The St. Louis Sets Sail

On 13 May 1939, the German liner St. Louis leaves Hamburg for Havana with more than 900 passengers aboard, the great majority of them Jews fleeing the Reich after Kristallnacht. They hold Cuban visas and, for many, waiting numbers to enter the United States. The master, Gustav Schröder, a non-Nazi German sailor, strives to treat his passengers with dignity.

On arrival, the drama unfolds: Cuba, against a background of political quarrels and a raised tariff, refuses to recognise most of the visas. The passengers remain blocked in the port of Havana, then the ship is ordered to depart. The approaches to the United States, off whose Florida coast the ship cruises, lead no further: Washington applies its quotas strictly.

Schröder receives the order to return to Europe. Several courses are open to him in the face of that order. Obey and bring the passengers back to the port of departure, as his superiors require? Deliberately run the ship aground near a coast to compel a rescue? Or manoeuvre and negotiate, long enough for third countries to agree to take in these men, women and children? On his decision hangs the fate of hundreds of refugees.