S.S. St. Louis Turned Away

In 1939 the S.S. St. Louis, carrying passengers from Europe, mostly Jews who where trying to escaping the holocaust, was turned away by the U.S. goverment. On board was 937 passengers. Out of those 619 were sent to France, Holland or Belgium and fell under the occupation of Nazi rule. Of those 260 were deported to concentration camps and killed. The passengers onboard the ship were either rescued or prosecuted.

Some of the passengers that were turned away in 1939 now live in the United States. One passenger reflected on the event. He rembers when the U.S. Coast Guard rescued 125,00 Cubans in the Mariel boatlift of 1980. Today he can still not understand why such a big country like the United States would not allow 937 people in.