Story of the Ship Saint Louis - Admission/Application Essay Example

Story of the Ship St. Louis (1939) On 13th May 1939, St. Louis ship departed from Hamburg carrying 937 Jews who were refugees fleeing from the harsh rules they were being subjected to by the Nazis under their leader Adolf Hitler. Before the departure, all the Jews had Cuban landing certificates signed and approved by Benitez Gonzales, Cuba’s immigrations directori. Therefore, according to the refugees, having Cuban landing certificates was enough proof that they were to receive asylum in Cuba but this was never to happen. According to Schroder, the ship’s captain, St. Louis was heading to the republic of Cuba where the refugees had planned to seek for asylum until their applications to reside in the US was approved (Wood). Although the final departure from Hamburg was a sigh of relief to the Jewish refugees considering the fact that they underwent a lot of torture during their stay in Nazi camps, their joy was short lived. This is because, a week after the refugees departure from Hamburg to Cuba is when they learnt of Frederico Bru decree stating that the refugees not be granted permission to enter the nation (Wood). In this study, the researcher seeks to relay varied dehumanizing experiences encountered by refuges after their denial of access to Cuba and US. After several days on cruise, on 27th May, St. Louis finally docked in Cuba but was denied access to the normal docking section. It was when they got information that there was a strict order not to let the refugees in Cuba. Though the 937 refugees had genuine visas, they could not enter the nation neither as refugees nor as tourists because of the law amendments that had taken place on May 5 (Wood). Due to this, the Jewish refugees remained in the ship while international talks began to see whether the Cuban government could grant asylum to the refugee. Numerous efforts were made in an attempt to make president Frederico change his decision (“USHMM”). After intensive negotiations, the conclusion was that the JDC pay a total of $ 453000 in order for the Jews to be granted asylum in Cuba. The JDC was given a deadline of submitting the funds but unfortunately they never met the deadline and as a result, the ship was forced to leave Cuba (Rozzet & Spector 419). The fact that these refugees invaded camps is enough proof that they had no information on the latest news about Cuban statutes. Although the company that owns the St Louis ship was aware of that the journey was likely to be unsuccessful, the company still granted the ship permission to cruise. According to the Cuban law, the refugees were only to enter Cuba if they got an approval notice from the nation’s labor secretary in addition to paying a bond of $ 500 (“USHMM”). Although these statutes were already law, majority of the refugees were not unaware of their existence. This is because of the refugees were subjected to poor living conditions in camps to the extent that they could not even have access to the ongoing current affairs around the globe. Considering the living conditions of the Jewish refugees, it was obvious that the refugees had gone through a lot of effort to raise money required for the purchase of visas that were later on termed illegal by the Cuban government hence no compensations were ever made to them. It was evident that the Cuban government had been marred with corrupt whereby some officials such as Benitez Gonzales, Cuba’s immigrations director, took advantage of the situations to garner large sums of money by selling illegal landing documents to the ignorant refugees that were in a hurry to leave Hamburg. According to research, through selling of illegal documents, Gonzales managed to raise $ 1,000,000 whereby he received a lot of criticism both locally and from foreign nations that made him finally quit his job (“USHMM”). After days of waiting and hoping that President Fredrerico will reconsider his statement and grant them permission in to the nation, Frederoco still maintained his stand and this time he was sterner than before to the extent that he had given captain Schroder an ultimatum whereby he was to leave Havana or force be applied (“Jewish Virtual Library”). Once it was obvious that the Cuban government will not change the decision, captain Schroder decided to seek for asylum elsewhere. This was quite unfortunate since apart from the refugees being disappointed for being denied asylum in Cuba, many Cubans were also not happy by the government’s decision to send the refugees away without even replenishing their food supply that was quite low. St. Louis departed from the Cuban coastline and began heading toward Europe. During the journey back to Europe, captain Schroder went through Florida hoping that the US government will allow the ship dock but this never happened. Although the US was willing to accept the refuges but the law could not allow it. This is because according to the US law, there were a maximum number of refugees that that were allowed in the nation annuallyii. Therefore, to ensure maintenance of this number, US had a procedure in which refugees were to apply and request permission to reside in the nation. Seeking asylum in the US required one to apply stating the reason as to why the US should give him or her asylum. After application, the applicant was normally required to wait since the approval process took a much longer period because of the long list of applicants who apply on a daily basis (“USHMM”). Since by