In 1939, the USS St. Louis left Hamburg, Germany headed for Havana, Cuba with more than 900 European Jews aboard. Counting themselves among the lucky few to escape Hitler's Germany, they thought they were headed for refuge. The passengers happiness quickly turned to fear as they were denied entry to Cuba, followed by the United States, Canada and many other countries. With only four countries willing to take passengers in, they were split up between England, Belgium, the Netherlands and France.
One of the lucky passengers was Eva Wiener, a 10-month old baby whose family made it to England and survived the war there. With fewer than 20 survivors of the St. Louis still alive, Eva's story is more important now than ever before. Rabbi Pont had the pleasure of welcoming her to Marlboro Jewish Center this week as we commemorated Yom HaShoah...the day of remembrance.