MS St. Louis

MS St. Louis
Name	MS St. Louis
Caption	The MS St. Louis in port, circa 1939.

MS St. Louis. The MS St. Louis was a German ocean liner most infamous for its 1939 voyage carrying Jewish refugees seeking asylum from Nazi Germany. The ship's attempted journey to Cuba and later North America became a symbol of the international indifference to the escalating persecution in Europe during the prelude to World War II. After being denied entry by multiple nations, the vessel was forced to return to Europe, where many of its passengers ultimately perished in the Holocaust.

History and construction

The vessel was built in 1928 by the Bremer Vulkan shipyard in Vegesack for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). It was designed for the transatlantic passenger service between Germany and the Americas, competing with lines like Cunard Line and White Star Line. The ship was named after the city of St. Louis, reflecting a common practice of naming liners after major ports of call. As a modern motor ship, it featured accommodations for both tourist class and third class passengers on routes primarily to Latin America.

Voyage of the St. Louis

Under the command of Captain Gustav Schröder, the ship departed from the port of Hamburg on May 13, 1939, bound for Havana, Cuba. The voyage across the Atlantic Ocean was conducted with a degree of normalcy, including traditional Shabbat services, as Schröder insisted on treating the passengers with dignity. However, during the crossing, political conditions in Cuba deteriorated, with President Federico Laredo Brú signing a decree invalidating most of the passengers' landing certificates. Upon arrival in Havana harbor on May 27, only 28 passengers were allowed to disembark.

Passengers and refugee crisis

The ship carried 937 passengers, the vast majority of whom were Jewish refugees fleeing the increasing violence and discriminatory Nuremberg Laws in Germany and Austria. Each passenger held a legitimate landing certificate for Cuba, purchased from the Cuban director of immigration, Manuel Benitez. The passenger list included professionals, families, and children, all carrying hopes of finding safety and reuniting with relatives who had already emigrated to nations like the United States. Their plight highlighted the global refugee crisis precipitated by the policies of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich.

Diplomatic efforts and denials of entry

After being denied entry in Cuba, Captain Schröder and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) initiated frantic negotiations. The ship sailed close to the coast of Florida, hoping for permission to enter the United States. Appeals were made directly to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but the decision was influenced by restrictive policies like the Immigration Act of 1924 and officials such as the U.S. State Department's Breckinridge Long. Similar requests to Canada, directed to officials including Frederick Charles Blair and Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, were also refused.

Return to Europe and aftermath

With all avenues exhausted, the ship was forced to depart North American waters on June 6, 1939, to return across the Atlantic. Through negotiations led by the JDC's Morris C. Troper, agreements were secured for the passengers to be accepted by four European countries: Great Britain took 288; the Netherlands, 181; Belgium, 214; and France, 224. This dispersal, however, placed most passengers back in the path of the advancing Wehrmacht. Following the German invasion of France and the Low Countries in 1940, an estimated 254 passengers were later murdered in Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz and Sobibor.

Legacy and memorials

The voyage is remembered as a tragic episode of failed asylum and a harbinger of the Holocaust. It has been the subject of numerous historical works, including the book *Voyage of the Damned* by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, and a subsequent 1976 film adaptation. Memorials include a monument at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and the St. Louis Descendants group. In 2018, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized in Ottawa for his nation's role in refusing the refugees.

Category:Passenger ships of Germany Category:Holocaust Category:1939 in international relations