The St. Louis Ship 1939

In May of 1939, a German ship called the St. Louis left Europe with a little more than 900 Jewish refugees aboard (this is during the time of the Holocaust). It is important to realize that all the refugees on board had legitimate Visas necessary to enter the United States. The ship made a stop in Cuba, where only about twenty Jews were allowed to stay, then the ship departed for the U.S. With legal visas in hand, the hopeful Jewish refugees were denied entrance to the United States by Franklin Roosevelt.

So why were the refugees denied entrance to the United States? Legally, they should have been able to land and take refuge, but they were not allowed. The ship was sent back to Europe and the hopeful Jews were sent to concentration and labor camps. It is basically like we dangled freedom in front of their faces, then essentially denied them their last opportunity to live (since they were sent back to Europe). Sure, at the time the United States was neutral in World War II, but I don't think that is reason enough not to accept the Jews. Hitler's idea was to rid the Aryan race of anything he considered impure, and by accepting the Jews in the U.S., they wouldn't have been in Europe anymore, therefore not contributing to the problem.

The United States had the chance to save 900 lives, but it didn't even let the ship pull into the port. We may never know the true reason why they were denied entrance, but by denying, the country essentially crushed the hopes and dreams of some innocent Jewish people's lives.

The point is that victims of a genocide were knocking RIGHT AT the door of the United States; the country did not even have to go out of the way to help them, but still refused. There is something seriously wrong with this.