In 1939 the SS St. Louis left Germany for Cuba. Aboard were over 900 Jewish refugees escaping Nazi Germany. After their two week voyage, Cuba refused them entry. The ship sailed to the US in the hopes of finding sanctuary. They could see the lights of Miami from the vessel.
The ship's captain, and many of the passengers sent ship to shore cables to the State Department and to President Franklin Roosevelt appealing for refuge. The State Department told them they must return to Germany and apply for official visas and "wait their turn". The cables to FDR went unanswered.
The ship returned to Europe. Four European nations accepted them ... three of whom were eventually over run by the Nazis.
By the end of the war, 257 of those 900 refugees would die in Nazi concentration camps and be fed into the ovens. Here are some of their pictures. You don't need to know their names, just remember what religious prejudice and hate and fear can do, and that with all our desires to be "Great Again", we failed miserably at greatness in 1939. We're failing miserably at greatness again in 2017.
Write your senators, your congressperson. Tell them, the world is watching.
