Seventy-three years ago this week (June 4, 1939), the SS St. Louis, the infamous “Voyage of the Damned,” hovered off the coast of Florida, hoping to be granted permission to land.
In a telegram to the White House, the Jewish refugees begged: “Help [us], Mr. President, the 900 passengers, of which more than 400 are women and children.” There was no reply.
Meanwhile, a handful of editorial cartoonists tried to rally American public opinion in support of the refugees. The cartoons below (click for larger view) will appear in the forthcoming book
“Cartoonists Against the Holocaust,” coauthored by Dr. Rafael Medoff, director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, and comics historian and editor
Craig Yoe (photos courtesy of the Wyman Institute).
—JointMedia News Service