[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 77 (Tuesday, May 19, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S5646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE M.S. ST. LOUIS

  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be 
discharged from consideration of S. Res. 111 and the Senate proceed to 
its consideration
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 111) recognizing June 6, 2009, as the 
     70th anniversary of the tragic date when the M.S. St. Louis, 
     a ship carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, returned 
     to Europe after its passengers were refused admittance to the 
     United States.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, today the Senate remembers a moment in 
history when the United States failed to provide refuge to slightly 
more than 900 individuals fleeing religious and racial persecution in 
Nazi Germany. S. Res. 111 acknowledges the 70th anniversary of the 
date, June 6, 1939, when the M.S. St. Louis, a German ocean liner, 
started its return voyage to Europe with nearly all of its original 
passengers. Later, over 250 of those individuals would perish in the 
Holocaust.
  The story starts on May 13, 1939, when the M.S. St. Louis sailed from 
Hamburg, Germany, to Havana, Cuba with 937 passengers, mostly Jewish 
refugees, searching for freedom and safety. State-supported 
antiSemitism including violent pogroms, expulsion from public schools 
and services, and arrest and imprisonment solely because of Jewish 
heritage forced those passengers to leave their homes.
  When the M.S. St. Louis arrived in Havana, the Cuban Government 
allowed only 28 passengers to disembark. Corruption and political 
maneuvering within the Cuban Government invalidated the transit visas 
of the other passengers. Before returning to Europe, the ship sailed 
toward Miami hoping for a solution. The ship sailed so close to Florida 
that the passengers could see the lights of Miami. One survivor 
remembers his father commenting that ``Florida's golden shores, so 
near, might as well be 4,000 miles away for all the good it did them.''
  The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1924 strictly limited the 
number of immigrants admitted to the United States each year and in 
1939 the waiting list for German-Austrian immigration was several years 
long. While the press and citizens were largely sympathetic to the 
passengers' plight, no extraordinary measures were taken to permit the 
refugees to enter the United States. The passengers were told that they 
must ``await their turns on the waiting list and qualify for and obtain 
immigration visas.''
  On June 6, 1939, the M.S. St. Louis sailed back to Europe with nearly 
all of its original passengers. The passengers obtained refuge in Great 
Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. World War II started 3 
months later and those countries, with the exception of Great Britain, 
fell to Nazi occupation. Two hundred and fifty-four of those passengers 
died during the Holocaust and many others suffered under Nazi 
persecution and in concentration camps.
  S. Res. 111 acknowledges the 70th anniversary of the return voyage of 
the M.S. St. Louis and honors the memory of those passengers including 
the 254 who died during the Holocaust. The St. Louis is only one 
tragedy out of millions from that time, but seventy years later, it 
still haunts us as a nation and deserves recognition.
  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, 
the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements 
relating to this matter be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 111) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 111

       Whereas on May 13, 1939, the ocean liner M.S. St. Louis 
     departed from Hamburg, Germany for Havana, Cuba with 937 
     passengers, most of whom were Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi 
     persecution;
       Whereas the Nazi regime in Germany in the 1930s implemented 
     a program of violent persecution of Jews;
       Whereas the Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass, pogrom 
     of November 9 through 10, 1938, signaled an increase in 
     violent anti-Semitism;
       Whereas after the Cuban Government, on May 27, 1939, 
     refused entry to all except 28 passengers on board the M.S. 
     St. Louis, the M.S. St. Louis proceeded to the coast of south 
     Florida in hopes that the United States would accept the 
     refugees;
       Whereas the United States refused to allow the M.S. St. 
     Louis to dock and thereby provide a haven for the Jewish 
     refugees;
       Whereas the Immigration Act of 1924 placed strict limits on 
     immigration;
       Whereas a United States Coast Guard cutter patrolled near 
     the M.S. St. Louis to prevent any passengers from jumping to 
     freedom;
       Whereas following denial of admittance of the passengers to 
     Cuba, the United States, and Canada, the M.S. St. Louis set 
     sail on June 6, 1939, for return to Antwerp, Belgium with the 
     refugees; and
       Whereas 254 former passengers of the M.S. St. Louis died 
     under Nazi rule: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes that June 6, 2009, marks the 70th 
     anniversary of the tragic date when the M.S. St. Louis 
     returned to Europe after its passengers were refused 
     admittance to the United States and other countries in the 
     Western Hemisphere;
       (2) honors the memory of the 937 refugees aboard the M.S. 
     St. Louis, most of whom were Jews fleeing Nazi oppression, 
     and 254 of whom subsequently died during the Holocaust;
       (3) acknowledges the suffering of those refugees caused by 
     the refusal of the United States, Cuban, and Canadian 
     governments to provide them political asylum; and
       (4) recognizes the 70th anniversary of the M.S. St. Louis 
     tragedy as an opportunity for public officials and educators 
     to raise awareness about an important historical event, the 
     lessons of which are relevant to current and future 
     generations.

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