My compliments to Eva Weiner for remembering her parents’ story so well and being able to tell it as described in “MS St. Louis Passenger Shares Her Story at Edison Library” (May 22, 2025). Just like Eva, I do not call myself a survivor, not ever having been in a concentration camp or hidden child. I was 11 years old when my father went aboard the St. Louis leaving his wife, my mother, my brother and myself in Germany. He had been able to purchase the landing pass only for himself.
A couple of minor errors I found in her presentation which also might be misunderstandings by the writer.
First, I do not understand why Eva’s family was not able to disembark in Cuba since she had an uncle already in Cuba and any passenger who had relatives in Cuba could leave the ship. Eva does mention that 28 passengers were able to land.
Second it was not Captain Schroeder who decided who made the decision to return to Germany, but it was the ship’s headquarters in Hamburg who ordered the ship to return.
Third, the four countries mentioned accepted all of the passengers from the ship, not just “some” as Eva mentions. All of the passengers returned to Europe, not only 620.
Fourth, it was not her father who made the decision to go to England since no passengers were able to choose where they wanted to go. My father also wanted to go to England since he had several close relatives there, but he ended up in Holland. I do not know how the decision was made.
