The tragedy of the Holocaust is a direct result of the Nazi cruelty, but its implementation was made possible in significant part by the indifference and subtle participation of nearly every country and world power at the time, which closed themselves off to Jews, making all avenues of escape nearly impossible. Even if one managed to get ahead of the Nazis and obtain an exit visa or escape across the border, other countries were generally happy to return the “citizens” back to their Nazi-ruled countries to face an almost certain death.
The voyage of the St. Louis, made famous in the film “The Voyage of the Damned” is one such famous example. A ship left Hamburg in May 1939 with nearly 1,000 Jewish refugees, with documents permitting entry to Cuba. The president of Cuba, Federico Laredo Bru, refused them entry and the captain made an appeal to nearly all counties in the Western Hemisphere for permission to dock, but was refused. The ship traveled toward Florida, where the U.S. coast guard sent ships to patrol and ensure that no Jew jump ship and escape with their life to the United States. Legend has it that Rav Aharon Kotler asked Joe Kennedy, who advised President Roosevelt in such matters, for assistance in obtaining permission to allow the St Louis to dock in the U.S. Kennedy, a known antisemite, refused and was cursed by R. Kotler that Kennedy should never see joy from his offspring. The ship eventually returned to Europe, docked in Belgium, where the final solution was soon to catch up with them.
Two Western Union Telegrams I acquired recently tell the story of one Jew that managed to escape from Poland and some of the challenges he encountered. Elias (Eliyahu) Mazur was born in 1889 in Poland. In 1940, we find that Elias was able to jump the border from Poland to Romania, and traveled to Bucharest, from where he sent this first telegram. Directed to Tel Aviv, he states his situation and asks for “150 pounds” to help him escape. The second telegram was sent from Italy a little while later, also to Tel Aviv. Mazur writes: “Need buy for your family tickets South America otherwise must return to Poland send by cable 500 pounds…very urgent Mazur.” Even in relative safety at the time, in Italy, before the final solution caught up with Italian Jews, there was an imminent risk of Polish Jews being sent back to Poland, where they would face an almost certain death.
Mazur eventually made it to Mandatory Palestine, where he rose the ranks of Agudat Yisrael, becoming a member of the first Knesset of Israel. After failing to obtain a seat in the following Knesset, Mazur returned to his family jewelry business in Tel Aviv. He became a member of the executive committees of both the Diamond Association and the Industrialists Association until his passing in 1973.
