Three drawings created by an 11 year old girl about her trip on the ill-fated voyage of the MS St. Louis

Identifier
irn4599
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1991.164.117
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

overall: Height: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm) | Width: 7.125 inches (18.098 cm)

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Liesl Joseph was born in Rheydt, Germany, on June 17,1928, the only child of Josef, born November 9, 1882, in Altenbamberg, and Lilly Salmon Joseph, born April 25,1901, in Odenkirchen. Her father was a successful lawyer and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD.) The family was wealthy, with a twenty room house, servants, and a governess for Liesl. Following Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in 1933, political opposition was violently suppressed. The SPD was one of the few political organizations that tried to resist Nazi rule. Josef was blacklisted for his membership in the SPD and barely escaped arrest. Civil rights for all citizens were soon abolished and antisemitic policies became increasingly punitive. Gentile friends stopped associating with them, and Liesl had stones thrown at her as she walked to school. During Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938, Josef was arrested. The next night, a mob broke into their home; Lilly and Liesl hid with their non-Jewish tenants on the third floor. Everything was destroyed - the furnishings, all belongings, and the windows and doors were smashed. Lilly and Liesl left to live with Lilly’s relatives in Bonn. Josef was being held in a local jail and soon was released on the condition that he leave the country. They purchased tickets for a trip aboard the Hamburg-America luxury liner, MS St. Louis, sailing to Havana, Cuba. They left Hamburg on May 13, 1939, and arrived in Cuba on May 27. Nearly all of the 937 passengers were Jewish refugees hoping to escape from Nazi dominated Europe. The plan was to wait in Cuba for permission to enter the US, but Cuban authorities denied entry to all but 28 passengers. Josef, skilled as a lawyer and negotiator, was asked to chair the passenger committee. Liesl remember feeling that “as long as my father was involved, we would be all right. He was busy telegraphing and communicating with the rest of the world trying to find a safe place for the passengers." The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee negotiated with the Cuban president for refuge but, after a week, the ship was ordered to leave the harbor. Despite urgent pleas to the United States government, the US President and Congress chose not to make any special exceptions to the stiff US quota limits and the refugees were denied permission to enter the US. Captain Schroeder took the ship within sight of the Florida coast, before heading back to Europe on June 6. Jewish aid organizations had negotiated with four European governments, Belgium, Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands to admit the passengers rather than return them to Germany. The Joseph family disembarked in Antwerp, Belgium, on June 17, Liesl’s eleventh birthday. They then travelled to England with Morris Troper, the head of the Joint Distribution Committee, and his family on board the Rhakotis. The Joseph family rented a one-room apartment in London. During the Blitz, the intensive bombing campaign on London by Germany, Liesl was sent to Clifton where she attended a Jewish secondary school and boarded with the Whittington. In August 1940, her father was interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien. When the bombing raids ended, Liesl returned to London to live with her mother. In 1940, the family received US visas and departed on the Camaronia. They arrived in the US on September 10 and settled in Philadelphia where Lilly had relatives. Her mother worked as a maid and her father sold candy. In 1945, Josef learned that his sister and one of her two sons had been killed in a concentration camp. The members of Lilly’s family who had remained in Germany, including her mother and two sisters, also perished in the camps. Josef died, age 63 years, in November 1945. Liesl completed school, and in 1947, married Hans Joseph Loeb. They had a son and a daughter. Hans died in 1987. Liesl had a career as a graphic designer. She was a frequent speaker to community groups, dedicating herself to teaching others through her experiences of the Holocaust. Her mother, now Lilly Joseph Kamin, died, age 92 years, in November 1993. Liesl passed on August 25, 2013, age 85 years.

Archival History

The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1991 by Liesl Joseph Loeb.

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Liesl Joseph Loeb

Scope and Content

Trio of drawings on one sheet of paper created by 11 year old Liesl Joseph in August 1939 shortly after arriving in England following the forced return of the MS St. Louis from Cuba. One drawing depicts the ocean liner; one marks each location the ship passed; one depicts the cottage lent to her family by the Rowntree family in England. Liesl and her parents, Josef and Lilly, left Germany soon after the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938. They left on the Hamburg-Amerika luxury liner, MS St. Louis, sailing for Havana on May 13, 1939. The plan was to wait there for permission to enter the US. But Cuban authorities denied entry to all but 28 of the 937 passengers. Josef chaired the passenger committee that tried to find a safe harbor. Liesl remembers feeling that "as long as my father was involved, we would be all right." After a week, the ship was ordered to leave. The US government refused to make any exception to the quota limits. The ship was forced to head back to Europe on June 6. Jewish aid organizations negotiated with European governments to admit the passengers rather than return them to Germany. The ship docked in Antwerp, Belgium, on June 17 and the Joseph family continued on to England. Joseph was interned as an enemy alien, but when they received US visas, the family departed on the Cameronia and arrived in the US on September 10, 1940.

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access

Conditions Governing Reproduction

No restrictions on use

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Three drawings in pencil and colored wax crayon on a single sheet of paper. Two pictures are placed top to top on one side: on the bottom is an image of a brick cottage with a red roof, surrounded by a white picket fence, with a green lawn and a partial yellow sun shines in a blue sky. The top half depicts a map with the title handwritten in the top center. Two lines arch below the title indicating the beginning of the journey from Hamburg to Havana/Florida and the return trip to Antwerp; dates appear at intervals on the lines with small official paper ship flags attached to metal pins set into the paper at the same intervals as the dates. Below the line with flags is a large yellow ship's shield emblem with more flag pins stuck into the paper. The initials "H. A. P. A. G." are partially visible behind the flags on the shield; on either side of the shield is an anchor. The artist's signature and the date is inscribed in the lower left corner. On the reverse is a colored drawing of a large ship on waves with smoke stack and flag on either end. A picture is contained within 8-sided "window," in the upper right. There is handwritten English text in the lower left and in the center, text in multi-colored block letters.

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.