11 Comments
Timmi Keisel
4/24/2014 07:46:33 am
After watching the clip and reading from the book about the St. Louis voyage, I have very strong opinions on this subject. I feel that this was a moral failure. With how much hope these 900 Jews were feeling, I don’t understand how anyone could turn them away. When these people weren’t allowed into Cuba, they sailed to the US looking for an act of mercy. “America wouldn’t let us down.” Although America wasn’t in what anyone would call in a good condition economically; however, what difference would less than a thousand Jewish refugees make on such an economic crisis that affected the whole nation? Would only 900 helpless people really take that many of the jobs, foot, etc. that was in low supply? These people didn’t want a fancy house and car. They only wanted the safety of themselves and their family in a country they thought wouldn’t let them down. One thing I can’t imagine is how filled with disappointment the voyage back to Germany must have been like. If America didn’t want them, who would?
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Rachel Frantz
4/24/2014 11:57:49 am
I totally agree with your post. I especially like how you brought up the quote about how they thought America wouldn't let them down. I find it saddening that America couldn't show a little mercy and give these nine hundred people a home. Do you think accepting these Jews would have altered the events of WWII or even prevented it from occurring?
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Timmi Keisel
4/25/2014 07:15:58 am
Great question Rachel! I think it wouldn't have completely turned the war around, but I think this would have made a difference. I don't think Hitler would have stressed so much on murdering the Jews without this voyage. Whether America meant to or not, this gave the message to the Jews that no one wanted them.
Elayna Muller
4/25/2014 01:05:40 pm
I adore the part where you said that Roosevelt didn't mean to encourage Hitler and that it played a huge role in transitioning deporting Jews to murdering Jews. I hadn't thought about that!! Kudos to you lol. I hate the fact that the captain of this ship tried so hard and wished so much that the Jews would be freed only to fail them. That would be a total let down. It's not only America that didn't care, but Cuba, as well. Also, the fact that they were given so many false hopes and reassurances (such as being able to get off on the Isla de la Juventud) makes it an ever bigger moral failure in America's history.
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Keeya Marquez
4/25/2014 03:20:54 am
The S.S. St. Louis held 900 Jewish refugees who were looking for a place to escape the problems that were arising in Germany. They were denied access to each of the countries that they went to, including the United States. Thus, they were forced back to Germany. This event made Hitler realize that just deporting the Jewish people would not solve Germany's "Jewish Problem". Thus, the plan for the "Final Solution", or the complete desturction of the Jewish population, was set into place. Many of the passengers of the St. Louis were murdered. I believe that this was a moral failure on the United State's part. If 900 of our people were in danger, and had no where to go, we would want another country to shelter them for us. These Jewish refugees didn't want to take what we have, they just wanted a place where they could live safely. I cannot imagine how the passengers were feeling, they had so much faith in our country, yet we let most of them die at the hands of monsters. We could not have stopped the Holocaust from occuring, however, we could have saved a few lives simply by letting them into our country. It was only 900 people. We could have found room for them. We could have saved many of their lives. Thus, it was copmlete moral failure.
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Sabrina Lousberg
4/25/2014 09:33:59 am
Hitler was deporting Jews from Germany as an effort to rid the country of them. The S.S. St. Louis was one of the ships carrying Jewish refugees. 900 Jewish refugees were abroad the S. S. St. Louis. The ship initially sailed to Cuba where the passengers were first turned down. After being turned down in Cuba, the ship sailed to the United States in hopes of finding mercy and a new place to call home. The refugees thought, “America wouldn’t let us down,” but they were wrong. America wasn’t in the greatest place economically but who were we to turn down 900 Jewish refugees who only wanted a safe place for themselves and their families? President Roosevelt turned down the Jewish refugees. By turning down the refugees and sending them back to Germany where they weren’t wanted, I believe President Roosevelt helped sparked the fuse that led Hitler to murdering millions of Jews rather than simply deporting them somewhere else. He helped prove Hitler’s point that no one wanted the Jews around. I truly believe the way President Roosevelt chose to handle the situation with the S.S. St. Louis was a moral failure on America’s behave.
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Zane Boerner
4/25/2014 01:50:46 pm
Great Answer Sabrina! I completely agree with all of your points! It's especially disheartening that Germany went to the trouble to ship people they didn't want to only have us refuse the refugees.
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Maddy Vogel
4/27/2014 09:55:40 am
Sabrina, great post! I found your argument to be insightful and informative. You are very right in stating that FDR's rejection could have, in a way, proven that no one wanted the Jews in their own country. Accepting the refugees definitely would have saved lives. Nice job.
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Zane Boerner
4/25/2014 01:22:31 pm
The S.S. St. Louis was absolutely a moral failure on the part of the United States. I understand that the economic status of our country was not the best since we were in the worst economic crisis our country has experienced but that is absolutely no reason to turn away 900 people who had been thrown out of their own country. At the time Israel was not a country. It would not be formed for another few years, so these poor people had nowhere to turn. They had hoped that the great land of America would accept them and give them a new and hopefully better home. Instead of helping these people escape oppression we turned their ship around and sent them strait back. I know that no one could have foreseen the atrocities that these people would endure throughout this war, but when in any religion have we been taught to turn away the oppressed and fore waken when the appear on our doorstep asking, pleading for help? We have certainly not been the most morally stable country in the past with never ending issues of race, gender, and religion, but no country has ever been perfect and our first chance to begin to do the right thing on the first try presented itself in the form of these 900 helpless people. Did we help them? No we turned our back and sent them back to almost certain death. It was impossible to know that they would eventually fall back into Germany's clutches when they were accepted into the Western European countries, but why would we send them back to a continent that hadn't been stable and safe for most of the twentieth century?
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Elayna Muller
4/25/2014 01:41:05 pm
The S.S. St. Louis is known for the voyage in which it provided an escape for 937 Jewish evacuees from Germany towards Cuba and then to the United States, but was denied both. Only 847 passengers were allowed passage into either Holland, France, Great Britain, or Belgium. All 288 refugees that were allowed in Great Britain survived WWII, but one who died in an air raid; however, 254 of the refugees were killed in the Holocaust. Out of those who died, 84 had received passage into Belgium, the same number to Holland, and 86 members of the crew arrived in France. All because of the United States’ refusal to admittance. This was NOT a matter of pragmatics because the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee did more to negotiate with European governments than the US. This was a moral failure on the part of America because we could’ve stopped a war at the most and saved nearly 937 lives at the least! Roosevelt chose wrongly. I don’t care if it was due to the United States’ economy, prejudice, community, or anything: there is no excuse for such a bad decision. Because it was a BAD decision NOT good, and therefore, not morally correct. The passengers on board craved mercy and compassion, but received rejection and disapproval. Not only was it a moral failure for the U.S. but also for Cuba, Canada, Isle de la Juventud, and all of the other places that refused the S.S. St. Louis. All of these moral failures piled up in deaths not only in the Holocaust, but on the voyage to and from Germany. A few passengers were reported to have committed suicide from loss of hope, terror of returning to Germany, and/or to be freed from rejection. Pragmatics? When did they come into play?
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Kirsten Comstock
4/26/2014 02:39:51 am
The S.S. St. Louis was a moral failure on the part of the U.S. It was an escape for over 900 Jewish people who evacuated from Germany. They were headed to America and were denied entrance. Because the U.S. denied them entrance into the country they had to go to different countries. Those countries include, Holland, France, Great Britain, and Belgium. There were several hundred deaths from these evacuees leaving and going to a different country for various reasons. When they came to America in that ship, we turned them away. I do understand that we had a very unstable economic situation at that time, but sending poor people with no where to go back to where they came from was no way to handle the situation. When over 900 people return to a country they just escaped from, what else do Nazis think, but to kill them off. This was morally wrong on Americas part because think of all those lived we could have saved. The economy would have definitely changed because of all these people entering and maybe for the better. Like Zane said, what is 900 people when you have over a million? They could have possibly stopped a war and gave all those people hope again. It is never right to deny people things when they are in serious need and they needed our help and we turned our back on them and sent them straight back to the terrible place they had come from. There was no matter of pragmatics it was just flat out morally wrong.
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