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Flandre Quits Havana with 96 Exiles

June 11, 1939
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The French steamship Flandre sailed for France last night with 96 German Jews twice barred from landing here. The Flandre cleared the harbor at 6:20 p.m. after efforts by Jewish leaders to obtain a two-hour delay pending attempts to raise funds to make possible the refugees’ landing in the Dominican Republic had failed, the Cuban Government demanding that the ship leave immediately.

Pathetic scenes marked the departure of the refugees, who had been twice rejected by Cuba and once by Mexico. Hundreds of friends and relatives stood on the pier in a heavy rain to bid tearful farewells to the passengers. A man and his wife, both over 70, shouted from the deck to their two Cuban-born grandchildren, aged 8 and 10 years, whom they had never seen before. “We won’t die before we see you,” they cried. Among the refugees on the Flandre was Fritz Feuchtwanger, a brother of Lion Feuchtwanger, the famous writer, with his wife and two daughters.

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