengers intended to enter the United States eventually, and had applied for American visas. Upon arrival in Havana, however, only 28 passengers were permitted to disembark. Cuba, enduring its own internal problems and being influenced by antisemitic propaganda, denied the other 908 aboard the St. Louis entry. After some unsuccessful negotiations, Captain Gustav Schroeder decided to sail north to Miami. While nearing the Miami shores, some of the passengers tried to contact President Franklin Roosevelt, but he did not respond. Although American diplomats tried to intervene and convince the Cuban government to allow the passengers to enter, President Bru would not budge. American citizens claimed to be sympathetic to the refugees, but only about 17% actually wanted to let them in. Roosevelt could have signed an executive order to allow the refugees in despite the United States' satisfied immigrant quota, but he knew how harmful that might be to his second re-election. A few members of Congress made attempts to help the refugees by passing a bill, but the bill did not go through. After both the US and Cuba refused to have mercy on the distressed and once hopeful refugees, the ship returned to Europe, where the refugees were dispersed throughout Great Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Almost all of those who were admitted into Great Britain survived, while half of those in the other three countries were ultimately killed by the Nazis.

Many journalists wrote with sympathetic tones about the St. Louis' passengers not being allowed to disembark. Few urged the government to do something about it. That seems to be an accurate reflection of the general attitude of the US at the time. The US pretended to care but few wanted to take action. I cannot blame President Roosevelt and other US officials simply for not letting the refugees in. I do challenge their laissez-faire attitudes though. While I would like to believe that if Roosevelt knew what kind of horrors many of these refugees would ultimately endure, he would have cared more about helping them than being elected again, it is sad knowing that probably about 250 lives could have been saved and 700 more lives could have been improved. I can only hope that we learn from this despairing episode of the Holocaust.