Letters to the Editor: One family's journey to the U.S. shows the horrors the country cannot repeat
My late husband was on the St. Louis at the age of 7 with his 3-year-old brother, grandmother, mother and father. They were Jewish refugees from Berlin. The father's store burned down during Kristallnacht. My mother-in-law, through friends, found out about getting into Cuba via this voyage when they were refused entrance into the U.S. at that time. Germany convinced Cuba to reject them, after which the ship turned back toward Europe and its concentration camps.
Fortunately, there were interventions plotted by the captain, the Jewish Refugee Organization and passengers on the trip to avoid going back. The Vendig family ended up in Belgium, then Vichy France and were finally rescued with help from Switzerland. The family finally got to the U.S. in 1946. They were lucky.
Stephanie Vendig, Los Angeles
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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