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<p>KINGSTON &#8212; In early June of 1939 the St. Louis, a passenger ship carrying 937 people &#8212; almost all of them Jews fleeing Nazi Germany &#8212; was denied entry into both Cuba and the United States.</p><p>With no refuge in sight, the St. Louis had to sail back to Europe. The fates of many of its passengers, however, remained an unsolved mystery for over 60 years.</p><p>Kingston resident Attorney David Schwager&#8217;s grandparents &#8212; Albert and Resi Schwager &#8212; were on the St. Louis.</p><p>On Thursday Scott Miller, a consultant with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, will discuss his decade-long search to uncover the fate of every passenger on board this famous and fateful journey.</p><p>To commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the St. Louis, Miller will be at the Friedman Jewish Community Center, 613 S. J. Strauss Lane, Kingston, Thursday at 6 p.m. The event is free, but reservations are requested by contacting Barbara Sugarman at b.sugarman@nepajca.org, or by calling 570-824-4646.</p><p>Schwager will be sharing stories and slides of his grandparents who were on the ill-fated ship.</p><p>Miller was a founding staff member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where he worked for 30 years and now serves as a consultant on special acquisitions for the Holocaust Museum&#8217;s National Institute for Holocaust Documentation.</p><p><strong>The voyage</strong></p><p>Here is an explanation of the St. Louis voyage, taken from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website:</p><p>&#8220;In May 1939, the German liner St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany, to Havana, Cuba, carrying 937 passengers, almost all Jewish refugees.</p><p>&#8220;The Cuban government refused to allow the ship to land, and the United States and Canada were unwilling to admit the passengers.</p><p>&#8220;The St. Louis passengers were finally permitted to land in western European countries rather than return to Nazi Germany &#8212; 254 St. Louis passengers were killed in the Holocaust.&#8221;</p><p>You can read more about the voyage of the St. Louis at the Holocaust Encyclopedia &#8212; <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/voyage-of-the-st-louis?series=54505" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/voyage-of-the-st-louis?series=</a><a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/voyage-of-the-st-louis?series=54505" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">54505</a>.</p><p><strong>A personal tale</strong></p><p>Schwager said his father&#8217;s parents, Albert and Resi Schwager, were among the German-Jewish passengers aboard the M.S. St. Louis which set sail from Hamburg, Germany on May 13, 1939, bound for Havana.</p><p>&#8220;My grandparents had sent my father, then an 18-year old boy, to the U.S. a year earlier,&#8221; Schwager said. &#8220;On Kristallnacht, Nov. 9, 1938, my grandmother was imprisoned in the nearby big city jail in Regensburg and my grandfather was taken to Dachau concentration camp in nearby Munich.&#8221;</p><p>Schwager said his grandparents had built a beautiful home in the center of their small Bavarian hometown of Cham near the Czech border. The home, referred to as &#8220;The Schwager Villa,&#8221; still stands today, housing an orthopedist&#8217;s office and several apartments.</p><p>&#8220;My grandfather and his brothers had a very successful leather factory and business headquartered in their small town with a showroom along the Danube River in Regensburg,&#8221; Schwager said. &#8220;Through the forced sales of the Villa and the leather company, my grandparents had enough money to purchase passage on the St. Louis and to secure expensive Cuban visas.&#8221;</p><p>Schwager said his grandparents were released from their imprisonment in order to leave the country (something that Germany wanted as much as the Jews). Schwager said it should be pointed out that so many Jews living in the shadow of Nazi persecution could not emigrate to the U.S. due to strict U.S. immigration quotas at the time.</p><p>The ship arrived in Havana Harbor on May 27, 1939, and the Cuban government refused to honor the visas and denied the refugees entry. The ship set sail again and came so close to Florida that the passengers could see the lights along the Miami coastline. But the U.S. government refused to admit the Jewish refugees.</p><p>&#8220;The ship began sailing back to Germany and almost certain death on June 6, 1939,&#8221; Schwager said.</p><p>Various Jewish organizations negotiated with four countries to agree to take in the refugees &#8212; France, Belgium, Holland, and Great Britain, Schwager said.</p><p>&#8220;My grandparents were in cable communication with my father who had been living in New York City for less than a year and was just shy of his 19th birthday.&#8221; Schwager said. &#8220;When the four countries agreed to take the refugees, my grandparents cabled my father and asked where they should go. In his youthful logic, he said that eventually they would come to America so they needed to learn English and he suggested they go to England. My father likely saved their lives. France fell to the Nazis, Belgium fell to the Nazis, and Holland fell to the Nazis. When they did, so many of the former St. Louis passengers perished in the Nazi death camps.&#8221;</p><p>Schwager said his grandparents lived in London and ultimately came to America, settling in Manhattan, and ultimately, his grandmother came to live in Kingston in the mid-1970s.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Scott Miller </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_SCOTT-MILLER-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Scott Miller </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted Photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_DAVID-SCHWAGER-S-FAMILY-PHOTO-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Albert and Resi Schwager, seated at center, were on the ill-fated St. Louis, a passenger ship carrying 937 people &#8212; almost all of them Jews fleeing Nazi Germany &#8212; was denied entry into both Cuba and the United States. They are the grandparents of Attorney David Schwager of Kingston. Seated to the left of the Schwagers is David Schwager&#8217;s sister, Harriet, and his other sister, Renee is seated at right. Standing are Schwager&#8217;s parents, Fred and Margot Schwager. The photo was taken at Lake Winola. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_DAVID-SCHWAGER-S-FAMILY-PHOTO-3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Albert and Resi Schwager, seated at center, were on the ill-fated St. Louis, a passenger ship carrying 937 people &#8212; almost all of them Jews fleeing Nazi Germany &#8212; was denied entry into both Cuba and the United States. They are the grandparents of Attorney David Schwager of Kingston. Seated to the left of the Schwagers is David Schwager&#8217;s sister, Harriet, and his other sister, Renee is seated at right. Standing are Schwager&#8217;s parents, Fred and Margot Schwager. The photo was taken at Lake Winola. </caption1><photoCredit1>Photo courtesy of Attorney David Schwager </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_DAVID-SCHWAGERS-GRANDPARENTS-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Albert and Resi Schwager are shown on the ill-fated St. Louis, a passenger ship carrying 937 people &#8212; almost all of them Jews fleeing Nazi Germany &#8212; that was denied entry into both Cuba and the United States. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_DAVID-SCHWAGERS-GRANDPARENTS-3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Albert and Resi Schwager are shown on the ill-fated St. Louis, a passenger ship carrying 937 people &#8212; almost all of them Jews fleeing Nazi Germany &#8212; that was denied entry into both Cuba and the United States. </caption2><photoCredit2>Photo courtesy of Attorney David Schwager </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>&#8216;Searching for Survivors: The Fate of the St. Louis Passengers,&#8217; set for Thursday</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

JCC event to recall Jewish refugee boat that was turned away in 1939