Nazi Death Camps: Holocaust Survivors

Mackenzie King Dept: In May 1939 some 937 German Jews fleeing Nazi persecution set sail in a liner named the MV St. Louis, bound for Cuba. They were turned away from Cuba, every South American country and the United States. Their last chance was Canada, but the government of Mackenzie King turned its back. Immigration officials lobbied hard to keep them out, telling King that Canada could not accept the hundreds of thousands of Jews seeking refuge and the line must be drawn somewhere, according to The Star. The memorial, designed by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, powerfully represents the bureaucratic machines behind the plight of the Jewish refugees. Called The Wheel of Conscience, it incorporates a series of gears that grind slowly but relentlessly, a brutal image in sync with Libeskind s jagged, stark design for the Jewish Museum Berlin. Libeskind, himself the son of Holocaust survivors, says he was aiming at something that represents the viciousness of their plight and the memorial unveiled Thursday at Pier 21 in Halifax is hardly pretty, and that s entirely fitting. The story behind it is one of the ugliest chapters in Canada s modern history. Shamefully, it was drawn at Pier 21, where the ship would have landed had it received permission. The MV St. Louis sailed back to Europe, stranding most of its passengers in countries soon to be occupied by Hitler s armies. Historians reckon that 254 of those on board eventually died in the Nazi death camps. As reported in the news.
@t jewish museum berlin, architect daniel libeskind