June 7, 1939 - Captain Gustav Schroeder - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Captain of St. Louis informs Jewish passengers they must return to Europe. In Germany on November 9 and 10, 1938, Nazi troops went on a rampage, killing 91 Jews, arresting 30,000, sending many to concentration camps and destroying thousands of Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues. Following this event, known as Kristallnacht, Jews tried desperately to flee Germany. However, very few countries were willing to take more than their allotted quotas. On May 13, 1939, 937 men, women and children – 900 of them Jewish – set sail on the S.S. St. Louis for Cuba. The United States was their ultimate destination, but having obtained only Cuban visas, they were willing to wait until the Americans would let them in. Unfortunately for them, the Cuban administration changed while the boat was still at sea. Fearful of Jews taking precious jobs, and with Nazi propaganda saying the ship was loaded with criminals, 40,000 Cubans demonstrated against Jewish immigrants. When the ship arrived on May 27, the government claimed that only 28 passengers held valid passports, six of them Jewish. Captain Gustav Schroeder tried in vain to have other countries take the passengers. But U.S. President Roosevelt would not respond to their cables and the Coast Guard fired a warning shot in the ship’s direction off the coast of Florida. Canada was their last hope, but Prime Minister Mackenzie King said this was not a "Canadian problem." When asked how many Jewish people fleeing the Nazis could enter Canada, one Canadian official responded, “None is too many.” On June 7, 1939, Captain Schroeder informed the passengers they would be sailing back to Europe. Jewish groups were able to persuade Belgium, Holland, France and England to take the passengers. Of course, only those in England survived, as the Nazis occupied the other countries.

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