Event History
The St. Louis was a German luxury liner carrying more than 930 Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany to Cuba in May 1939. When the ship set sail from Hamburg on May 13, 1939, all of its refugee passengers bore legitimate landing certificates for Cuba. However, during the two-week period that the ship was en route to Havana, the landing certificates granted by the Cuban director general of immigration in lieu of regular visas, were invalidated by the pro-fascist Cuban government. When the St. Louis reached Havana on May 27 all but 28 of the Jewish refugees were denied entry. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) dispatched Lawrence Berenson to Cuba to negotiate with local officials but Cuban president Federico Laredo Bru insisted that the ship leave Havana harbor. The refugees were likewise refused entry into the United States. Thus on June 6 the ship was forced to return to Europe. While en route to Antwerp several European countries were cajoled into taking in the refugees (287 to Great Britain; 214 to Belgium; 224 to France; 181 to the Netherlands). Only those who were accepted by Great Britain found relative safety. The others were soon to be subject once again to Nazi rule with the German invasion of western Europe in the spring of 1940. A fortunate few succeeded in emigrating before this became impossible. In the end, many of the St. Louis passengers who found temporary refuge in Belgium, France and the Netherlands died at the hands of the Nazis, but the majority survived the war.
Biography
Ruth Mandel (born Ruth Blumenstock) is the daughter of Mechel Blumenstock (b. 1902) and Lea Schmelzer Blumenstock (b. 1914). Ruth was born in Vienna in 1938. After the Nazi takeover of Austria, Mechel, who was born in Poland, was officially declared "stateless." On the night of Kristallnacht, November 9-10 1938, he was arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp. Lea managed to secure his release by obtaining a visa for him to immigrate to Shanghai. Mechel, however, attempted to flee to Belgium and join his oldest brother who was living there illegally. He was caught and sent back to Vienna. In the meantime, Lea's brother, Gabriel Schmelzer, who was living in New York, arranged for the family to receive Cuban visas and purchased three tickets for them on the MS St. Louis. Ruth, aged eight months, was probably the youngest passenger on board the ship. After the ship was turned away from Cuba, the Blumenstocks sought refuge in England. Originally they were forbidden to seek employment. England wanted Mechel to serve in the Polish army, but having been stripped of his prior citizenship, he refused. He then was drafted into the British army. Mechel's brother had also been in England, but having been declared an "enemy alien," he was deported to Australia. The Blumenstocks stayed in England until 1949 also caring for a cousin, Henry Schmelzer who had arrived earlier on the Kindertransport. In 1949 they immigrated to the United States, and Henry went to Israel.
