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Photo album containing photographs taken by passengers aboard the St. Louis, with a depiction of the ship on the cover.
Photo album containing photographs taken by a passenger aboard the St. Louis, with a depiction of the ship on the cover. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum #28794
See artifacts

Links:
Voyage of the
St. Louis
(online exhibition)

Voyage of the
St. Louis
(Holocaust Learning Center article)

 TRACING THE FATE OF THE
ST. LOUIS PASSENGERS



NEW PUBLICATION: For ten years, beginning in 1996, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum researchers Sarah Ogilvie and Scott Miller worked to uncover the fates of all 937 refugees aboard the MS St. Louis. The search is now complete and a book about how this incredible effort solved the mystery of the St. Louis—Refuge Denied (University of Wisconsin Press)—became available on November 3, 2006. Unfolding like a detective novel, Refuge Denied follows Ogilvie and Miller as they scour archives in Havana, Europe, Israel and the U.S.; knocking on doors in New York City neighborhoods; and tracking down leads provided by friends, family members and others who knew these passengers to learn what happened to them after they were refused entry to Cuba and then the United States.
Read the press release

Throughout Nazi Germany, tens of thousands of Jews lined up at consulates. They were desperate for exit visas. Few countries, not even the United States, were willing to expand their refugee quotas. In May 1939, the ship St. Louis departed Hamburg with 937 passengers holding landing permits for Havana, Cuba. After being denied entry by the Cuban government the ship sailed toward the coast of Miami. Entry into the United States was refused and the ship returned to Europe.

What happened to each of the 937 St. Louis passengers remained an unsolved mystery. One historian in the 1960s even asserted that it would be impossible to know what happened to every passenger.

Explore the story of the St. Louis—and the search for its passengers.
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Through historical research, detective work, and an exhaustive media campaign, researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum have tried to piece together the experiences and fates of passengers who boarded the St. Louis on May 13, 1939. Find out more about the project.


St. Louis music box doll given to Hildegard Wolff (born in November 1933). Hildegard and her parents boarded the St. Louis in May 1939, planning to join Hildegard's uncle, who had already emigrated to Cuba. After the St. Louis passengers were denied permission to enter Cuba, Hildegard and her parents were among those who disembarked in France.
St. Louis music box doll given to Hildegard Wolff (born in November 1933). Hildegard and her parents boarded the St. Louis in May 1939, planning to join Hildegard's uncle, who had already emigrated to Cuba. After the St. Louis passengers were denied permission to enter Cuba, Hildegard and her parents were among those who disembarked in France. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum #N31788
 Passengers aboard the St. Louis. These refugees from Nazi Germany were forced to return to Europe after both Cuba and the U.S. denied them refuge. May or June 1939.
Passengers aboard the St. Louis. These refugees from Nazi Germany were forced to return to Europe after both Cuba and the U.S. denied them refuge. May or June 1939. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum #88245
See photographs



See map of voyage