Evil
Yesterday Trump outdid himself. First he put his name to a bombastic but empty statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day that made no mention of Jews or Roma or leftists or lesbians and gays or disabled people – and then later in the day he slammed the door on refugees.
President Trump on Friday closed the nation’s borders to refugees from around the world, ordering that families fleeing the slaughter in Syria be indefinitely blocked from entering the United States, and temporarily suspending immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries.
Also yesterday, a new Twitter account appeared: St Louis Manifest. The St Louis was a ship – this ship:
On May 13, 1939, the German transatlantic liner St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany, for Havana, Cuba. On the voyage were 937 passengers. Almost all were Jews fleeing from the Third Reich. Most were German citizens, some were from eastern Europe, and a few were officially “stateless.”
Cuba turned the ship away, and so did the US.
Following the US government’s refusal to permit the passengers to disembark, the St. Louis sailed back to Europe on June 6, 1939. The passengers did not return to Germany, however. Jewish organizations (particularly the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) negotiated with four European governments to secure entry visas for the passengers: Great Britain took 288 passengers; the Netherlands admitted 181 passengers, Belgium took in 214 passengers; and 224 passengers found at least temporary refuge in France. Of the 288 passengers admitted by Great Britain, all survived World War II save one, who was killed during an air raid in 1940. Of the 620 passengers who returned to continent, 87 (14%) managed to emigrate before the German invasion of Western Europe in May 1940. 532 St. Louis passengers were trapped when Germany conquered Western Europe. Just over half, 278 survived the Holocaust. 254 died: 84 who had been in Belgium; 84 who had found refuge in Holland, and 86 who had been admitted to France.
From St Louis Manifest:
My name is Manfred Fink. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Bergen-Belsen pic.twitter.com/2LFnB5yp3n
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Horst-Martin Grünthal. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/Xh1oZCtJak
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Ruthild Grünthal. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Theresienstadt pic.twitter.com/pxYclNerap
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Margot Hirsch. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/uwMRFqxOya
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Bertha Ellen Grünthal. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/PyMnWXdpiW
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Adolf Grünthal. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Golleschau pic.twitter.com/IrS9uY6kJ5
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Ilse Karliner. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/qkD7dP4pbt
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Josef Köppel. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/qREiM2XwnN
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
There are, of course, many many more.
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1426220904063033/?type=3&theater
@ Stewart
Well I have to admit I’m surprised. Even though I loathe him and I was shocked when he was elected, I didn’t think he’d actually do all the crazy talk. I mean, we know he bullshits all the time, right? I thought it would be like his promise to jail Hillary — instantly forgotten the moment he’s elected.
Wouldn’t you know, the one time you wish he was bullshitting he actually means it. He really is going to do all the crazy shit with the wall and blocking the Muslims and the deportations. He never fails to disgust me.
@ Silentbob
You obviously didn’t vote for him so I’m not going to attack you for that. From when he first announced he was running in 2015 I was convinced there was a very grave risk he would take both nomination and election and do every last crazy thing he threatened. I don’t think I’m smarter than most other people, but I did think for most of the time that the only one who could beat him would be Sanders. But one absolutely must take what people say on the campaign trail seriously. The fact that most people ignore all their promises doesn’t absolve the voters and the rest of us from doing that. Yes, normally they don’t – what I’m not getting is how many people failed to see that this man was/is not normal, because to me it’s been blindingly obvious the whole time, with all that implies for how he’d behave if he got real power into his hands.
I agree with all but the last. I was fairly sure Hillary couldn’t beat him, not because she was tainted, but because she was a woman. Tainted is the excuse people would use.
I just didn’t think Sanders could beat him, either. I think Sanders voters thought he could, but in the end, too many Americans are afraid of that “socialist” label. It generates fear and loathing, and Trump never really got going on it, so it’s hard to know. Still, Sanders would have gotten his nickname, his Jewishness would have been used against him, his socialism would have been used against him, he is the quintessential coastal liberal elite, and…if they think that “was he maybe an atheist?” thing that didn’t get used by Hillary wouldn’t be used by Trump…they were living in lala land.
So I’m not convinced that Sanders could have beat him, either. Maybe because I live in Midwestern central, and was just down to breakfast in my motel room in a truly red state listening while the others in the room were telling CNN just how awful Obama was and indicating how much they loved Trump. It’s madness out here, and very few people, even a lot of the people who are my liberal friends here, seem to recognize it. They live in the bubble of their circle, and don’t notice how small it really is. (The liberal coastal elite living as expats in the heartland bubble)
@ iknklast
A lot of that we will of course never be able to know, but I do think that if it had been Sanders, whatever damage Trump did or tried to do to him, Sanders might have been able to get in some hits on Trump that Hillary didn’t manage. I feel there was a potential surge there that was hardly checked by Hillary becoming the nominee that might have really rolled into a much bigger wave if he’d passed the DNC hurdle. We’ll never know.