Eva Wiener of Neptune, a survivor of the St. Louis, and Dr. Paul Winkler, executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, attended an Aug. 17reunion of the ship’s survivors at Brookdale Community College.
Photo by Jill Huber
August 26, 2008
The fate of the SS St. Louis is an infamous symbol of the desperation of Europe’s Jews during the years of the Holocaust.
On May 13, 1939, more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution left Hamburg on the German transatlantic luxury liner. They were sailing toward what they thought would be a safe haven in the Americas, but most were turned away in an act that cost the lives of as many as half of its passengers.
Ten of those who survived the ordeal — dramatized in the film Voyage of the Damned — and the subsequent years of persecution in Europe gathered for a reunion on Aug. 17, at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft. It was the first St. Louis gathering in New Jersey for the survivors, most of whom live out of state (other reunions have taken place in other locations throughout the country).
Many brought family members to the reunion, which was sponsored by the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education and the Holocaust, Genocide, & Human Rights Education Center at Brookdale.
Eva Safier Wiener, a Neptune resident who was born in Berlin and is the only Monmouth County survivor of the St. Louis, was 10 months old when she was taken aboard the ship by her parents. The ship’s original destination was Havana, and a family member who lived in the Cuban capital helped Eva’s parents secure the necessary travel permits. Other relatives had already left Europe for the United States and Palestine.
As the ship neared Havana, only 27 passengers with “valid” entry documents were allowed to disembark before the vessel was turned away by Cuban officials. The St. Louis then steamed toward the Florida coast, where passengers saw the lights of Miami in the distance. Once again, the ship was turned away, this time by the U.S. government, which cited quotas that limited the number of immigrants who were allowed into the country each year.
On June 6, 1939, as the ship sailed back to Europe amid growing media publicity about its fate, European Jewish organizations and government representatives arranged for Belgium, Holland, France, and Great Britain to receive the remaining passengers.
But as hostilities in Europe were escalating, it became clear to Eva’s parents that Britain would be the safest choice. On June 21, the Great Britain contingent arrived in Southampton on a cargo ship and was taken to London. Upon arrival, the German-Jewish Aid Committee helped the passengers find housing and obtain living expenses.
“I was the youngest girl on the St. Louis,” said Eva Wiener. “There was a baby boy on the ship that was two months younger. But as I grew up, my parents shared the truth of that journey with me. I was always aware of the circumstances that forced us to take that trip.”
Estimates vary as to the number of passengers who survived, with some researchers claiming that some 50 percent of them perished. But according to Wiener, only 10 percent of the passengers who returned to continental Europe survived the Holocaust; 90 percent died at the hands of the Nazis. Some members of Wiener’s family who had never left Europe simply disappeared, she said.
“Our lives in England were no more treacherous that the lives of the British,” Wiener said. “But the language barrier made things difficult, and we did experience anti-Semitism. But we never forgot how lucky we were to be there.”
She and her family spent the rest of the war in England, and came to the United States in 1946. But the move brought forth new problems for the youngster, she said.
“The air raids on Britain caused tremendous stress and fear,” said Wiener. “I was more traumatized by the war than I realized. For a long time after I arrived in the U.S., the sound of sirens from ambulances or fire trucks caused a very frightening reaction. I’d often hide under a table or chair. It took time to adjust.”
Eva married Howard Wiener in 1961, and the two worked as budget and contract analysts at Fort Monmouth. Now retired, they are the parents of two daughters and have two grandchildren; they are members of Temple Beth Torah in Ocean.
When Voyage of the Damned was released in 1976, Wiener overheard some disturbing comments about the tragic episode.
“Some people said that because we were on a cruise ship, the situation couldn’t possibly have been so bad,” said Wiener, who helped organize the Brookdale event. “That’s exactly why these reunions are so important. We have to share our memories and experiences, and learn from each other about how our lives were affected by what happened on the St. Louis.
“Because I was so young back then, I have no conscious knowledge of that trip, but I still feel an amazing kinship with everyone who went through this. It’s like a thread that connects us. We must continue our mission — we have to speak for those who can’t.”
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