Why were Jewish refuges on the SS St. Louis denied entry to Cuba and what decided their fate - Essay Example

24 May 2007 History: Why were Jewish refuges on the SS St. Louis denied entry to Cuba and what decided their fate? In 1937, the Nazi-German Government inaugurated the “Aryanization” policy as a part of “the men of God and the men of Satan” (Moss, n. d., para. 7). To implement its racial policy and hence to achieve the “racial purity” of the “Aryan race”, the Nazi- German initiated a series of eugenics programs, using compulsory sterilizations and extermination of specific minorities, culminating in the Holocaust. The Nazi ideology and policies targeted first of all Jews, who were considered as the most “inferior races” of all, on a hierarchy which included the “Herrenvolk” (Master race) of the “Volksgemeinschaft” (German national community) at the top and Jews at the bottom. In November 1938, the violent anti-Semitic campaign, called Kristallnacht, or “night of the broken glass” or also known as “Pogromnacht” started, in which Jewish homes and business were destroyed and up to 200 Jews were killed in Germany. After this incident, Germany’s 600,000 decided that it was time to leave and many European Jews fled for their lives. Hundreds of ships set their voyage crossed the Atlantic carrying thousands of immigrants to new lives, primarily in the United States. The S.S. St. Louis, owned by the Hamburg-American Line (Hapag) was one such ship (Stahl, 1999, para.1-12) On May 13, 1939, the German transatlantic liner St. Louis started its voyage from Hamburg, Germany, to Havana, Cuba. On the voyage, there were 937 passengers, almost all passenger were German Jews citizens, fleeing from the Third Reich and, some were from eastern Europe, and a few were officially “stateless”. Although the majority of the Jewish passengers had already applied for U.S. visas, and they had planned to have a temporary stay in Cuba until they could get their visa approval from the United State State Department, yet there were signals that political conditions in Cuba might keep the passengers from landing there. Even the U.S. State Department in Washington, the American consulate in Havana, some Jewish organizations, and refugee agencies were all conscious about the situation yet unfortunately, the passengers themselves did not idea about the development in Havana, Cuba. The unpromising political developments in Havana, for Jewish passengers, were caused by a number of reasons. Notable among them, were the German Foreign Office and Joseph Goebbels Propaganda Ministry campaign, internal power plays in Cuba and money corruption. As the Nazis-German set their ever brutal Kristallnacht (the “Night of Broken Glass”) pogrom on November 9th, 1938, they also accelerated the pace of forced Jewish emigration, while the German Foreign Office and Joseph Goebbels Propaganda Ministry also started to implement its evil foreign policy to use other nations’ refusal to admit Jews to further the regime’s anti-Jewish goals. Entry to Cuba required written authorization from Cubas Secretaries of State and Labor. A passenger seeking permission to disembark in Cuba, had to post a bond of $500 and in return he had a certificate issued by the Cuban Director-General of Immigration. The owners of the St. Louis, the Hamburg-America Line, knew even before the ship sailed that its passengers might have trouble disembarking in Cuba as on May 5th, 1939, eight days before the ship sailed, the Cuban President Federico Laredo Bru had issued a decree invalidating all landing certificates because of a great deal of public scrutiny for the sale of landing certificates (Fay, 2005, para. 2-18). More than money, corruption, and internal power plays were at work in Cuba. The country was economically depressed, and many Cubans resented the relatively large number of refugees already in Cuba, including 2,500 Jews, who was perceived as competitors for scarce jobs. Except above mentioned causes, the hostility toward immigrants had two other roots: anti-Semitism and xenophobia. The growing animosity was being fueled by agents of Germany, as well as by indigenous right-wing movements, such as the Cuban Nazi party. Several newspapers in Havana and the provinces particularly Diario de la Marina, Avance, and Alerta published emotional stories and fueled anger and caused large anti- Semitic demonstrations by printing allegations that Jews were