Image copyright Bettmann Image caption Jewish refugees aboard the MS St Louis ocean liner wave as it docks in Antwerp, Belgium

Canada's PM Justin Trudeau has apologised for his country's role in turning away a ship carrying over 900 Jewish refugees fleeing persecution.

In 1939, German liner the MS St Louis sailed to Havana, Cuba, but that country's government refused them entry, although they had visas.

The US and Canada also blocked them, denying the passengers safe haven.

The ship was forced to return to Europe and 254 of the refugees later died in Nazi concentration camps.

Addressing Canada's parliament, Mr Trudeau spoke of how the Liberal government of the day "was unmoved by the plight of these refugees".

"The government chose to turn its back on these innocent victims of Hitler's regime," he said.

Canada's refusal was indicative of its restrictive rules towards Jewish immigration at the time.

"Bitter resentment towards Jews were enshrined in our policies," said the prime minister on Wednesday.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Gerald Granston was a six-year-old passenger on the SS St Louis

During the 12-year Nazi regime in Germany, from 1933 to 1945, Canada accepted fewer Jewish refugees than any other Western nation.

A senior Canadian immigration official, asked during the war about how many Jews would eventually be considered for entry into Canada, had a now infamous response: "None is too many."

Mr Trudeau called Wednesday's formal recognition of the historic wrongdoing "a long overdue apology".

"We are sorry for the callousness of Canada's response, we are sorry for not apologising sooner."

Shimon Fogel, with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, told the BBC that the acknowledgment is "important to achieve closure and recognition of a particularly dark chapter in Canadian history".

He hopes recognition of these types of historic wrongs will help ensure better policies during the current global period of upheaval and increased migration.

The federal apology also comes in the wake of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, an attack motivated by anti-Semitism.

The alleged gunman, Robert Bowers, is accused of killing 11 Jewish worshippers on 27 October. He has pleaded not guilty.

American authorities have called the attack on the synagogue the worst anti-Semitic incident in US history.

Mr Trudeau touched on the tragedy as he condemned ongoing anti-Semitic attitudes in Canada and around the world.

"This was heinous anti-Semitic act of violence," he said. "These tragic events ultimately attest to the work we still have to do."</s>His speech, just over a week after the massacre at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, showed how anti-Semitism shaped Canada’s response to Jewish refugees fleeing Germany.

“Today, I rise in this House of Commons to issue a long overdue apology to the Jewish refugees Canada turned away,” he said in Ottawa.

“We used our laws to mask our anti-Semitism, our antipathy, our resentment. We are sorry for the callousness of Canada’s response. And we are sorry for not apologizing sooner.”

Since taking office, Trudeau has delivered several high-profile apologies, so many that he has faced the charge of apologizing too much. Critics wonder what work an apology does, who benefits and whether saying “sorry” is ever really enough.

But coming soon after what may have been the deadliest attack on Jews in American history, at a time when anti-Semitic memes and conspiracy theories abound, Trudeau’s remarks felt urgent.

“His speech, his words and his apology were very moving and meaningful,” said Avi Benlolo, president of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, a Canadian nonprofit organization. “What we appreciated from his speech was his focus on contemporary anti-Semitism.”

The apology connected past to present, showing how the hate that animated Canada’s treatment of Jewish refugees is still ingrained in contemporary politics in Canada, the United States and elsewhere.



Trudeau said 17 percent of all hate crimes in Canada target Jews.

“Holocaust deniers still exist,” he said. “Anti-Semitism is still far too present. Jewish institutions and neighborhoods are still being vandalized with swastikas.”

He condemned the attacks in Pittsburgh as a “heinous anti-Semitic act of violence.”

“Canada and Canadians will continue to stand with the Jewish community and call out the hatred that incited such despicable acts,” he said. “These tragic events ultimately attest to the work we still have to do.”

The story of the M.S. St. Louis has long been a source of shame for a country that likes to think of itself as a refuge.

In May 1939, just months before the outbreak of war, an ocean liner left Europe with more than 1,000 passengers, including 907 German Jews. The ship made it to Cuba, but the Jewish refugees were not allowed to disembark. The United States later turned them away.

With the ship days from Halifax, the Canadian government decided not to help. The ship was sent back to Europe, and 254 of those on board died in the Holocaust.

Canada’s rejection of the St. Louis was not an isolated incident. When it came to Jewish immigration, Canada’s policy at the time was “none is too many,” Trudeau said.

“Of all the allied countries, Canada would admit the fewest Jews between 1933 and 1945. Far fewer than the United Kingdom and significantly less per capita than the United States,” Trudeau said.

When the possibility of an apology for the M.S. St. Louis affair surfaced, some members of the Jewish community expressed concern that a decades-late apology for the turning away of the ship would be too little, too late.

