No Reply A Jewish Child Aboard the MS St Louis and the Ordeal That Followed Pamela Sampson 9780692812693 Books
Download As PDF : No Reply A Jewish Child Aboard the MS St Louis and the Ordeal That Followed Pamela Sampson 9780692812693 Books
May 13, 1939. The MS St. Louis ocean liner pulls out of Hamburg harbor and begins a long journey across the Atlantic Ocean toward Cuba. On board are more than 900 German Jews fleeing Hitler, including Hermann and Rita Goldstein and their 10-year-old son, Heinz. The passengers hope to stay in Cuba while they wait for visas to enter the United States. However, once the ship arrives in Havana’s harbor, the Cuban government refuses to let the passengers enter. An urgent request goes out to America, seeking permission to dock. But a plea sent all the way up to the White House is ignored. Passengers are told that, without visas, they cannot come into the United States. The ship’s captain has no choice but to turn back to Europe, where many passengers will be delivered into the lethal hands of the Nazis. "NO REPLY A Jewish Child Aboard the MS St. Louis and the Ordeal That Followed" tells the story of Heinz and his harrowing flight for safety.
No Reply A Jewish Child Aboard the MS St Louis and the Ordeal That Followed Pamela Sampson 9780692812693 Books
Henry Gallant was born Heinz Goldstein in Berlin in 1928. He is a survivor of the Holocaust. He also was one of over 900 Jews aboard the MS St. Louis who, in spring 1939, were denied sanctuary, successively, by Cuba, the United States, and Canada -- a central episode in the debate about whether the U.S. was morally remiss in not offering refugee status to greater numbers of Jews before WW2 and an historical marker in today's debates over how many displaced and persecuted people we should admit.In 2014 Gallant gave a talk about his experiences as part of an event marking the 75th anniversary of the MS St. Louis episode. Journalist Pamela Sampson was in the audience and she convinced Gallant that he should write his memoirs; she then helped him do so. The result is NO REPLY. It is a worthy memoir. Gallant's story deserves to be told and preserved.
I have reservations, however, about making the turning away of the MS St. Louis and its 900+ Jewish refugees the centerpiece of the story. I am particularly disturbed by the judgmental title "No Reply". As Sampson acknowledges in her Afterword, the dilemma posed for the United States by Jewish refugees back in the late 1930s, and by the millions of displaced and persecuted people across the globe today, is an extremely difficult one. One thing is certain: the United States cannot admit everyone in the world who wants to be here nor can it admit everyone living elsewhere whose lives and freedoms are in greater peril than they would be here. Nor is it practical, or morally mandated, that the U.S. explain to everyone turned away, directly or indirectly, its reasons for denying sanctuary. In the book, Gallant/Sampson state, "Undeniably, FDR could have saved [the hundreds of] St. Louis passengers who were sent back to Europe and to their deaths." Yes, FDR probably had the executive power to do so in spring 1939 -- but at what costs politically? Who can say, definitively, that those costs would not have outweighed safe haven status for 900 Jews? That "too liberal" use of executive powers over immigration would not trigger congressional curtailment of those powers? FDR and his administration were navigating extremely roiled waters of domestic politics as they tried to steer the country towards engaging the threats of Fascism and militarism worldwide in a timely fashion. From my readings, I believe that FDR was sensitive to the plight of the Jews (in contrast to his purblind bigotry when it came to dealing with the situation of Japanese-Americans). Singling FDR out for criticism on this score (and, by extension, Eleanor Roosevelt -- as the book does) is, I think, unfair.
One of the points concerning the MS St. Louis that is often glossed over is that the 900+ Jewish passengers were NOT returned to Nazi Germany and its clutches. Instead, as the book (to its credit) discusses, they ended up in Great Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Unfortunately, within a year the latter three countries had fallen to the Wehrmacht, and ultimately 255 of the 900+ passengers became victims of the Holocaust.
Heinz Goldstein and his parents were assigned to France. Hermann Goldstein, Heinz's father, was sent to an internment camp and eventually was shipped to Auschwitz, where his trail disappears amidst the ashes. In summer 1942, Heinz and his mother escaped to Switzerland, and in 1947 they emigrated to the United States. To me, the real value of NO REPLY is the story of the prejudice and trials that the Goldstein family encountered, as well as the courage and resourcefulness they displayed -- a story, alas, that was played out countless times with innumerable variations.
Once Heinz Goldstein made it to the U.S., he learned, somewhat to his dismay, that even here anti-Semitic prejudice was a fact of life, though not a reason for death. He wanted to get a job at the ritzy Greenbrier resort, but was told that with a Jewish name like "Goldstein" he would be blackballed. He used the surname "Gallant" on his application. Later, Pan Am Airways rejected him as a steward because of his Jewish name. So he legally changed his name to Henry Gallant. (Overall, however, Gallant has had a decent life in the United States, as summarized in the last fifteen pages of the book.)
NO REPLY is short -- 95 pages of text, with about 20 photographs. On occasion it was annoyingly simplistic in reciting facts of history or general knowledge that I think would be familiar to any of its readers. There were a few too many journalistic clichés for my taste. And, as already discussed, I disagree with the judgmental "no reply" angle. Still, NO REPLY is a valuable book, well worth the two hours (or less) required to read it.
