THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, December 22, 1918 25
Plight of 'Boat People' Reminds of Jews' Fate on Doomed St. Louis
oiR
(Editor's note: Rabbi
Marc H. Tanenbaum, na-
tional interreligious af- -
fairs director for the
American Jewish Com-
mittee, and a member of
the Citizens Commission
on Indochinese Refugees
organized by the Interna-
tional Rescue Committee,
recently returned from a
10-day mission to
Malaysia and Thailand to
help bring relief to the
growing numbers of In-
dochinese refugees.)
RABBI MARC H.
TANENBAUM
ie*
1111*
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NEW YORK (JTA) — In
the harbor of Djakarta, the
frail battered Vietnamese'
boat lay anchored listlessly,
looking exhausted under
the blistering noonday sun
that scorched the Indone-
sian archipelago.
I walked out on the rot-
ting wharf and then jumped
onto the boat, no larger than
an oversized rowboat. There
were 15 people aboard,
jammed together in swelter-
ing closeness. The man who
greeted me was Nguyen
Than, the father of several
of the eight children on the
boat, and "the captain" of
this decrepit vessel. He was
a Vietnamese Catholic from
Saigon, a teacher educated
in a mission school and
competent in English.
•I introduced myself as one
of the 14-member U.S. Citi-
zens Commission for In-
dochinese Refugees or-
ganized by the Interna-
tional Rescue Committee
that was engaged in a fact-
finding mission on the
Israel Offers
Asylum, Aid
to Boat People
GENEVA (JTA) — Israel
said that it was prepared to
offer its experience in the
rescue and rehabilitation of
refugees to assist iri inter-
national efforts to aid the
homeless refugees ("Boat
People") from Vietnam.
Joel Barromi, Israel's
Ambassador to the United
Nations here, made that
statement during the spe-
cial conference on refugees
in Southeast Asia convened
by the Office of the High
Commissioner for Refugees.
Barromi noted that Israel
is "a country built by refu-
gees_ and we are certainly
sensitive to the suffering of
desperate human beings in
search of a home." He re-
called that Israel was in-
strumental in rescuing a
group of Vietnamese refu-
gees at sea and "a small
community of Vietnamese
refugees was admitted to
our country last year and
was rapidly integrated in
Israel's life."
The envoy said that "Is-
rael is ready to assist refu-
gees who have reached
countries of temporary
asylum through the supply
of medications. Our experi-
ence in resettlement and
productivization of refugees
could also be instrumental
for the development of self-
supporting projects." But-he
_ added that Israel would not
be able to fund the projects.
plight of Vietnamese boat
people, Cambodian and
other Indochinese refugeeS
in Hong Kong, Thailand,
Malaysia, the Philippines,
and Singapore. -
I asked Nguyen Than to
tell me his "story."
The Communist govern-
ment in Hanoi had ordered
him and his family to the
rural countryside for "re-
education" as members of
the new collective society.
Hanoi confiscated what lit-
tle earthly goods they had,
and worse still, they began
to confiscate their freedom
and dignity as human be-
ings. Nguyen Than for
example, was dismissed
from his . teaching job and
commanded to become a
farmer in a rural collective.
Through bribes and
stealth, Nguyen Than
crossed through forests,
reached the shoreline, and
in the middle of the night
escaped on a decayed fish-
ing boat that he and his two
brothers had purchased at
what for them were as-
tronomical costs.
They sailed for four weeks
across the turbulent South
China Sea. They were
turned away by border
patrols from the shores of
Singapore and the Philip-
pines. "By the third week,"
Nguyen Than told me, "we
had no more food and water.
We began to drink..the sea
water and eat seaweed. Our
children became deathly
sick and feverish and we
were certain that we would
die." -
And then this small
man's face became fierce
with anguish and he
spoke these words which
penetrated my heart.
"Rabbi, you as a Jew will
understand this better
than most other people.
As terrible as was the
starvation, the physical
pain in our bodies, the
worst thing of all was the
awareness that we were
abandoned by the world,
that our lives meant abso-
lutely nothing to any-
body, that human life has
become worthless."
found his face and voice dis-
solving before me,_and I was
overwhelmed by other im-
ages.
It was 1939, the boat
churning in the turbulent
ocean-was the "St Louis."
The human cargo was 936
Jewish men, women and
children, fleeing certain
death in Nazi Germany.
Like the Indochinese ref-
ugees, they too had to buy
their way, out of oppression,
paying large sums for pas-
sage on the "St. Louis," and
buying "official landing cer-
tificates" that was to
guarantee them entry into
Cuba. Some 730 of the
Jewish refugees were also
able to purchase American
immigration quota num-
bers, just in case the Cuban
haven should fall through.
On May 27, 1939, they
docked' at Havana's port.
They were told their "offi-
cial landing certificates"
were -invalid. Cuba's
President Frederico Laredo
Bru told them".they Could
land if -they could produce
one _million dollars within
24 hours. An impOssibility.
Despair. Abandonment.
Several men committed
Suicide.
Cuban gunboats forced
the ship back into the At-
lantic Ocean. Frantically,
desperately, the American
Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee pleaded with
South American countries
to provide asylum. Cables to'
Colombia, Chile, Paraguay,
Argentina. "Regard these
passengers as doomed if
they are returned to Ger-
man soil," said the cables.
The reply came back — no
room at the inn.
Then incredibly, the
United States govern-
ment, under the "heroic"
leadership of President
Franklin Delano
Roosevelt and Secretary
of State Cordell Hull, re-
jected "the refugees who
possessed immigration
numbers. Apparently,
they did not want to
meddle in the "internal
affairs" of Nazi Germany.
would later overrun Bel-
gium, Holland and France,
and all those who fled to
those countries were mas-
sacred in the Nazi genocide.
That's why I joined
novelist James Michener,
civil rights leader Bayard
Rustin, economist Leo
Cherne, Ambassadors
William Casey and Cecil
Lyons and others, last Feb-
ruary on that mission' of
saving human lives in
Southeast Asia.
Our Citizens Commis-
sion played a role in mov-
ing the U.S. Congress to
adopt legislation to admit
25,000 Vietnamese boat
people and 15,000 Cam-
bodians to this land of
freedom.
Since last January, when
some 1,500 Vietnamese ref-
ugees sought, haven
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He looked intensely into
my eyes and added, "I now
understand what it meant
to be a Jew in Nazi Ger-
many in the 1930s, when all
the world knew that your
Jewish people were being
destroyed and you were
abandoned.
"Twenty-three freighters
passed us by. — we counted
them — 23 large ships car-
rying cargo, probably to
Singapore. Most of them
were great ships carrying
Western or Japanese flags.
We waved at them begging
them to pick us up, at least
to give us water and food.
Nothing. A couple times
some freighters slowed
down and their crews came
up on deck to watch us as if
we were some entertain-
ment. Some of the people
even smiled or laughed at
us. Our children began to
scream in terror when they
tried to sleep." As Nguyen
Than spoke, I suddenly
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The "St. Louis" returned
to Europe. Belgium,, Hol-
land, France, and England
each ieceived several
Iiiiiidred of the Jewish refit=
gees although the Nazis
Ma?:
■
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-
■
•
• PATEK-PHILIPPE
elsewhere, refugees have
been fleeing that country at
an increasing rate.
Mon.-Fri.
'til 7:30
Sat. 'til
5:30