Distribution of the 907 refugees on the German liner St. Louis was completed today hen some 500 of them sailed for havens in France and England. They were transferred from the St. Louis to the German steamship Rhakotis, which will disembark one group at Boulogne, France, tomorrow morning and the Britain-bound group at Southampton on Wednesday morning.
Another 194 were taken to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, yesterday by Belgian Red Cross tender, while the 250 receiving refuge in Belgium were already safely ensconced in the reconditioned old Marneffe Castle near Brussels. The St. Louis, which arrived here Saturday morning, sailed for Hamburg at midnight, completing its five-week odyssey.
The passengers ranged from children in arms to a woman of 80. They included 12 non-Jews, most of whom are married to Jews. They spoke gratefully of the treatment received at the hands of the St. Louis crew and were warm in expressions of gratitude to the Joint Distribution Committee and the other agencies which arranged their rescue.
One of the cases satisfactorily settled by the committee which directed distribution of the passengers concerned a young man and woman who had fallen in love aboard the ship and were assigned to different countries. It was arranged that both go to France.
The baggage committee handled more than 7,000 pieces, totalling 600 tons. Morris C. Troper, J.D.C. executive who supervised disembarkation activities, in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, praised the British, French, Belgian and Netherlands authorities for their cooperation. He also paid tribute to the discipline of the passengers in the face of the acute nervous tension.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
