Unwanted: The Voyage of the St. Louis
"Though I see your point, I must offer my own," you say, "King has urged me to argue for the case of the Jews,"
The two men start, both of them opening their mouths to argue. You stare them down.
"I am the director of Immigration, gentleman. Though I have no great love for the Jews or any other starving foreigner who comes begging at our doorstep, this could be good press for us. Do you know of Mr. George Wrong and his lot?"
Skelton and Lapointe nod. Mr. Wrong, the University of Toronto professor, along with forty-some other well-respected men had been lobbying King to give the St. Louis sanctuary. Goddamn bleeding hearts.
Lapointe speaks up, "That's only a handful of people, Blair, what about the rest of us? Don't we have bills to pay and families to feed? You really think the average Joe on the street is going to welcome nine hundred Jews with open arms, when he won't let them drink in his club? This is foolish,"
"Please, Lapointe, we're not asking Canada to give them a warm welcome - we'll just set them up somewhere and let them fend for themselves. Letting them in will get us in good with the folks begging us to do so, then who cares what happens after that? If they can't hack it, that's their own fault,"
Lapointe and Skelton are silent, considering.
"We look good in the eyes of those humanitarian-types, and as soon as this bloody war's over, we ship them back to Germany and that's that,"
And that is exactly what you do.
Once the boat is ushered into Canada, the media stir about it dies down. People may have cared about a doomed ship, but a struggling community of immigrants is of no more interest to them than the dirt under their shoes.
Some refugees do not survive with the minimal support you give them, but many more do. They prove themselves resourceful, and while they never manage to become accepted in the small Nova Scotian settlement where you house them, they live in a tight-knit community with each other. By the time the war is over, some of the more well-established Jews choose to become permanent Canadian residents, while most are deported back to Europe to the aftermath of the War.
And they lived, not happily, not ever after, but they lived.
But that isn't what happened.
The two men start, both of them opening their mouths to argue. You stare them down.
"I am the director of Immigration, gentleman. Though I have no great love for the Jews or any other starving foreigner who comes begging at our doorstep, this could be good press for us. Do you know of Mr. George Wrong and his lot?"
Skelton and Lapointe nod. Mr. Wrong, the University of Toronto professor, along with forty-some other well-respected men had been lobbying King to give the St. Louis sanctuary. Goddamn bleeding hearts.
Lapointe speaks up, "That's only a handful of people, Blair, what about the rest of us? Don't we have bills to pay and families to feed? You really think the average Joe on the street is going to welcome nine hundred Jews with open arms, when he won't let them drink in his club? This is foolish,"
"Please, Lapointe, we're not asking Canada to give them a warm welcome - we'll just set them up somewhere and let them fend for themselves. Letting them in will get us in good with the folks begging us to do so, then who cares what happens after that? If they can't hack it, that's their own fault,"
Lapointe and Skelton are silent, considering.
"We look good in the eyes of those humanitarian-types, and as soon as this bloody war's over, we ship them back to Germany and that's that,"
And that is exactly what you do.
Once the boat is ushered into Canada, the media stir about it dies down. People may have cared about a doomed ship, but a struggling community of immigrants is of no more interest to them than the dirt under their shoes.
Some refugees do not survive with the minimal support you give them, but many more do. They prove themselves resourceful, and while they never manage to become accepted in the small Nova Scotian settlement where you house them, they live in a tight-knit community with each other. By the time the war is over, some of the more well-established Jews choose to become permanent Canadian residents, while most are deported back to Europe to the aftermath of the War.
And they lived, not happily, not ever after, but they lived.
But that isn't what happened.