#28 Georg and Thea Moses & the voyage of the St Louis

IN MY role as a volunteer gallery guide at the Jewish Museum, I have been privileged to give talks on the voyage of the St Louis, a transatlantic luxury liner that became a refugee ship after departing Hamburg in May 1939.

I was initially inspired by the experiences of one of the few remaining survivors of the voyage, Gerald Granston (Gerd Fritz Grunstein) who, as a six year old, was on board with his father.

The Jewish Museum displays three items donated by the executors of the estate of Georg and Thea Moses (later anglicised to Moss). The couple are shown in the photograph above, on board the St Louis.

Georg was born in 1905 and Thea a year later. They lived in Breslau, when they managed to buy a tourist landing permit for entry to Cuba. Here, they were prepared to wait until they could be issued with a visa that would allow them entry to America.

Their experience of life in Breslau after November 8 1938, and then on board the St Louis, mirrors many of the autobiographical accounts of those who lived through Kristallnacht. Breslau’s Jewish population had shrunk from 20,000 in 1933 to 12,000 by 1939. For Georg and Thea, it was imperative to leave Germany by whatever route available.

The story of the St Louis has been documented in films, plays, books and TV. We do not know how Georg and Thea obtained tickets for the voyage alongside the other 935 Jewish passengers. The photograph was taken in the early stages of the voyage and they display no signs of anxiety or distress. After all, this was supposed to be a luxury cruise.

The St Louis reached Havana on May 27 1939, but was not allowed to dock at the allocated pier. After a week, the Cuban president ordered it out. The ship then sailed to Miami, hoping that Roosevelt would allow the ship to dock and for the passengers to disembark. The St Louis was again denied entry and was ordered out of American territorial waters.

By now, Georg and Thea would have been distraught and fearing the worst, as the ship was ordered back to Germany and they almost certainly expected to be sent to Buchenwald or Dachau. The situation on board had deteriorated so much that suicide watch patrols were set up.

After a further 11 days at sea, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee intervened and negotiated for the safe release of all the passengers to Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Britain agreed to accept 288 passengers, including Georg and Thea. The remainder of the passengers were distributed amongst the other three countries.

By January 1944, 254 of those who had been on board the St. Louis had been arrested and sent to Auschwitz or Sobibor, where they were murdered.

We know very little of Georg and Thea’s life in London after 1939, other than that Georg established a successful business in 1942. They were both active members of the Leo Baeck B’nai B’rith London Lodge, where Thea became a trustee and was elected as a life member. Georg died in 1979 and Thea in 1998.

On display in the Jewish Museum are a tourist landing permit, issued illegally by the Cuban Minister for Immigration, a breakfast menu from the St Louis, and this photograph of Georg and Thea. These are a reminder of the traumatic journey that they undertook in the hope that they would be able to start a new life free from fear and persecution.