The S.S. St. Louis, part of the Hamburg-America Line (Hapag), was scheduled to take Jewish refugees from Germany to Cuba. Once the refugees arrived in Cuba they would await their quota number to be able to enter the United States.
On Saturday, May 13, 1939, the passengers boarded. Women and men; young and old. The Captain received a cable on May 23 which stated that the S.S. St. Louis passengers might not be able to land in Cuba because of Decree 937, he felt it wise to establish a small passenger committee. The committee was to explore possibilities if there were problems landing in Cuba. In Cuba in early 1939, Decree 55 had passed which drew a distinction between refugees and tourists. The decree stated that each refugee needed a visa and was required to pay a $500 bond to guarantee that they would not become wards of Cuba. While the negotiations continued, the St. Louis milled around Cuba and then headed north, following the Florida coastline in the hopes that perhaps the United States would accept the refugees. A U.S. Coast Guard ship and planes followed the St. Louis to prevent it from landing.
After being refused docking in Cuba, the St Louis turned around, setting sail again for Europe. Through miraculous negotiations, the JDC was able to find several countries that would take portions of the refugees. 181 could go to Holland, 224 to France, 228 to Great Britain, and 214 to Belgium.
The passengers disembarked from the S.S. St. Louis from June 16 to June 20. Other ships were transformed to carry the passengers to their locations.
Excerpts taken from U.S. Policy During the Holocaust: The Tragedy of S.S. St. Louis, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
Bruch-Kassel collection (AR 7229) [Digitized]
Karl Georg Fritz Kassel was born on December 19, 1897 in Frankenstein, Silesia (now Ząbkowice Śląskie, Poland). He was the son of the businessman Julius Kassel and his wife Elisabeth Johanna Kassel née Bruck, and he had one sister, Elsbeth, who later married the gentile Johannes Kowal. On May 13, 1939 Fritz Kassel left from Hamburg, Germany on the SS St. Louis for Havana, Cuba with the eventual intention to immigrate to the United States, where several of his cousins resided. The boat was turned away from Havana, and he eventually ended up in England.
George and Lillian Friedman collection (AR 7223) [Digitized]
Documents and correspondence related to the Friedmanns' emigration from Germany and Cuba via the famous S. S. St. Louis (they were the only family who disembarked in Cuba), as well as documents related to the freezing of their assets and Jewish forced contributions in Germany in 1939.
Jews in Cuba collection (AR 1801)
Clippings on the fate of Jewish refugees on board the St. Louis, 1939. Also included is a leaflet with the text ‘Gebet’ by Schalom Asch, Cuba, 1942.
Jules and Hellen Wallerstein Collection (AR 11393 C)
Clippings from US and German newspapers describing Hellen and Jules Wallerstein's experiences on the St. Louis.
La memoire du Saint-Louis (1939-2003) (MS 591) [Digitized]
Article about the SS St. Louis, published in Revue d'Histoire de la Shoa le monde Juif (181, 2004).
Nachtlicht Family collection (AR 25031) [Digitized]
Collection of personal documents of Ursula and Ilse Nachtlicht such as certificates, correspondence, photos, clippings, notebooks. Includes documents from Hildegard Lewin, including a passenger list of the "Doppelschraubenschiff Orinoco" traveling from Hamburg to Habana, Veracruz and Tampico on May 27, 1939 and a letter to Ilse dated July 7, 1939 from Beate Gabel from Rotterdam who was on the ship "St. Louis" and describes the events and current situation
Ruth Zellner Personal Accounts (AR 6437) [Digitized]
Two short manuscripts of reminiscences about her trip on the St. Louis in May 1939, one of which is in the form of a letter describing the captain of the St. Louis, Gustav Schröder.
Alex's Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and a Journey of Remembrance / Martin Goldsmith. First Da Capo Press. 2014. Print.
Denied Entry: A Survivor's Journey of Fate, Faith and Freedom / Philip S. Freund; Co-Author, Belle Anne Freund. 2011. Print.
Exil impossible: l'errance des Juifs du paquebot St-Louis / Diane Afoumado; préfacé par Serge Klarsfeld. of Collection "Racisme et EugéNisme" Paris, France: L'Harmattan, 2005.
Jewish Emigration: The S.S. St. Louis Affair and Other Cases / Introduction by John Mendelsohn. New York: Garland Pub., 1982. Print.
Refuge Denied: The St. Louis Passengers and the Holocaust / Sarah A. Ogilvie and Scott Miller. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. Print.
Voyage of the Damned / Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts. New York: Stein & Day, 1974. Print.