Sonja Maier Geismar was born on February 16, 1935 and lived in a small town near the city of Karlsruhe in southwest Germany. As a four-year-old, she witnessed Nazis barging into their home on Kristallnacht, November 9, 1939, to destroy property. Sonja and her mother were frightened. When Sonja saw that her father’s photograph had been torn, she thought he had died. In truth, her father had been taken away earlier that day to the concentration camp, Dachau, near Munich. At Dachau he was humiliated and beaten until he was released after five weeks. He had promised to leave Germany as soon as possible.

It was impossible for Jews to continue living in Germany. Sonja’s maternal grandparents sadly did not leave Europe, and subsequently were murdered in the extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. On May 13, 1939 Sonja with her parents, paternal grandparents, and two great aunts boarded the ocean liner St. Louis. The Maiers’ destination was Havana, Cuba, considered to be a safe haven until their quota numbers would be called to enable them to enter the United States. However, they were not permitted to disembark. The ship’s captain hoped the United States would accept the passengers and sailed to the coast of Florida, but admission to the U.S. was not granted.  After 35 days of aimless sailing, the St. Louis was forced to return to Europe, where the governments of  Great Britain, France, Belgium, and The Netherlands agreed to divide the returning refugees among the four countries.Fortunately, the Maiers were assigned to Great Britain and after seven months they arrived in New York City in February, 1940. What happened to the other passengers?