Writing in the Canadian Jewish News, Sally Zerker, an emeritus professor at Toronto’s York University who had family members among those turned away, last year argued that an apology from Trudeau would be “meaningless.”

“It will not bring back my relatives, or offer me any solace,” she wrote. “Instead, it will whitewash a government that did nothing to help the Jews who were fleeing the Nazis and ignored the type of anti-Semitism that was endemic in Canada until the 1970s.”

On the eve of the apology, Michael Mostyn, chief executive of B’nai Brith Canada, wrote that the Trudeau government to take action by devoting resources to developing a national action plan to combat anti-Semitism and engage with Jewish institutions, including synagogues, on security.

“The Jewish community needs committed and concerted action on the part of government to combat the rising tides of anti-Semitism so that, hopefully, there will be no need for apologies in the future,” he said.

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Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news</s>Canada apologizes for turning away Nazi era ship of Jews

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is formally apologizing on behalf of his nation for turning away a ship full of Jewish refugees trying to flee Nazi Germany in 1939.

The German liner MS St. Louis was carrying 907 German Jews fleeing Nazi persecution and it also had been rejected by Cuba and the United States. The passengers were forced to return to Europe and more than 250 later died in the Holocaust.

Trudeau called the apology long overdue. Trudeau said in Parliament Wednesday that officials at the time used Canadian laws to mask anti-Semitism.

In the run-up to World War II and the ensuing Holocaust, the government heeded anti-Semitic sentiment and severely restricted Jewish immigration. From 1933 to 1945, only about 5,000 Jewish refugees were accepted.</s>Jewish passengers on the MS St. Louis sought safe haven in Canada after being turned away by governments in Cuba and the United States. After being rejected by the Canadian government, the 907 German Jews onboard eventually had to return to Europe, where historians estimate more than 250 later perished in the Holocaust.

“We used our laws to mask our anti-Semitism, our antipathy, our resentment,” Trudeau said in Ottawa on behalf of his country. “We are sorry for the callousness of Canada’s response. And we are sorry for not apologizing sooner.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Nov. 7 delivers a formal apology on behalf of his nation for turning away a ship full of Jewish refugees trying to flee Nazi Germany in 1939.

The prime minister also pledged to do more to combat anti-Semitism, noting that Jewish Canadians are “feeling vulnerable” after a mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, left 11 people dead.

The Oct. 27 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue has been described as the deadliest attack on a Jewish community in American history. One of the victims, 75-year-old Joyce Fienberg, grew up in Toronto and had ties to the city’s Jewish community.

Trudeau said he’s heard calls “to protect synagogues and other places that are at risk of hate-motivated crimes.” Seventeen percent of all hate crimes in Canada target Jewish people, he added.

“Canada and Canadians will continue to stand with the Jewish community and call out the hatred that incited such despicable acts,” Trudeau said about the Pittsburgh shooting. “These tragic events ultimately attest to the work we still have to do.”

The MS St. Louis was a German ocean liner that set sail from Hamburg in May 1939. Just six months earlier, Nazis had unleashed a wave of violence against Jewish people. The Kristallnacht attacks destroyed synagogues and Jewish businesses, and resulted in the arrests and imprisonment of thousands of Jewish men.

Desperate to flee this persecution, the Jewish families onboard the MS St. Louis attempted to find a safe haven in North America. The U.S. State Department turned the ship away, citing America’s annual immigration quota.

Refugees go through customs on arrival in Antwerp onboard the MS St. Louis, after over a month at sea, during which they were denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada.

The MS St. Louis eventually turned back to Europe, and the Jewish refugees scattered across the continent. As Nazi Germany expanded its reach, about 254 were captured and killed in death camps, The New York Times reports.

The story of the MS St. Louis resurfaced in headlines again in 2017, when an American Jewish educator launched a Twitter account that names passengers of the ship who were later killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. The Twitter account was a protest against President Donald Trump’s travel ban, which targeted refugees.

“We refused to help them when we could have,” Trudeau said during his apology Wednesday. “We contributed to sealing the cruel fates of far too many at places like Auschwitz, Treblinka and Belzec. We failed them.”

Some former passengers of the MS St. Louis were present at the apology. One of them, Ana Maria Gordon, survived a Nazi concentration camp after returning to Europe.</s>TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized Wednesday on behalf of his nation for turning away a ship full of Jewish refugees trying to flee Nazi Germany in 1939.

The German liner MS St. Louis was carrying 907 German Jews fleeing Nazi persecution and it also had been rejected by Cuba and the United States. The passengers were forced to return to Europe and more than 250 later died in the Holocaust.

Hitler "watched on as we refused their visas, ignored their letters and denied them entry," Trudeau said in Parliament.

