Shanna Kelly's List: The St.Louis

• May 13, 1939, the German transatlantic liner St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany, for Havana, Cuba.
• 938 passengers, one of whom was not a refugee.
• Almost all were Jews fleeing from the Third Reich. Most were German citizens, some were from Eastern Europe, and a few were officially "stateless."
• majority of the Jewish passengers had applied for U.S. visas, and had planned to stay in Cuba only until they could enter the United States.
• pogrom of November 9-10, 1938, the German government had sought to accelerate the pace of forced Jewish emigration
• , Manuel Benitez Gonzalez

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• On May 13 1939 the SS St. Louis set sail from Hamburg for Havana
• e 937 Jewish refugees fleeing persecution from Nazi Germany after the horror of Kristallnacht,
• . It was one of the last ships to leave Nazi Germany before Europe was engulfed in war.
• . Subsequent negotiations with the Cuban government to permit the landing ended in failure.
• refused to let the ship dock, in keeping with its straitjacket of a refugee policy, which would only tighten as the war progressed. After waiting 12 days in the port of Havana and off the Miami coast, the boat was forced to return to Europe.
• the Belgian King and Prime Minister agreed that 200 passengers could land in Belgium.
• r St. Louis passengers found themselves under Nazi rule and did not survive the Holocaust

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• After Kristallnacht in November 1938
• By 1939, not only were visas needed to be able to enter another country but money was also needed to leave Germany.
• The opportunity that the S.S. St. Louis presented seemed like a last hope to escape.
• to take Jewish refugees from Germany to Cuba.
• four hundred first-class passengers (800 Reichsmarks each) and five hundred tourist-class passengers (600 Reichsmarks each). The passengers were also required to pay an additional 230 Reichsmarks for the "customary contingency fee" which was supposed to cover the cost if there was an unplanned return voyage.
• most Jews did not have this kind of money.
• Some of these passengers had money sent to them from relatives outside of Germany and Europe while other families had to pool resources to send even one member to freedom.
• One passenger, Aaron Pozner,
• While interned at Dachau, Pozner witnessed brutal murders by hanging, drowning, and crucifixion as well as torture by flogging and castrations by a bayonet.²
• Pozner was released from Dachau on the condition that he leave Germany within fourteen days.
• Though his family had very little money, they were able to pool enough money to buy a ticket for him to board the S.S. St. Louis.
• Beaten and forced to sleep amongst bloody animal hides on his journey to reach the ship, Pozner boarded with the knowledge that it was up to him to earn the money to bring his family to freedom.
• Captain Gustav Schroeder had given the 231 member crew stern warnings that these passengers were to be treated just like any others.
• two stewards even carried Moritz and Recha Weiler's luggage for them since they were elderly.
• one crew member who was disgusted by this policy and was ready to make trouble, Otto Schiendick the Ortsgruppenleiter.
• he was a courier for the Abwehr (German Secret Police).
• pick up secret documents about the U.S. military from Robert Hoffman in Cuba. This mission was code-named Operation Sunshine.

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