Irving Abella: Confronting Canada's Dark Past
[Irving Abella is the Shiff Chair of Canadian Jewish History at York University and co-author of None Is Too Many.]
On May 15, 1939, 907 desperate German Jews set sail from Hamburg on a luxury liner, the St. Louis. They had been stripped of all of their possessions by the Nazis, hounded out of their homes, their businesses and now their country. Their most prized possession was the Cuban entry visa each carried. Yet they considered themselves lucky – they were leaving a country where living as a Jew had become impossible.
When they reached Havana, their luck ran out. The Cuban government refused them admission. For the next week, the frantic passengers vainly sought a port that would allow them entry. Every country in South America refused. The U.S. response was even more cruel; it sent a gunboat to shadow the St. Louis in case it got close enough to allow passengers to swim ashore.
Only Canada remained.
A desperate plea for permission to land was promptly rejected by Ottawa, despite the valiant efforts of the Canadian Jewish Congress. As the top official of the immigration branch explained to prime minister Mackenzie King: “No country can open its doors wide enough to take in the hundreds of thousands of Jews who want to leave Europe; the line must be drawn somewhere.”...
Read entire article at Globe and Mail
On May 15, 1939, 907 desperate German Jews set sail from Hamburg on a luxury liner, the St. Louis. They had been stripped of all of their possessions by the Nazis, hounded out of their homes, their businesses and now their country. Their most prized possession was the Cuban entry visa each carried. Yet they considered themselves lucky – they were leaving a country where living as a Jew had become impossible.
When they reached Havana, their luck ran out. The Cuban government refused them admission. For the next week, the frantic passengers vainly sought a port that would allow them entry. Every country in South America refused. The U.S. response was even more cruel; it sent a gunboat to shadow the St. Louis in case it got close enough to allow passengers to swim ashore.
Only Canada remained.
A desperate plea for permission to land was promptly rejected by Ottawa, despite the valiant efforts of the Canadian Jewish Congress. As the top official of the immigration branch explained to prime minister Mackenzie King: “No country can open its doors wide enough to take in the hundreds of thousands of Jews who want to leave Europe; the line must be drawn somewhere.”...