Incident With Transatlantic Liner St. Louis With Jewish Refugees In 1939

Throughout the 1920s, Adolf Hitler began to consolidate power and gain popularity in Germany’s Bavarian region. Due to economic instability caused by the Great Depression, Hitler and supporters in the Nazi party were able to seize control of Germany. Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 and immediately began enacting laws to support his ideas on the superiority of the Aryan race. In 1933 Dachau concentration camp opened for political prisoners, really anyone who opposed Hitler and the Third Reich. In 1935, Hitler announced the Nuremberg laws, which excluded German Jews from citizenship and from intermarriage with German “Purebloods”.

As restrictions increased, Jews attempted to escape to other countries. In 1939, 937 Jewish refugees boarded the St. Louis in an attempt to emigrate to the United States, but were turned away at the border. The Third Reich tragically used this refusal to support their Anti-Semitic laws, saying it proved the inferiority of the Jewish race. Although many of these refugees were eventually accepted into other nations, about 656, perished in the concentration camps which were designed for that purpose. Although the Allied forces eventually triumphed and liberated the camps, including Buchenwald, many millions had already sadly lost their lives, and individuals as well as governments were forced to reckon with the decisions they made in turning away refugees or not getting involved sooner.

Adolf Hitler began his political career when he joined the German workers Party , this experienced paved the way for him to create National , Socialists, German workers(Nazi), and also the Nazi Party in 1920 . Hitler becomes chancellor in 1933, Changing its name to Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers’ party), which was abbreviated to Nazi. On 24 March 1933, the Reichstag passed an ‘Enabling law’, which gave the Nazi party the power to make laws without parliamentary approval. The Nazis acted quickly with beginning a campaign of violence and terror against Communists and other opponents. Their campaign also involved banning opposition newspapers, leaflets and meetings.The Nazis’ campaign also involved anti-communist and anti semitic propaganda, using the radio, newspapers, leaflets, rallies and all other methods that they could. Once Paul Von Hindenburg died , Adolf Hitler becomes dictator of Germany under the title of fuhrer (leader) .

For Adolf Hitler, the goal of a legally established dictatorship was now within reach. On March 15, 1933, a cabinet meeting was held during which Hitler and Göring discussed how to obstruct what was left of the democratic process to get an Enabling Act passed by the Reichstag. This law would hand over the constitutional functions of the Reichstag to Hitler, including the power to make laws, control the budget and approve treaties with foreign governments. But the economic views of the party were overshadowed by the Nazis’ fervent nationalism, which blamed Jews, communists, the Treaty of Versailles and Germany’s horrible democratic government for the country’s devastated economy. The German Workers’ Party now featured Hitler as the main attraction at its meetings. In his speeches Hitler railed against the Treaty of Versailles and delivered anti-Semitic tirades, blaming the Jews for Germany’s problems. Attendance slowly increased, numbering in the hundreds.

Hitler’s plans to re-arm Germany were also popular. By recruiting a large army and building a whole new navy and air force, he would be able to reduce unemployment. With so many people out of work, this was an appealing prospect. Germany’s economy was in such a poor state that Hitler’s promise of strong government and stability was widely supported and not least by industrialists. By attacking Jews in the world of business, Hitler appealed to their non-Jewish rivals.

Adolf Hitler announced the Nuremberg Laws on September 15, 1935.The Nuremberg Race Laws were of two pieces of legislation: the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor. The Reich Citizenship Law striped jews of their German citizenship and introduced them to separation and designating Jews as subjects. During the Nazi era, German authorities reintroduced the Jewish badge as a key element in their plan to persecute and eventually to destroy the Jewish population. They used the badge not only to classify and humiliate Jews but also to segregate them and to watch and control their movements. The badge also easier for deportation.The antisemitism was very important to the Nazi party because the Nazi party ordered anti-jewish economic boycotts, book burnings, and made the law discriminatory anti-jewish legislation.

