JUNE 4

On this date in 1939 with the winds of war brewing in central Europe, the captain of the German ship MS St. Louis was attempting to relocate 963 German Jewish refugees to safety.  His ship was denied permission to port in Florida.  He had gone to Cuba first and they would not accept these refugees.  After the U.S. refused them asylum, Canada followed suit and would not take them.  The ship turned back to Europe where the refugees were taken by several western European countries.  World War II began later that year.  It is estimated that about 250 of those people died in German concentration camps as part of the holocaust.  Shame on the Americas.