Are German Jews Comparable to Syrian Muslims?

By John Yoest Published on February 1, 2017

On the eve of World War II over 900 Jews escaped Germany to find sanctuary in the Americas. They would see Havana. They would see Florida.

But seeing did not mean staying. Turned away at our border, almost half would die in the Holocaust.

Many believe we are witnessing the same injustice today. Are we?

Over the weekend, President Trump signed an Executive Order placing a temporary moratorium on travel into the United States from seven countries — nations with a troubling track record supporting radical Islamic terrorism. “Extreme Vetting” was promised by candidate Trump and now promptly delivered. His presidential action places a pause on permitting entry into USA and not all are pleased. As Benjamin Franklin said, “To serve the public faithfully and at the same time please it entirely is impossible.”

The Voyage of the Damned

Some 109 of over 325,000 incoming international travelers were detained on one day as the Order was enacted. Demonstrations broke out within hours after the order was signed, and analogies to the WWII era rejection of Jewish refugees spread quickly.

In May 1939, the ocean liner SS St. Louis left Germany bound for the USA to escape the Nazi terror. The 937 passengers were nearly all Jewish. After Kristallnacht in 1938, Northern Republicans and Democrats proposed legislation, which would have allowed the Jews on board to immigrate to the United States. 

It did not pass. The ship remained at sea.

President Roosevelt was silent about the proposed law, which could have saved the Jews.

The ship was forced back to Europe and at least 231 Jews were murdered in concentration camps. This came to be known as The Voyage of the Damned.

FDR refused the 900 Jews on board the SS St. Louis to appease Southern Democrats in Congress who had threatened not to support him in the 1940 election if Jews were allowed to immigrate.

FDR refused the 900 Jews on board the SS St. Louis to appease Southern Democrats in Congress who had threatened not to support him in the 1940 election if Jews were allowed to immigrate. Dr. Diane Afoumado, a scholar at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum notes that the passengers even sent a telegram to the President asking him to allow at least their children to disembark in America. Roosevelt never responded.

Finally, the US Coast Guard was dispatched to locate the SS St Louis. The USCG cutter was not there to bring the ship into a safe harbor. No. The Jews had to leave US territorial waters.

Afoumado explains that President Roosevelt was afraid that letting in the refugees would generate controversy that might threaten his re-election. FDR made the decision to do nothing. And Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated president for a third term in 1941.

Modern Similarities — and Differences

Is the plight of the SS St Louis Jews similar to Syrian Muslims?

Beyond the surface similarities, there are significant differences. 

When the Jews were running for their lives, they had no Jewish state to flee to. The Syrians are Sunni Muslims, fleeing a civil war with fellow Muslims, the Shiite sect who hold power. The five states surrounding Syria are all Muslim, all have the ability to take in refugees, but have closed their borders to the Syrian refugees.

FDR kept Jews out; his intent was to get re-elected. Trump was just elected. His intent in this temporary immigration pause is strictly United States security.  

The most important consideration is the security risk involved in screening people who may have ties to terror groups. Trump campaigned on the fact that we do not know who these Syrian refugees are. Iraqis and Afghans have been exposed with forged Syrian passports. And, in fact, most significantly, at least two of the terrorists who participated in the November 2015 Paris attacks, which killed 130 people, entered the country posing as refugees from Syria.

After the Paris attacks, the Washington Post reported that Islamic State commanders were boasting that they have seeded refugee resettlements with terrorists throughout Europe. We cannot afford for the same to be true in the United States. Indeed, according to a 2014 survey, from the Arab Opinion Project, 13 percent of Syrian refugees have a positive or “positive to some extent” opinion of ISIL. (via Marc Thiessen of AEI)

No, there is no comparison of Syrian Muslims to German Jews. FDR kept Jews out; his intent was to get re-elected. Trump was just elected. His intent in this temporary immigration pause is strictly United States security.  

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