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Tags : No Reply: A Jewish Child Aboard the MS St. Louis and the Ordeal That Followed [Pamela Sampson] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. May 13, 1939. The MS St. Louis ocean liner pulls out of Hamburg harbor and begins a long journey across the Atlantic Ocean toward Cuba. On board are more than 900 German Jews fleeing Hitler,Pamela Sampson,No Reply: A Jewish Child Aboard the MS St. Louis and the Ordeal That Followed,Pamela Sampson,0692812695,HISTORY Holocaust
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No Reply A Jewish Child Aboard the MS St Louis and the Ordeal That Followed Pamela Sampson 9780692812693 Books Reviews
We are on the cusp of 2018 and once again, America, is dealing poorly with immigration issues. We are supposed to learn from our past, our mistakes. No Reply, is the harrowing, true life story of Holocaust survivor, Henry Gallant, formerly Heinz Goldstein, a Jewish child aboard the MS St. Louis - a ship, filled with over 900 German Jewish passengers, fleeing Nazi Germany only to be turned away from Cuba, the United States and many other countries. Pamela Sampson, editor of The Associated Press, tell Gallant's story, with vivid detail and description. This book is not just a historical, accurate record of one man's journey of survivorship, it also serves the purpose of asking us, as a nation, would we answer the same way again with No Reply? Let us all honor and acknowledge Henry Gallant's life by sharing his story!
Compellingly written story that I read it in one sitting. The book raises issues that remain relevant today, like refugee resettlement and genocide. A haunting memoir.
This was a well-written and interesting book. It's current history repeating itself, and I think this book/story
should be taught in our schools. It has a great message, and I really enjoyed it. I would recommend it to
everyone!!!
In No Reply, Pamela Sampson does a great job of documenting the story of Henry Goldstein-Gallant and his family’s efforts to survive the Holocaust. This is a short, very readable, 95 page history that includes, as its centerpiece, the infamous pre-war voyage of 900 German-Jews on the cruise liner the MS St. Louis; AKA the Voyage of the Damned. These families were attempting to flee Nazi persecution and certain death by making a voyage from Germany to Cuba so that they could eventually apply for immigration into the United States. 10-year old Henry Goldstein and his mother and father were passengers.
As we all know, The MS St Louis was turned away by Cuba even though its passengers were able to raise money to guaranty to the Cuban government that they would not become financially dependent on Cuba for assistance. Ultimately, neither Cuba, Canada, nor the United States were willing to absorb these people and the ship was forced to sail back to Germany right back into the jaws of death.
During the return passage, the Jewish Joint Relief Committee negotiated with several European countries to arrange for a safe haven for the passengers. The “Joint” was able to provide a financial guarantee of support to any country in Europe that would take in the German-Jews. This led to a breakthrough and families were given a choice to immigrate to England, France, Belgium, or the Netherlands. Unfortunately, three of the four countries were soon to be overrun by the Wehrmacht. Henry’s family had the misfortune of choosing France. A few months later Hitler invaded Poland and shortly after that France fell like a house of cards.
Henry has a very interesting story to tell. Unlike the last book about the Holocaust that I read, this one has a relatively happy ending for Henry. The reader is spared the gory details of concentration camp atrocities because Henry and his mother were able to evade capture. A bit of luck was involved but I really think that Henry and his mother were very resourceful, clever, and determined. Sometimes you make your own luck through persistency and this story is about one family’s perseverance and will to survive.
By an ironic twist of fate, Henry’s father was interned by the French immediately upon entering France because he was German. When France collapsed Henry’s father was eventually sent to Auschwitz where he was most likely gassed. This is too bad. I think Henry’s father would be proud to learn what became of his son.
I have just scratched the surface on the holocaust and I am still searching for answers myself. Henry’s father and four uncles were very much assimilated Germans and considered themselves Germans first and Jews second. All 5 brothers enlisted in the German Imperial Army in World War I. Henry’s father Herman was awarded the Iron Cross at Verdun. One brother made the ultimate sacrifice with his life. So why did Hitler persecute these fellow Germans? Who knows? Hitler victimized former veterans including Iron Cross recipients not to mention the man that split the atom – the one weapon that could have won the war for Germany.
In the last few pages Henry Gallant compares his ordeal to the Mariel boatlift in the 1970s. At the time President Jimmy Carter allowed thousands of Cuban refugees to immigrate without any screening whatsoever and I am sure all were on public assistance. Henry mentioned that Castro pulled a fast one on Carter by emptying their mental hospitals and prisons. This caused quite a problem in Miami and Henry is a little bitter. Henry also ponders the moral quandary that the United States faces with future refugees. His perspective is valuable and the topic is very relevant. I do not think that Henry would commit to blindly taking in every refugee that arrives at our door step.
