The “St. Louis” departed from Hamburg for Cuba on May 13, 1939, carrying 936 passengers (of whom 930 were Jews) who had landing certificates for Havana. These certificates had been arranged by the Cuban Director General of Immigration, Manuel Benitez Gonzalez, in lieu of the usual immigration visas. According to Cuban law, such certificates required no fee; Gonzalez however, sold them for personal gain.
The jealousies of Cuban government officials concerning Gonzalez's illicit wealth, combined with local sentiment against the influx of additional Jewish refugees and the government's pro-fascist leanings, led the Cuban government, on May 5, 1939, to invalidate the landing certificates and curtail the director general's authority. The government decreed that the certificates would be honored only until May 6.
The Hamburg-America Line and its passengers believed that the certificates, which were bought well before the decree, would be honored. However, only 22 of the Jewish refugee passengers actually met Cuba's new visa requirements.
The “St. Louis” reached Havana on May 27, and its passengers were denied entry. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) tried to negotiate the disembarkation of the refugees. Cuban President Federico Laredo Bru, however, insisted that the ship leave the Havana harbor. He claimed that the shipping line and the JDC should be taught a lesson about respect for Cuban law. The “St. Louis” left Havana on June 2. Its captain, Gustav Schroeder, steered it in circles in the areas off Florida and Cuba while the negotiations continued.
The refugees were not allowed to enter the United States either. On June 5, an agreement was reached to allow them to land in Cuba for a $453,000 bond ($500 per refugee), to be deposited by the following day. But the JDC could not meet the deadline, and the ship sailed for its return to Europe on June 6. Twenty-nine passengers (including all the non-Jews) were permitted to land.
While the St. Louis was en route to Europe, various countries -- Great Britain, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands -- agreed to take in the refugees. Most of the passengers who received temporary refuge in European countries were later victims of the “Final Solution.”