"There is little doubt that our silence permitted the Nazis to come up with their own, 'final solution' to the so-called Jewish problem."

He said lawmakers at the time used Canadian laws to mask anti-Semitism.

"We let anti-Semitism take hold in our communities and become our official policy," Trudeau said. "To harbor such hatred and indifference toward the refugees was to share in the moral responsibility for their deaths."

In the run-up to World War II and the ensuing Holocaust, the government heeded anti-Semitic sentiment and severely restricted Jewish immigration. From 1933 to 1945, only about 5,000 Jewish refugees were accepted.

The ship arrived in Canada more than six months after the Nazis in Germany attacked Jewish homes and businesses, burned 250 synagogues and killed at least 91 people, on a night which came to be known as Kristallnacht, "The Night of Broken Glass."

Before the apology, Trudeau met with Ana Maria Gordon, a St. Louis passenger who lives in Canada, to talk about how the country could fight anti-Semitism.</s>(JTA) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized for the government’s decision in 1939 to turn away a ship full of Jewish refugees who had escaped Nazi Germany.

“Today I rise to issue a long-overdue apology to the Jewish refugees Canada turned away,” Trudeau said Wednesday in a speech to Parliament

Canada denied asylum to the 907 German Jews on board the MS St. Louis when it arrived on its shores. Cuba and the United States also denied entry to the refugees and, after they returned to Europe, about one-quarter of those on board died in the Holocaust.

“In 1939, Canada turned its back on 907 Jewish refugees, deeming them unworthy of a home, and undeserving of our help. Today, I issue an official apology on behalf of the Government of Canada to the passengers of the MS St. Louis and their families for this injustice,” he said in both English and French.

“While decades have passed since we turned our backs on Jewish refugees, time has by no means absolved Canada of its guilt or lessened the weight of our shame,” he said.

During his speech, Trudeau invoked the shooting attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue, calling it a “tragic reminder” that anti-Semitism still exists in Canada and elsewhere in the world. He called on Canadians to stand up against those “xenophobic and anti-Semitic attitudes.”

Prior to the apology, Trudeau met with Ana Maria Gordon, who was a passenger on the St. Louis and who now lives in Canada.

Trudeau announced in May that he would make the apology, saying: “An apology in the House of Commons will not rewrite this shameful chapter of our history. It will not bring back those who perished or repair the lives shattered by tragedy. But it is our collective responsibility to acknowledge this difficult truth, learn from this story, and continue to fight against antisemitism every day, as we give meaning to the solemn vow: ‘Never again.’”

The US State Department apologized for the incident in 2012

B’nai Brith Canada in a statement welcomed the apology and called on the government to adopt a concrete, national action plan to fight antisemitism.

“It was very important that the government made this statement and fulsome apology for the past,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “It was crucial that every political party joined in, acknowledging this unspeakable failure in Canada’s history.”</s>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made good on a pledge Tuesday as he apologized to the passengers on board the ill-fated ship MS St. Louis.

The luxury liner carrying nearly 1,000 Jews hoping to escape Nazi persecution was refused permission to dock in Halifax in 1939.

Ana Maria Gordon is the only surviving Canadian passenger of the MS St. Louis.

She was only four at the time and an aging photograph shows her and her mother on-board the ill-fated ship.

“She had a book to learn the first words of Spanish so when they arrived (in Cuba), she could manage and you know, everybody was hopeful,” Gordon said.

The hope was misplaced. About 900 who fled aboard the St. Louis were stunned when Cuba reneged on the visas it had sold them.

The U.S., too, closed the door. The last hope was Canada.

“She was not bound for Canada or for Halifax during this voyage of May and June of 1939, but there were Canadian advocates who looked for the ship to be admitted,” said Steve Schwinghamer, a historian with the Canadian Museum of Immigration in Halifax.

Facing pressure from advisors, and a petition with more than 130,000 names opposed to letting refugees in, Prime Minister Mackenzie King turned down the request.

In the end, 254 passengers would die in the Holocaust.

Amonument to the ship -- the “Wheel of Conscience” -- greets visitors at the Canadian Museum of Immigration.

“The ship came right outside Halifax harbour!” said Jon Goldberg, former executive director of the Atlantic Jewish Council.

Goldberg says the formal apology is nice, but actions will speak louder than words for future governments, who should focus on social justice for all.

“I think that would be a much more positive step for those generations coming after us,” Goldberg said.

Trudeau’s words are no doubt appreciated by Gordon, even 80 years after the fact.

“Many, many years have passed,” she said. “You can't blame the present for the past.”

And while that past is now recognized by the Prime Minister of Canada, it will never be forgotten by descendants of those on the ill-fated ship.</s>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has formally apologized for Canada's refusal to accept hundreds of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany shortly before the outbreak of World War II.