So why should you bother to read Pamela Sampson’s “No Replay?” As Brad Pitt said in Fury “Ideals are peaceful but history is violent.” We don’t need to dwell on the Holocaust but darn it, every so often we need to be reminded of it. History needs to be truthful, not sugar-coated and there is no room for political correctness. Only 75 years ago an advanced civilization wanted to eradicate the world of a certain type of people whose only crime was being born a certain ethnicity. Nazi Germany wanted to make a lamp shades out of their own law abiding and tax paying citizens including former recipients of the Iron Cross! How in the world could this happen and it was only 75 years ago. Things like this have happened throughout human history both before and since this Holocaust. Henry mentioned that after he immigrated to the United States that no one was willing to talk with him about his ordeal – both Jews and gentiles. This was most likely out of respect for Henry. But it is a topic that needs to be discussed. There are people out there that deny the holocaust ever happened. I too cannot fathom the Holocaust and the mass killing of the innocents on such a scale but it happened. So did the Armenian genocide, the Stalin purges, the gulags, the mass starvation in the Ukraine, the Russian pogroms in the 1950’s, Mao’s Great Leap Forward and the starvation of 20 million Chinese people, the murders by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, murders in Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur etc. All these terrible things happened and they will happen again if we are not proactive.
As Churchill said, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Thank you Pamela Sampson for telling the world Henry Goldstein-Gallant’s story. The Holocaust is one history we need not repeat.
Henry Gallant was born Heinz Goldstein in Berlin in 1928. He is a survivor of the Holocaust. He also was one of over 900 Jews aboard the MS St. Louis who, in spring 1939, were denied sanctuary, successively, by Cuba, the United States, and Canada -- a central episode in the debate about whether the U.S. was morally remiss in not offering refugee status to greater numbers of Jews before WW2 and an historical marker in today's debates over how many displaced and persecuted people we should admit.
In 2014 Gallant gave a talk about his experiences as part of an event marking the 75th anniversary of the MS St. Louis episode. Journalist Pamela Sampson was in the audience and she convinced Gallant that he should write his memoirs; she then helped him do so. The result is NO REPLY. It is a worthy memoir. Gallant's story deserves to be told and preserved.
I have reservations, however, about making the turning away of the MS St. Louis and its 900+ Jewish refugees the centerpiece of the story. I am particularly disturbed by the judgmental title "No Reply". As Sampson acknowledges in her Afterword, the dilemma posed for the United States by Jewish refugees back in the late 1930s, and by the millions of displaced and persecuted people across the globe today, is an extremely difficult one. One thing is certain the United States cannot admit everyone in the world who wants to be here nor can it admit everyone living elsewhere whose lives and freedoms are in greater peril than they would be here. Nor is it practical, or morally mandated, that the U.S. explain to everyone turned away, directly or indirectly, its reasons for denying sanctuary. In the book, Gallant/Sampson state, "Undeniably, FDR could have saved [the hundreds of] St. Louis passengers who were sent back to Europe and to their deaths." Yes, FDR probably had the executive power to do so in spring 1939 -- but at what costs politically? Who can say, definitively, that those costs would not have outweighed safe haven status for 900 Jews? That "too liberal" use of executive powers over immigration would not trigger congressional curtailment of those powers? FDR and his administration were navigating extremely roiled waters of domestic politics as they tried to steer the country towards engaging the threats of Fascism and militarism worldwide in a timely fashion. From my readings, I believe that FDR was sensitive to the plight of the Jews (in contrast to his purblind bigotry when it came to dealing with the situation of Japanese-Americans). Singling FDR out for criticism on this score (and, by extension, Eleanor Roosevelt -- as the book does) is, I think, unfair.
One of the points concerning the MS St. Louis that is often glossed over is that the 900+ Jewish passengers were NOT returned to Nazi Germany and its clutches. Instead, as the book (to its credit) discusses, they ended up in Great Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Unfortunately, within a year the latter three countries had fallen to the Wehrmacht, and ultimately 255 of the 900+ passengers became victims of the Holocaust.
Heinz Goldstein and his parents were assigned to France. Hermann Goldstein, Heinz's father, was sent to an internment camp and eventually was shipped to Auschwitz, where his trail disappears amidst the ashes. In summer 1942, Heinz and his mother escaped to Switzerland, and in 1947 they emigrated to the United States. To me, the real value of NO REPLY is the story of the prejudice and trials that the Goldstein family encountered, as well as the courage and resourcefulness they displayed -- a story, alas, that was played out countless times with innumerable variations.
Once Heinz Goldstein made it to the U.S., he learned, somewhat to his dismay, that even here anti-Semitic prejudice was a fact of life, though not a reason for death. He wanted to get a job at the ritzy Greenbrier resort, but was told that with a Jewish name like "Goldstein" he would be blackballed. He used the surname "Gallant" on his application. Later, Pan Am Airways rejected him as a steward because of his Jewish name. So he legally changed his name to Henry Gallant. (Overall, however, Gallant has had a decent life in the United States, as summarized in the last fifteen pages of the book.)
NO REPLY is short -- 95 pages of text, with about 20 photographs. On occasion it was annoyingly simplistic in reciting facts of history or general knowledge that I think would be familiar to any of its readers. There were a few too many journalistic clichés for my taste. And, as already discussed, I disagree with the judgmental "no reply" angle. Still, NO REPLY is a valuable book, well worth the two hours (or less) required to read it.
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