Today, April 24 is Yom HaShoah-Holocaust Remembrance Day. I led a service during which the guest speaker was a passenger aboard the ship St Louis. For those who do not know, the St Louis sailed from Hamburg German in May of 1939 with almost 1000 Jewish refugees from Germany. Their destination was Havana, Cuba. Once they reached Cuba, they were denied entry. The German captain, a heroic non-Jew named Gustav Shroeder then sailed for Miami. Franklin Roosevelt sent out armed Coast Guard cutters to prevent the ship from entering American waters. The refugees were so close to Miami that they could see the lights of the city. The captain then sailed the St Louis to Europe. Desperate Jewish organizations appealed to the European nations and four countries-Belgium, France, Holland and Britain agreed to accept some refugees each. Our speaker, Eva, was able to enter Britain and she and her family survived. Many of those who entered other nations died later in concentration camps.
Eva pointed out to us that Germany had a plan in allowing the St Louis to depart. The Germans wanted to demonstrate that no one wanted the Jews, and they were right. She also shared that during Krystallnacht in 1938 her father was rounded up along with hundreds of other Jewish men, labeled “non citizens” and sent to camps. Thankfully he was later released but many were not so fortunate.
Eva ended her emotional and gripping talk by saying what many of us were thinking. The parallels between 1939 Germany and 2025 America are too close to ignore. We too are rounding up those identified as “non-citizens” and sending them to camps. We too are allowing insane hatred of refugees to pervade our country.
Eva’s closing words to us were “Stand up for justice. Stand up for righteousness”. Amen, Eva. Amen.
Rabbi Doug Sagal aka “The Boxing Rabbi”-