Twitter account lists hundreds of Jews who were killed after being refused entry to US
They were escaping persecution from the Nazis, but most Jewish passengers of the St Louis ship were forced to return to Europe
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, one twitter account has tweeted out the individual stories of hundreds of Jewish refugees who were turned away by the US after attempting to escape the Nazis.
The St Louis ship sailed from Hamburg to Cuba in 1939, carrying more than 900 passengers fleeing the Nazis. Most were not allowed to disembark when they got there.
Of those that were sent back, 254 people were killed, most in Auschwitz or Buchenwald concentration camps.
Each person - their name and place of death, sometimes with a photograph, has been tweeted by one account called "St Louis Manifest" to remind social media users of the horrors which took place within living memory and which led to more than six million Jews being killed.
The remembrance tweets are particularly poignant in 2017 as Donald Trump sent out a statement which talked of "the innocent" killed in the Holocaust but which did not specifically mention the Jewish people.
Mr Trump has finished his first week in the Oval Office by signing an executive order to ban Syrian refugees from entering the country, as well as imposing a blanket, 120-day ban on refugees from six other Muslim-majority and war-torn countries.
The US only took in around 12,500 Syrians in 2016, much less than other countries.
In 1939, the UK, Belgium, France and the Netherlands reached agreements with Jewish organisations to take in around 900 Jews from the St Louis ship.
"The fact that President Trump’s order appears designed to specifically limit the entry of Muslims evokes horrible memories among American Jews of the shameful period leading up to World War Two, when the United States failed to provide a safe haven for the vast majority of Jews in Europe trying to escape Nazi persecution," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the pro-Israel nonprofit organisation J Street.
"Most ultimately perished in the Holocaust. That episode remains a blot on the conscience of the United States. It is a terrible irony that today, the same day on which this order is to be signed, is also International Holocaust Remembrance Day."
Mr Trump’s former rival for the Presidency, Hillary Clinton, spoke of the incident in 1939 during the 2016 campaign trail.
"Now, we've had dark chapters in our history before," she told the Jewish lobbying group AIPAC.
"If you see bigotry oppose it. If you see violence condemn it. If you see a bully, stand up to him," she said.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments