Sonja Maier Geismar was born in 1935, and lived in a small town near the city of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden in southwest Germany. As a four-year-old, she witnessed Nazis barging into their home on Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938, terrorizing her mother and destroying property in the house. Her father had been arrested earlier in the day and sent to the concentration camp of Dachau, near Munich, where he was humiliated, starved, and beaten for five weeks. He was released, promising to leave Germany as soon as possible. Jews could no longer continue to live in Germany.

On May 13, 1939, Sonja and her parents, paternal grandparents and two paternal great-aunts boarded the ocean liner St. Louis. Their destination was Havana, Cuba, which was considered to be a safe haven until their quota numbers would be called to enable them to enter the United States. Only about 30 passengers were allowed to disembark in Havana. The remaining 907 were refused entry. After 40 days at sea the St. Louis was back in Europe with its passengers".

What happened to the passengers?