-- Rabbi Meir Kahane of Blessed MemoryTHE DEAFENING SILENCE
On May 13, 1939, a ship sailed out of the German city of Hamburg. On board were 930 Jews sailing from their native land, leaving behind all that they owned, turning their backs on a lifetime and a Fatherland gladly. It was the worst of times in the Third Reich as the madness of Adolph Hitler gained irrational momentum. Six years of Nazi rule had escalated into terror, concentration camps, beatings, and degradation, and nine hundred and thirty }ews were leaving the nightmare that had once been their home. They were among the last Jews who were given the opportunity to leave the land of the Aryans alive before the night of the Panzers descended upon Europe.
In all this world, of all the many ports, of all the nations that existed, only one decided to grant refuge to desperate refugees. In their pockets, the German Jews held entry visas to Cuba and in their hearts grateful thanks to the Havana government that, alone of all the countries in the world, had agreed to accept them. But Jews are, usually, too hasty in their gratitude to the nations of the world, and before they even reached Havana they were informed that the Cuban government would not allow them to enter. The visas, it was ruled, were illegal.
The ship reached Havana and docked, a figurative stone's throw from Miami Beach where other Jews played in the surf and watched the dogs race in the evenings; in the very backyard of Collins Avenue where other Jews tanned themselves and ate from the legendary Jewish menus and enjoyed the good life. How close to the American Nirvana stood the 930 and how far from salvation they really were.
The drama unfolded as millions of Americans watched. Cuba remained adamant. Under a wave of anti-Semitism that appeared in Cuban newspapers and among its politicians, Havana insisted that the visas were illegal, that she had already taken in Jews, and—the unkindest cut of them all—what about the great colossus of democracy to the north, the United States?
The question was a good one and grew more cogent as it became clear that neither Cuba nor any other country was prepared to accept the unwelcome refugees. It became pressing as the days passed and the German ship lifted anchor, setting sail for the grim mockery that was called home. Home to Hitler went the 930.