A Film Serving 937...

Film: Voyage of the Damned (1976)
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Produced: Robert Fryer, William Hill
Written: David Butler, Steve Shagan
Cast: Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant, Malcolm McDowell, Orson Welles
Genre: Drama, War, Antisemitism


In 1939, the S.S. St. Louis left Hamburg, Germany with 937 German Jews aboard, all in hopes of being able to flee from the country. Antisemitism was rising in Germany and the passengers felt this was there only chance left in escaping to safety. The ship was to make its way to Havana, Cuba where it would dock and the passengers would be able to leave. Little did they know, the ship was never meant to land and free the people. The German government was only letting the German Jews go in order to use them as a form of propaganda. Knowing that no other country would accept the refugees, the world refusal would work as a way for Germany not being held responsible for the fate of the Jews. In the end, the ship was denied by both Cuba and the United States. The Captain reveals that he plans on intentionally crashing the ship into a reef on the southern coast of England. Before the very end of the film, it is revealed that the governments of the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands have agreed to accept a share of the passengers of refugees. The statistics on the screen then reveal that more than 600 of the 937 passengers eventually died in concentration camps, but it is strange since others have came up with statistics showing that over 700 passengers were in fact saved.

No matter how may passengers aboard the S.S. St. Louis were saved, it doesn't change the fact of how horrible a situation this was. I was never aware of the story of the S.S. St. Louis before watching this film. I feel director Rosenberg did a great thing by telling the passengers' stories to people like I, who never even knew they existed. The film dives headfirst into the emotional states of the passengers aboard, forcing the viewer to feel involved with the situation since they know what the fat of the ship is from the get-go. A very sad situation, Germany assigned the passengers tourist visas rather than immigrant visas in order to insure their plan. Hitler knew that antisemitism was rising in the West and that Cuba would not accept them; that way, Hitler would be able to prove that the world agreed on his idea of the so-called "Jewish problem".

What is even worse for a viewer like myself who is American, I must come to terms with the fact that my own country also denied the ship any access into Atlantic territory that was theirs. Later on they would go and defend the world against Hitler and his Nazi regime, but prior to WWII, they only helped him in solidifying his malicious ideas. America has made a mistake this detrimental more than once, but I guess no country can be perfect. Still, it's hard to hear that the country you live in, the one that is most known for its claim on "freedom", was the same country that denied other human beings that freedom. I know acknowledging this sort of thing is very redundant in terms of U.S. history, but that is exactly what this film aims at doing: making sure that people never forget the lives that have been lost and those who will forever be held accountable.



God rest their souls.