Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - June 2009
A new museum exhibition opening this fall in Halifax will showcase a historical blemish in Canada’s reputation of welcoming immigrants and refugees.
Though not opening officially until October, this June the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic will preview the exhibition which centres on a fateful 1939 voyage by the German ocean liner MS St. Louis.
The ocean liner left Germany in May of 1939 with 937 Jewish refugees aboard, trying to escape the violence of the Nazi Regime. The ship first sailed to Cuba, where only 29 passengers were permitted entry.
The ship next sailed to Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Panama. All ports refused entry. It then sailed north toward the United States in hopes of finding a more welcoming response. Instead, the U.S. “sent a gunboat to shadow the ship and make sure it stayed far enough offshore so it didn’t run aground or so that its passengers didn’t swim ashore.”
The MS St. Louis was ready to give up and head back to Germany. Meanwhile, news of the ship’s trials had reached Canada and outraged citizens cried out to Prime Minister Mackenzie King to intervene. Editorials ran in the newspapers which echoed this sentiment.
From Washington, King sent a telegram to the head of External Affairs asking for something to be done to aid the passengers. However, the department rejected the recommendation in a secret memo, saying that “the passengers didn’t qualify under immigration laws.”
The ship headed back to Europe, trying to dock in Belgium, Great Britain, France, and Belgium again and the Netherlands. They ended up back in continental Europe, just as Nazi occupation took hold and over 200 of the MS. St. Louis’ original passengers ended up dying in concentration camps.
The exhibit will showcase paperwork tracing the voyage, original artifacts and a model of the ship. Lisa Avedon, who survived her experience aboard the MS St. Louis and the Second World War, will be on hand for the preview.
Source: The Nova Scotian
A new museum exhibition opening this fall in Halifax will showcase a historical blemish in Canada’s reputation of welcoming immigrants and refugees.
Though not opening officially until October, this June the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic will preview the exhibition which centres on a fateful 1939 voyage by the German ocean liner MS St. Louis.
The ocean liner left Germany in May of 1939 with 937 Jewish refugees aboard, trying to escape the violence of the Nazi Regime. The ship first sailed to Cuba, where only 29 passengers were permitted entry.
The ship next sailed to Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Panama. All ports refused entry. It then sailed north toward the United States in hopes of finding a more welcoming response. Instead, the U.S. “sent a gunboat to shadow the ship and make sure it stayed far enough offshore so it didn’t run aground or so that its passengers didn’t swim ashore.”
The MS St. Louis was ready to give up and head back to Germany. Meanwhile, news of the ship’s trials had reached Canada and outraged citizens cried out to Prime Minister Mackenzie King to intervene. Editorials ran in the newspapers which echoed this sentiment.
From Washington, King sent a telegram to the head of External Affairs asking for something to be done to aid the passengers. However, the department rejected the recommendation in a secret memo, saying that “the passengers didn’t qualify under immigration laws.”
The ship headed back to Europe, trying to dock in Belgium, Great Britain, France, and Belgium again and the Netherlands. They ended up back in continental Europe, just as Nazi occupation took hold and over 200 of the MS. St. Louis’ original passengers ended up dying in concentration camps.
The exhibit will showcase paperwork tracing the voyage, original artifacts and a model of the ship. Lisa Avedon, who survived her experience aboard the MS St. Louis and the Second World War, will be on hand for the preview.
Source: The Nova Scotian
