Canada Grants Library $100K

On May 13, 1939, the MS. St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany to Havana, Cuba. Aboard were 937 mostly German Jewish refugees seeking safety from war-torn Europe.

The ship’s captain, Gustav Schroder, a non-Jewish German and an anti-Nazi, made it his mission to deliver his passengers to safety from the Third Reich, refusing to return to Germany until all had disembarked in another land.

Cuba requested an additional $500 visa fee per passenger, money of which most of the refugees did not have, so only 29 people on board managed to disembark at Havana.

Apparently, America not only refused their entry but even fired a warning shot to keep them away from Florida’s shores. The Coast Guard was not ordered to turn away the refugees, but the US did not make provision for their entry.

As the MS St. Louis was turned away from the United States, a group of academics and clergy in Canada attempted to persuade Canada’s Prime Minister to provide sanctuary to the ship, which was only two days away from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

However, Canadian immigration officials and cabinet ministers hostile to Jewish immigration persuaded the Prime Minister not to intervene. Therefore the ship sailed back to Europe.

With Schroder’s assistance, the refugees all found new locations in the forms of the UK (288 passengers), France (224) Belgium (214) and the Netherlands (181) and only 1 passenger died during the voyage.

The following year Germany furthered its conquest into Western Europe, returning those refugees to the brutal Nazi regime. According to expert counts, 227 of the refugees that had set sail on the MS St. Louis on that fateful day in 1939 were ultimately murdered by the Nazis.

The story has been retold many times, but most of the details of the MS St. Louis still remain a mystery to most. The Jewish Youth Library of Ottawa (at Chabad of Westboro), directed by Dr. Yosef and Devora Caytak, aims to change that.

With the reception of a $100,000 contribution-grant from Canada’s Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, the Library plans to publish a special children’s book commemorating the Ship and its passengers.

An educational 25- page booklet will be made available for adults and the library is finalizing plans for a large mixed-media sculptural mosaic mural that will be displayed.

For the directors of the JYL, their mission is not only to remind people of the tragedy, but also to bring the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson‘s sentiment of ‘positive response’ to Canada’s capital region and to all of Canada.

“One of the most important things about the Holocaust , is not whether we understand it (which we don’t) says Mrs. Devora Caytak, “but rather what we do about it”.

Through publishing the new children’s book, and producing an attractive way for people to learn about this monumental event, the Jewish Youth Library will be encouraging people to memorialize the victims not with depression, but rather with positivity.

“If we encourage them to go out there and make the world a better place, then the project has succeeded”, Mrs. Caytak added.

Dr. Caytak invoked the lessons of the joyous month of Adar. “The timing couldn’t be better as we find ourselves in the Jewish month of Adar, the most joyous month on our calendar” he said.

Our goal is that just as in the times of Purim, when darkness gave way to light, we will generate new excitement and commitment in the Jewish community” said Dr. Caytak.

“We hope people will be proud of being Jewish and strengthen their personal commitments — then, we will have triumphed.”

Citizenship and Immigration Canada, a division of the Canadian Federal Government , often pairs up with non-profit organizations.

For more info, visit jylofottawa.org