WHAT%20IS%20A%20REFUGEE?

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WHAT IS A REFUGEE?

• According to the United Nations High Commission
  on Refugees (UNHCR), a refugee is someone who has
  been forced to flee his or her country because of
  persecution, war, or violence.
• Reasons include
• RACE
• RELIGION
• NATIONALITY
• MEMBERSHIP IN A PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUP OR
  POLITICAL OPINION
• A refugee is outside the country of his
  nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such
  fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the
  protection of that country

2
WHAT IS ASYLUM?

• According to the United States Citizenship and
  Immigration Services, asylum is the legal
  protection granted to people in the United States
  who are afraid to return to their home country. 
• Asylum may be granted to people who are already
  in the United States and who are unable or
  unwilling to return to their home country because
  of persecution or a well-founded fear of
  persecution on account of
• RACE
• RELIGION
• NATIONALITY
• MEMBERSHIP IN A PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUP OR
  POLITICAL OPINION

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The St. Louis Voyage of the Damned
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• The S.S. St. Louis was part of the
  Hamburg-America Line of ships
• Sailed from Hamburg, Germany to ports around the
  world
• During the Great Depression turned to cruises to
  make revenue
• Ship had eight decks
• Room for four hundred (400) first-class
  passengers and five hundred (500) tourist-class
  Passengers.

WHAT
S.S. ST. LOUIS
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WHO
1. The German Government (NAZIS)

• Sanctioned 1938 pogrom, Kristallnacht
• NAZIS freely attacked Jews everywhere in
  Germany
• 96 Jews killed
• Hundreds injured
• Over 1000 synagogues burned
• Almost 7500 Jewish businesses destroyed
• Cemeteries and schools vandalized
• 30,000 Jews arrested sent to concentration
  camps

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2. The Jews
WHO

• After Kristallnacht, many Jews wanted to leave
  Germany
• Most forced out of their jobs
• Charged high rents
• Many did not have the money to buy passage on the
  St. Louis
• Relatives outside of Europe sent money others
  pooled their money
• Men, Women, Young, Old
• 936 Jewish passengers

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3. The Captain and Crew
WHO
Captain Gustav Schroeder

• Captain Schroeder was a non-Jewish, anti-Nazi
• German
• St Louis had a crew of 231
• Schroeder refused to return the ship to Germany
• until all the passengers had been given entry
  to
• some other country

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4. The Cuban Government
WHO

• Cubas Director General of
• ImmigrationColonel Manuel Benites
• signed official landing documents for
• each passenger
• President Bru declared the landing
• certificates were sold illegally by Benites,
• thus making them invalid
• Those holding the visas were not allowed
• to leave the ship

Cuban President Federico Bru
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• On Saturday, May 13, 1939, the SS St. Louis set
  sail from Hamburg, Germany for Havana, Cuba

WHEN
May 1939 May 1939 May 1939 May 1939 May 1939 May 1939 May 1939
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WHERE
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WHY

• U.S. President at this time was
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• U.S. trying to recover from The Depression
• Congress not supportive of refugees coming in and
  possibly taking jobs
• FDRs Cabinet Members, Cordell Hull and Henry
  Morgenthau tried to get Cuba to accept the
  refugees, without success
• Washington ignored the situation of
• the St. Louis
• Hitler saw this unfold and realized that the Jews
  would have very little support from America and
  other countries, against his plans to eliminate
  European Jewry