Communists. Both papers were owned by the influential Rivero family, which staunchly supported the Spanish fascist leader Francisco Franco (Voyage of the St. Louis, 2007, para.1- 8). . On May 28, the St. Louis arrived in Havana. Also Lawrence Berenson, an attorney representing the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), arrived in Cuba to negotiate for the St. Louis passengers. He met with the President Bru to settle the issue. Bru offered to admit the passengers if the JDC posted a $453,500 bond ($500 per passenger). Berenson made a counteroffer, which Bru rejected, and on June 2, he Issued an order to ship crew to take ship out of Cuban waters and St. Louis sailed slowly toward Miami. Sailing so close to Florida that the passenger of St. Louis could see the lights of Miami, the St. Louis crew cabled a request to President Franklin D. Roosevelt to accept the refugees yet because of the 1924 Immigration Act quota restrictions and anti-Semitism, xenophobia and nativism atmosphere, the US State Department and the White House, who had already decided not to let them enter the United States reject their request and asked to await their turns on the waiting list till to qualify for immigration visas. Following the U.S. government’s refusal to permit the passengers to disembark, the St. Louis sailed back to Europe on June 6, 1939. Jewish organizations (particularly the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) negotiated with European governments to allow the passengers to be admitted to Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. Many of the passengers in continental Europe later found themselves under Nazi rule. Thus, in the end, the St. Louis passengers had to suffer the brutality and assassination similar to those of other Jews in Nazi-occupied Western Europe. The Nazi-Germans massacred many of them either in the killing centers or in the concentration camps. Others went into hiding or survived years of forced labor while few were lucky to escape (Wartime Fate of the Passengers of St. Louis, 2007, papa. 4). In 1939, 300,000 Jews had been eliminated from the Germany. Throughout the Europe, the Nazi regime had killed between five and six million Jews during World War II (Moss, n. d., para. 9). The tragic happening of St. Louis, from its beginning till end, is a hitter question mark for today’s civilized world particularly for Western societies. In the following discussion plan, an attempt is made to fully elaborate the whole incident to find out few historical facts and figures to somehow pay homage to the St. Louis victims. The discussion plan comprises of three chapters. The first chapter deals with the study of the Nazi-Germany Racial Policy, its origin and steps taken by Nazi regime to implement it. The second chapter highlights the incidents that had occurred during 1933 to 1940 and forced the Jewish population to migrate including the St. Louis passengers. The last chapter gives the details about St. Louis whole voyage, from Hamburg, Germany, to Havana, Cuba and back to Homburg, including the United State response and contribution. Chapter 1: Hitler and the Racist Doctrine 1.1 Racial Policy its Origin and its Justification 1.2 Hitler and Racial Policy 1.3 Establishment of Nazi Dictatorship 1.4 Aryanization Chapter 2: The Era of Germanization 2.1 1933-1940 2.2 The Nuremberg Laws 2.3 The Jewish Response 2.4 The Night of Broken Glass 2.5 Stateless People Chapter 3: Voyage of the Damned 3.1 St. Louis Departure 3.2 Ill Fate Passengers 3.3 Joseph Goebbels Propaganda Campaign 3.4 Developments in Cuba 3.5 St. Louis: Money or Morality 3.5 Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and its Role 3.6 St. Louis and Media 3.6 United States Policy Response 3.7 The Voyage to Return Conclusion Bibliography Fay, S. (2005). The voyage of the damned: the tragedy of the S.S. St. Louis. [Internet], Available from: [Accessed 26 May 2007] Moss, A. (n. d.). The History of Jewish Persecution. [Internet], Available from: [Accessed 26 May 2007] Stahl, M. S. R. (1999). The S.S. St. Louis after 60 Years. [Internet], Available from: [Accessed 25May 2007]. Voyage of St. Louis. (2007). [internet], United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. Available from: [Accessed 25 May 2007]. Wartime Fate of the Passengers of St. Louis. (2007). [Internet], United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. Available from: [Accessed 26 May 2007]. Read More