By COLlive reporter
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a formal apology in the House of Commons regarding the fate of the MS St. Louis and its passengers, apologizing to the passengers, their families, and Jewish communities in Canada and around the world.
In May 1939, the MS St. Louis departed Germany with close to a thousand passengers, including over 900 German Jews, who were desperate for safety and refuge from persecution at the hands of the Nazis.
After Jewish refugees on board were denied entry to Cuba, the United States, and Canada, they were forced to return to Europe, where the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands agreed to take them in. When the Nazis conquered Belgium, France, and the Netherlands in 1940, 254 MS St. Louis passengers were murdered in the Holocaust.
Trudeau apologized to Jewish refugees Canada turned away, and for the anti-Semitic, ‘none is too many’ immigration policy that led to the MS St. Louis incident. He also met with Ana Maria Gordon, the surviving passenger of the MS St. Louis living in Canada.
Trudeau also apologized to the Jews who were falsely imprisoned during the Second World War, to the members of Canada’s Jewish community whose pleas were ignored, and to all others who paid the price of Canada’s inaction.
“By issuing this apology, it is my sincere hope that we can shine a light on this painful chapter of our history and ensure that its lessons are never forgotten. Anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and hatred have no place in this country, or anywhere in this world,” he said.
“Recent attacks on the Jewish community attest to the work we still have to do. We must always stand up against xenophobic and anti-Semitic attitudes and hate in all its forms,” the Prime Minister stated in a reference to the shooting attack that killed 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue
Discrimination and violence against Jewish people in Canada and around the world continue at an alarming rate. According to the most recent figures, 17 percent of all hate crimes in Canada target Jewish people, which is far higher per capita than any other group.
While six million died. This is a beginning for all involved countries to compensate the victims for their callous and self centered behavior.this is the message to anti-Semitism no tolerance
And yes especially for the 254 that were murdered, the apology is meaningless! #1, I’m sure you have very similar reasonings or justifications as many of the less anti-semitic policy makers of that time period had as well. This is not truly comparable to the immigrant situation of today. These people are not fleeing for their very lives and some have very questionable backgrounds, sometimes even criminal. There are difficulties in some of their home countries but except for parts of Syria, they are not in imminent life threatening danger of mass extermination! Please try to be for real &… Read more »
to captain Conservative at the beginning of thread
they were in demonstrable danger, traveling the the high seas at that point in time was not without danger, and they were well educated and able an willing to contribute to everything and anything that was and is good in Canada.
the apology is meaningless, but if Canada’s policy was conducted by good people they would have been taken in.
How were they different from all the boat people from Vietnam, Iraq, or Africa? Does a country have to accept everyone who shows up uninvited in a ship? Why? If they were being persecuted in Germany, how was that the USA’s or Canada’s problem? Let Germany’s European neighbors take them in, which in fact they did. Not a single passenger returned to Germany, so the problem was solved. The fact that later, when the War broke out, many of those countries were no longer safe, is irrelevant here. Nobody knew or could have known this would happen, and there was… Read more »