In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws defined Jews by “blood” and ordered the total separation of so-called ‘Aryans’ and ‘non-Aryans,” thereby legalizing a racist hierarchy. When Nazi officials started the Jewish badge on June 22, 1941 , they did so in an orderly manner, as a intro to deporting Jews to ghettos and killing centers in German-occupied eastern Europe.. A variety of badges were worn in different regions during the short time between the German invasion and the mass killing of Jews throughout the Soviet Union. The Nazis established more than 400 ghettos in order to isolate Jews from the non-Jewish population and from neighboring Jewish communities. The Germans started this to control and segregate the Jews in a orderly manner, they also enforced this to stop the Jews, viewed by the Nazis as an inferior race, from mixing with and the superior Aryan race. The Final solution was the final and last plan for the Naziś to eliminate and push the Jewish population during world war 2. It was done through a series of stages , first the star of david , the ghettos, then the concentration camps.

After the Jewish community realized that the Nazis were aiming to wipe out their people, they made plans to leave Nazi occupied areas when they boarded the St. Louis. In May 1939, the German liner St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany, to Havana, Cuba, carrying 937 passengers, almost all Jewish refugees.After the St. Louis arrived in Havana, the passengers learned that the Cuban government had canceled their landing permits .Like the United States and the Americans in general, Cuba struggled with the Great Depression. Many Cubans resented the relatively large number of refugees (including 2,500 Jews), whom the government had already admitted into the country, because they appeared to be competitors for scarce jobs. Cuba, U.S, and Canada all denied entry to the passengers.

Gustav Schroeder , the captain of the ship , tried to find homes for these people but because of their immigration policies he failed . Even though many Jews emigrated to Germany in the past years, the jews who remained had a more difficult time leaving because the immigration policies everywhere were strict which resulted in limited opportunities for these refugees. The immigration Act 1924 limited the number of immigrants allowed into the U.S through a quota. The St. Louis was headed for Cuba, but for most of the Jews aboard, their main destination was the United States. Most of the passengers had applied for US visas, and were planning to move from Cuba to the US once a visa became available for them. Immigration policies were shaped by fears of communist infiltrators and Nazi spies. The Nazis did not try to stop the Jews from fleeing because they knew the U.S was aware of how they were being treated and they would come by the thousands.

Among the treaties, the 1919 Treaty of Versailles held Germany responsible for starting the war. Germany became liable for the cost of massive material damages. Germany lost 13 percent of its territory, including 10 percent of its population. The most humiliating part of the treaty for defeated Germany was Article 231, known as the ‘War Guilt Clause.’ This clause forced the German nation to accept complete responsibility for starting World War I Which meant, all that power and wealth was given to Germany’s enemies, who got stronger. The Treaty restricted the Germans’ armed forces to only 100,000 men in the army, no submarines or aeroplanes, and only six battleships. Which resulted compulsory enlistment (soldiers had to be volunteers). The idea was to reduce Germany’s armed forces to a size where they could never endanger the countries roundabout. After WW1 unemployment was a major feature of the German economy.

The Wall Street Crash during the autumn of 1929 had terrible consequences. Between 1929 and 1933, high unemployment led to severe poverty in Germany.As economies were linked together, the rest of the world suffered too.The Great Depression affected all capitalist economies in the world. American banks immediately withdrew the loans they had made to Germany. Businesses closed, unemployment rose and inflation was rampant. German money had so little value, that it might take a wheelbarrow full of money just to buy a few groceries ! During the 1920s, the German economy had been supported by loans from American banks. After the Wall Street Crash, the Americans wanted their money back and called in the loans. America gave Germany just 90 days to start repayment. Germany could not pay. As in America, German businesses failed.

In conclusion , Anti-semitism is still alive in Germany today . According to USA Today news ,In 2016, Germany recorded 1,468 anti-Semitic incidents, an increase feld University in western Germany, 62% of Jewish respondents said they experience anti-Semitism in their everyday lives, while 28% said they were victims of verbal attacks or harassment in the past year. previous years that has put Germany’s Jewish community on edge, According to a recent survey by the Bielef. A couple of generations after the Holocaust resulted in the murder of over 6 million jews , which is the greatest genocide in human history that still affect us today . The anti-Semitic sentiment has become more pubic and virulent, said Tanaev, 32. ‘When I arrived in Germany … I never saw such displays.’ Tanaev explains that how he feels threatened and under attack at times in Germany . When telecommunications manager Mikhail Tanaev emigrated to Germany in 1998 from his native Russia as a teen, his Jewish faith didn’t matter to classmates or neighbors.