In May 1939, a passenger ship called the S.S. St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany to Havana, Cuba with 930 German Jewish refugees on board. To escape the Nazis, the passengers had purchased visas from Cuban embassies in Europe. Upon their arrival in Havana, however, the Cuban government invalidated these visas and allowed only 22 refugees to disembark. Humanitarian groups tried to secure permission for the remaining refugees to land in the United States, and Eleanor Roosevelt spoke on their behalf. Ultimately, President Roosevelt ignored all pleas and the ship was forced to return to Europe. Several western European countries finally offered sanctuary to the 908 remaining passengers. Of these, 619 were taken in by nations which were soon occupied by the Nazis.
