The "extraordinary" true story of the St. Louis, a German ship that, in 1939, carried Jews away from Hamburg-and into an unimaginable ordeal ( The New York Times).
On May 13, 1939, the luxury liner St. Louissailed from Hamburg, one of the last ships to leave Nazi Germany before World War II erupted. Aboard were 937 Jews-some had already been in concentration camps-who believed they had bought visas to enter Cuba. The voyage of the damned had begun.
Before the St. Louiswas halfway across the Atlantic, a power struggle ensued between the corrupt Cuban immigration minister who issued the visas and his superior, President Bru. The outcome: The refugees would not be allowed to land in Cuba.
In America, the Brown Shirts were holding Nazi rallies in Madison Square Garden; anti-Semitic Father Coughlin had an audience of fifteen million. Back in Germany, plans were being laid to implement the final solution. And aboard the St. Louis, 937 refugees awaited the decision that would determine their fate.
Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts have re-created history in this meticulous reconstruction of the voyage of the St. Louis. Every word of their account is true: the German High Command's ulterior motive in granting permission for the "mission of mercy;" the confrontations between the refugees and the German crewmen; the suicide attempts among the passengers; and the attitudes of those who might have averted the catastrophe, but didn't.
In reviewing the work, the New York Timeswas unequivocal: "An extraordinary human document and a suspense story that is hard to put down. But it is more than that. It is a modern allegory, in which the SS St. Louisbecomes a symbol of the SS Planet Earth. In this larger sense the book serves a greater purpose than mere drama."
Autorentext
Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts are authors of four previous books, all highly successful in bookstores and book clubs, all acclaimed in the United States and abroad. The Day the World Ended and Voyage of the Damned were made into major motion pictures; Shipwreck won the Edgar Award in 1973; and The San Francisco Earthquake has been hailed as a major achievement of reporting and writing.
Inhalt
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Prologue
- I - A Chance to Live
- Wednesday, May 3, 1939
- Thursday, May 4, 1939
- Friday, May 5, 1939
- Sunday, May 7, 1939
- Monday, May 8, 1939
- Friday, May 12, 1939
- Saturday, May 13, 1939
- Sunday, May 14, 1939
- Monday, May 15, 1939
- Tuesday, May 16, 1939
- Wednesday, May 17, 1939
- Thursday, May 18, 1939
- Friday, May 19, 1939
- Saturday, May 20, 1939
- Tuesday, May 23, 1939
- Wednesday, May 24, 1939
- Thursday, May 25, 1939
- II - A Chance to Die
- Friday, May 26, 1939
- Saturday, May 27, 1939
- Sunday, May 28, 1939
- Monday, May 29, 1939
- Tuesday, May 30, 1939
- Wednesday, May 31, 1939
- Thursday, June 1, 1939
- Friday, June 2, 1939
- Saturday, June 3, 1939
- Sunday, June 4, 1939
- Tuesday, June 6, 1939
- Wednesday, June 7, 1939
- Thursday, June 8, 1939
- Friday, June 9, 1939
- Saturday, June 10, 1939
- Sunday, June 11, 1939
- Monday, June 12, 1939
- Tuesday, June 13, 1939
- III - The Final Solution
- Wednesday, June 14, 1939
- Thursday, June 15, 1939
- Friday, June 16, to Saturday, June 17, 1939
- Sunday, June 18, 1939
- Monday, June 19, 1939
- Tuesday, June 20, 1939
- Wednesday, June 21, 1939
- Epilogue
- Appendices
- Copyright