Haunting Twitter feed remembers Jewish refugees turned away by US
Project launched on Holocaust Remembrance Day recalls names, fates of Jews aboard MS St. Louis who were denied asylum in 1939
Ben Sales is a news editor at The Times of Israel
JTA — In May 1939, as the Holocaust was beginning, the United States turned away the MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 937 mostly Jewish refugees from Europe. Returning to Europe, 288 were taken in by Great Britain; of those trapped in Western Europe when Germany conquered the continent, 254 died.
Now a Twitter feed is recalling their names and their deaths, one by one.
@Stl_Manifest, launched Friday, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, goes line by line through the ship’s manifest, or list of passengers, then tells how each passenger was killed. Some of the posts include photos.
The St. Louis set sail from Hamburg carrying 937 Jewish refugees on May 23, 1939. Twenty-nine were able to disembark in Havana, though the Cuban government wouldn’t allow the rest to enter. Subsequent appeals to the United States to let the refugees enter through Miami were rejected. A 1924 law severely restricted immigration from Germany, and anti-immigrant sentiment was prevalent in the United States at the time.
My name is Willi Dublon. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered in Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/E1VvT43351
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 28, 2017
My name is Werner Stein. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered in Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/nCgt9V33xm
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 28, 2017
My name is Günther Heilbrun. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered in Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/yLoNgtkD0c
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
The feed, a project of Russel Neiss, a Jewish educator, comes as the question of admitting refugees is again roiling the country. A draft order signed Friday by President Donald Trump temporarily bars all refugees from being admitted to the United States, and also bans nationals of several Muslim-majority countries from entering.
My name is Lutz Grünthal. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered in Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/DyS8NXrk2P
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Margot Hirsch. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/uwMRFqxOya
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
Several Jewish groups have opposed the ban, citing the Jewish experience as refugees. In the description of @Stl_Manifest, Neiss wrote: #RefugeesWelcome.
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