 

 "There is little doubt that our silence permitted the Nazis to come up with their own, 'final solution' to the so-called Jewish problem," he said in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Wednesday.

Cuba and the United States had rejected the 907 German Jews aboard the MS St. Louis, a German ship, before they attempted to land in Canada in 1939.

More than 250 passengers were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust after the ship was forced to return to Europe.

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"We are sorry for not apologizing sooner," Trudeau said.

Canadian politicians at the time had refused entry because they were anti-Semitic, he added. The government allowed some 5,000 Jewish refugees to enter the country from 1933 to 1945.

Trudeau met the only surviving Canadian passenger of the St. Louis shortly before making the apology.

Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada reached a record 1,752 in 2017, according to the Jewish advocacy organization B'nai B'rith.

Every day, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.</s>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized in parliament on Wednesday for Canada's refusal to admit Jewish asylum seekers fleeing Nazi Germany just months before the outbreak of World War II.

On May 15, 1939 the ocean liner MS St. Louis departed Germany and crossed the Atlantic with 907 German Jews aboard, desperate for refuge from persecution.

The passengers were barred from disembarking at Cuba, and then denied entry in the United States and Canada due to the discriminatory immigration policies of the time.

Forced to return to Europe, many were sent to concentration camps, and 254 died in the Holocaust.

Their emotional journey would later inspire the 1974 book "Voyage of the Damned" and a movie of the same title.

"While decades have passed since we turned our backs on Jewish refugees, time has by no means absolved Canada of its guilt or lessened the weight of its shame," Trudeau said in a speech.

"Today, I rise in this House to issue a long overdue apology to the Jewish refugees Canada turned away," he said.

"We are sorry for the callousness of Canada's response," he said. "We refused to help them when we could have. We contributed to sealing the cruel fates of far too many at places like Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Belzec."

Earlier the prime minister sat down in his office with one of the survivors of that tragic voyage, Ana Maria Gordon, and her family to discuss the need to continue fighting anti-Semitism.

"We had a tragic reminder just a few weeks ago that we need to continue to work together," Trudeau told reporters, alluding to the massacre of 11 people at a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh on October 27.

The attack was believed to be the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in recent American history.

In Canada, incidents of anti-Semitism -- including harassment, vandalism and violence -- reached a record high in 2017, doubling from the previous year to 1,752, according to the Jewish advocacy organization B'nai B'rith.

In parliament, Trudeau called on all Canadians to "stand up against xenophobic and anti-Semitic attitudes that still exist in our communities, in our schools, and in our places of work."

"Holocaust deniers still exist. Anti-Semitism is still far too present," he said. "Discrimination and violence against Jewish people in Canada and around the world continues at an alarming rate.

"Sadly, these evils did not end with the Second World War."</s>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will issue an official government apology for when Canada refused a ship of Jewish refugees in 1939. (Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS)

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will issue an official government apology today for what he will call the country’s moral failure when Canada closed its doors to Jewish refugees during the Holocaust.

The apology is months in the making and will focus on the decision by the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King in 1939 to reject an asylum request from more than 900 German Jews aboard an ocean liner that was nearing Halifax.

Instead, the MS St. Louis returned to Germany and the passengers scattered in Europe.

More than 250 of them died in the Holocaust.

A handful of surviving passengers from the St. Louis are to be in the House of Commons when Trudeau rises to issue the apology later this afternoon.

But the shooting deaths of 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue almost two weeks ago have reframed the prime minister’s plan for the apology and Jewish leaders expect Trudeau to say something more than that the Canadian government is sorry for a decision made decades ago.

What they hope instead is that the prime minister makes a bold statement about anti-Semitism and commits to fight it, such as with a plan to tackle hate speech online.

“We certainly hope it is a catalyst for a greater discussion about contemporary anti-Semitism and what can be done by all of us — regardless of our background — and particularly what can be done on the part of government and elected officials to fight anti-Semitism,” Steve McDonald, the director of policy with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said last week.

“Anti-Semitism directly affects Jews, but it doesn’t only affect Jews and it’s not a Jewish problem.”

The most recent figures on hate crime from Statistics Canada show the Jewish population was the most frequent target of religiously motivated hate crimes in 2016.

When the Liberals first hinted at making the apology, it was seen through the lens of anti-immigrant sentiment and debate about how Canada handles refugees.

Pictures and stories of the victims from the St. Louis circulated on social media last year in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to ban immigration and refugee settlement from certain countries.

The question of immigration and refugees today is not likely to be lost in the apology.

“A call to action is what I imagine the prime minister wants to convey,” said Robert Krakow, an American filmmaker who made a documentary about the St. Louis and its survivors.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issues an apology for the country's role in turning away the MS St. Louis, a ship carrying over 900 Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany.