SS St. Louis

While reading this article, I felt that I had heard parts of this story before. However I never understood the great impact that the immigration laws had on the refugees trying escape the terror occurring in Europe. The SS St. Louis was allowed to leave Europe with its passengers preparing to move to Cuba. When they had arrived in Cuba the refugees were not allowed to enter the Country despite the fact that they had visas. This was a scheme created by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, he was attempting to show the Jews that no Country wants them. I think this is a horrible thing to do, especially because the Nazi’s were already torturing them enough in their homelands. The ship sailed away from Cuba and the refugees were not admitted into the United States. The article states, “President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that the United States could not accept any more European refugees because of immigration quotas.” This is one of the worst decisions I have ever heard a President make. America is not isolated; they knew there were problems because many people had been trying to immigrate to the United States. The government should have accepted the passengers of the SS St. Louis despite the Great Depression going on in America. There would have been more people, but that means that there could have been more people to help try and bring the depression to an end. I do want to mention that America did accept 105,000 people from Nazi Germany; at least not everyone was turned away. As an interesting side note, Albert Einstein was one of the refugees who were admitted to the United States. It makes me think of how many people like him could have been brought to America if it was not for the strict immigration quotas.

Due to the fact that these European refugees were not accepted into any Country, they were all sent back to Europe. Two months after their return, World War II began. Over 600 of the 937 passengers were killed during the war. The article says the American people felt great “shame” when they learned of this information after the War concluded. I feel that they should feel shame; they could have saved those people’s lives if they had just changed the quotas. This was a desperate time throughout the World, but everyone should be able to live in a place where they feel safe. In future instances I hope that the American government will ignore the quotas and help people who are fleeing for their lives.

citation
"SS St. Louis journey." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 30 Jan. 2010.