taking refugees would have been a breach of contract, the US never responded on the refugees pleas. Apart from the US, St Louis also passed through Canada but just like the United States and Cuba, they were not successful. Through vigorous negotiations and pleads by captain Schroder, the refuges finally got asylum in various nations. For instance whereas France only accepted 224 of the refugees, other states such as Holland, Britain and Belgium took 181,228 and 214 respectfully (“Jewish Virtual Library”). According to Charles Blair, Canada’s immigrations director, the refugees were not to be allowed in Canada because once they are granted asylum, this would trigger more Jewish refugees to follow suit, and just like other nations Canada was not ready for such a huge number of people (Wood). After being denied asylum in all these nations, the ship finally opted to go back to Europe, a move that saw many refugees aboard attempt suicide because according to them death was far much better compared to returning to Hamburg where they were being subjected to torture and merciless killing by the Nazis (Wood). Since some of the refugees had committed suicide by jumping into the Atlantic, captain Schroder opted seek asylum in other nations within Europe. At some point, Schroder had decided to set the ship ablaze once they near the shores of Great Britain so that the refugees can flee in to the nation for safetyiii. However, captain Schroder’s plan did not go through because once the ship reached Antwerp, Belgium, other nations such as France, Holland and Britain were present and each of the state took a small percentage of the refugees. Whereas ships transporting refugees from Germany to nations south of America had made many journeys, the journey made by St Louis was significant to the extent that numerous film and documentaries emerged in the memory of this journey (Kushner 1). What made the St. Louis cruise different from other cruise that had occurred prior and even after it is the fact that captain Schroder made numerous efforts in a move to ensure that the refugees do not go back to Germany. Although captain Schroder had received numerous criticism and insults while his ship was still docked in Havana, he stood firm in his campaign of ensuring that refuges receive asylum (Kushner 1). After St. Louis permission to disembark in Havana was declined, Captain Schroeder went ahead pleaded with a number of nations on the behalf of the refuges. Apart from Cuba, Schroder went to Florida and Canada but none was willing to let the ship dock in their waters. Due to captain Schroeder’s effort, the Jewish refugees finally managed to obtain asylum in nations such as Britain, Holland and Belgium although most of them perished in the holocaust where more than 6 million Jews were brutally murdered during the Nazi regimeiv. Although the St Louis was bombed in 1944 by the Royal Air force, it was later on converted into a hotel. The ship served as a floating hotel and attracted a number of tourists from all over the world who came just to have a glance at the ship in addition to taking a tour inside. The ship served as a hotel until 1950 where it was dismantled (Wood). According to Ogilvie and Miller (13), those refugees picked by Britain survived the holocaust but unfortunately, the remaining refugees that went to nations such as Holland and Belgium never survived for long since the Nazi revolution finally managed to overrun these nations. On 13th May 1939, St Louis ship departed from Hamburg carrying 937 Jews who were refugees fleeing from the harsh rules they were being subjected to by the Nazis under their leader Adolf Hitler. After several days on cruise, on 27th May, SS St Louis finally docked in Cuba but was denied access to the normal harboring section. It was when they got information that there was a strict order not to let the refugees in Cuba. The Jewish refugees remained in the ship while international talks began to see whether the Cuban government could grant asylum to the refugee. Numerous efforts were made in an attempt to make president Frederico change his decision. Once it was obvious that the Cuban government will not change the decision, captain Schroder decided to seek for asylum elsewhere. After being denied asylum in other nations such as Canada and Florida, the refugees were finally given asylum in Britain, Holland and Belgium. Studies show that the only refugees that survived were those that went to Britain, the rest of the Jews perished in the holocaust in the Nazi revolution. Work Cited Jewish Virtual Library. US Policy During the Holocaust: The Tragedy of S.S. St. Louis. 2014. Web. 7th April 2014. Kushner, Tony. "Refuge Denied: The St Louis Passengers And The Holocaust. Sarah A. Ogilvie & Miller, Scott." Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 11.1 (2012): 131-132. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Ogilvie, Sarah A, and Miller, Scott. Refuge Denied: The St. Louis Passengers and the Holocaust. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. Internet resource Rozzet, Robert & Spector, Shmuel. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. London: Routledge. 2013. Print USHMM. “Voyage of the St. Louis” 10th June 2010. Web. 7th April 2014. < http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005267> Wood, Richard. "June 7, 1939: Prime Minister Mackenzie King Turns Away Jewish Refugees On Board The $$ St. Louis." Beaver 87.3 (2007): 12-13. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Read More