St. Louis Research Paper

Section 1: Identification and Evaluation of Sources The St. Louis was a German transatlantic liner. On May 13, 1939 the St. Louis and it’s captain, Gustav Schröder, departed Hamburg, Germany with 937 passengers that were all searching for a better life in North America. After being turned away by the government of Cuba the refugees hoped to be accepted by the United States, however, president Franklin D. Roosevelt also turned them away. So now the question is, was FDR responsible for the fate of the St. Louis, and how did his reaction reflect on America’s response to the Holocaust as a whole? So, was FDR responsible for the fate of the St. Louis, and how did his reaction reflect on America’s response to the Holocaust as a whole? In order to answer this question I will be using a vast array of primary and secondary sources. The first source is a primary source entitled “The Voyage of the St. Louis”. It was written on June 15, 1939. The source is an original report from the JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee). The author of this report is currently unknown (it was originally thought to have been written by the leader of the JDC, Joseph C. Hyman, but seeing as he is later mentioned in this report the presumption seemed rather unfitting). The report was created
Louis. However, that does not mean that his response, or rather lack thereof, did a fair job at reflecting the U.S.’s response to the Holocaust. While it can be said by many that the U.S. did little to help in terms of the Holocaust it can also be said that they did as much as they could. The U.S. filled its quota of German immigrants, whether or not those immigrants were victims of the Holocaust could not be determined by the U.S. itself. However, FDR’s response did illustrate the element of indifference that many of the U.S.’s citizens posed when it came to the issue of European