This week in Jewish history | MS St. Louis denied access to disembark in Florida 02 Jun 2021 share this on
(c) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: The St. Louis, carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees, waits in the port of Hamburg. The Cuban government denied the passengers entry. Hamburg, Germany, 1939
On 4 June 1939, the MS. St. Louis, a boat carrying over 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, was refused access to disembark in Florida, United States.
The German transatlantic liner left Hamburg, Germany, on 13 May 1939, shortly after the Nazis’ annexation of Austria in March 1938, which had led to increased personal assaults against Jews during the spring and summer, followed by the Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”) pogrom in November, and the seizure of Jewish-owned property.