MS St. Louis GERMAN OCEAN LINER

https://www.britannica.com/topic/MS-St-Louis-German-shipArticle History

Revised: Nov 09, 2018
By: Amy Tikkanen
MS St. Louisin full Motorschiff St. Louis, also called SS St. LouisGerman ocean liner that gained international attention in May–June 1939 when Cuba, the United States, and Canada denied entry to its more than 900 Jewish passengers, most of whom had fled Nazi Germany. Ultimately, several European countries took the refugees, though some 250 passengers were255 of the passengers arebelieved to have later died in the Holocaust.The St. Louis was a transatlantic luxury liner owned by the Hamburg-American Line. On May 13, 1939, it departed from Hamburg, Germany, for Havana, Cuba, a popular stopover for refugees seeking to emigrateimmigrateto the United States. On board were 937 passengers and 231 crew members; the captain was Gustav Schröder. Most of the travelers were Jews leaving Germany amid growing concerns over safety; some six months earlier Nazis had attacked Jewish persons and property in an event known as Kristallnacht. The passengers had obtained landing certificates to enter Cuba, where most would then wait for their U.S. visas to be approved.

However, before the ship departed, there were indications that the passengers would not be welcomed. In early May Cuban Pres. Federico Laredo Brú signed a decree that invalidated the passengers’ landing certificates. His decision was supported by many Cubans who feared that the immigrants would compete for jobs as the country continued to struggle through the Great Depression. Further inflaming public opinion were rumours—which some believe were spread by Nazi agents on the island—that the Jewish passengers were communists and criminals. On May 8 a large anti-Semitic rally was held in Havana.

Against this backdrop the St. Louis arrived on May 27, 1939. The Cuban government admitted 28 passengers who had the necessary paperwork but refused to let the 908 other travelers disembark; one of the elderly passengers had died during the voyage and was buried at sea. For the next several days the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) attempted to negotiate with Cuban authorities. During this time, morale among the passengers waned, and one man attempted suicide by slashing his wrists and jumping overboard; he was taken to a hospital and allowed to remain in Cuba. As the talks dragged on—with money reportedly being at issue—Laredo Brú ordered the St. Louis to leave Cuban waters on June 2.

After waiting off the coast of Cuba for several days, Schröder sailed for Florida. However, the U.S. government also refused to admit the refugees, citing the country’s yearly immigration quota. The U.S. State Department told the refugees that they must “await their turns on the waiting list”—which was several years long. The U.S. Coast Guard shadowed the vessel, though the USCG later claimed its “units were dispatched out of concern for those on board” and not to keep the ship from docking. The Canadian government also refused to admit the refugees. As the saga continued, the Nazi regime used it as propaganda to support its anti-Jewish policies.

On June 6, 1939, Laredo Brú ended the negotiations. With supplies dwindling, the St. Louis began the voyage back to Europe later that day, and it reached Antwerp on June 17. Through talks spearheaded by the JDC, England, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium agreed to take the refugees, and by June 20 all the passengers had disembarked the St. Louis. In September World War II officially started. It was later determined that of the 907 passengers who hadreturned to Europe, 255 were killed during the war;,the vast majority of them dieddyingin concentration camps.

The incident was notably chronicled in the book Voyage of the Damned (1974) by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts. It was later adapted (1976) into a film. In 2017 the ill-fated voyage received new attention through a Twitter account that listed the passengers who haddied during the war. The account was created the day before U.S. Pres. Donald Trump signed an executive order that suspended immigration from certain Muslim countries. The following year Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized for his country’s failure to grant asylum to the Jews on board theSt. Louis.

 

Future Alert

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/qanda

Guest host Annabel Crabb is joined by John Hewson, Jordan Nguyen, Veena Sahajwalla, Julian Cribb and Chloe Spackman to discuss whether our government is capable of addressing potential disasters threatening human survival.

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Broadcast 9:35pm Mon 21 Oct 2019. Published 21 hours ago, available until 10:48pm on 20 Nov 2019.

Host

  • Annabel Crabb

Guest

  • Chloe Spackman, John Hewson, Jordan Nguyen, Julian Cribb, Veena Sahajwalla

A Short Summary of the three Books I read in Nov/Dec 2018

Last year I wrote about these three books on my ‘auntielive’ site.

https://auntielive.wordpress.com/2018/12/23/summary-of-three-books/

https://auntielive.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/books-i-read-in-november-december-2018/

https://auntielive.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/continued-from-books-i-read/

https://auntielive.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/continued-from-books-i-read-2/

I copy here some of my short summary about these three books. It helps me to have another look at what I wrote about these books, meaning it helps me a lot in memorising these books!

In each book there are some main characters that I feel very comfortable with. And of course there are some other characters that I would not feel very comfortable with but even the more ‘bad’ characters do have a few likable features. That means the characters feel quite real to me.

In each of the three books there are some male/female relationships that are great to read about. In each book there are some rather strong female characters. But even these very strong females do like a good man a lot! Despite a number of difficulties all these females end up with simply good men –  at least for a while.

The Winter Sea book by Di Morrissey is for the most part set into an environment that I am very familiar with, namely the South Coast of NSW, Australia.  It deals with a family history that encompasses nearly one hundred years and shows what happens to immigrants to Australia that come from different backgrounds, for instance Italian and Irish.

Greg Iles is a New York Times bestselling author. He wrote BLOOD MEMORY. Cat (Catherine) Ferry is a most interesting character. It shows what may happen to a person that has been abused as a child.

Well, the third book ‘THE GOOD DAUGHTER’ by Karin Slaughter, is a very well written book too. Two daughters are actually very main characters. To my mind they are both ‘good’ daughters even though they are totally different. Maybe one is more the good daughter of the father, the other one the good daughter of the mother. So which counts for more?

Traditional Chinese medicine and harmony of the planet: Lixin Huang at TEDxWWF

About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations) Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which is composed of plants and animals, originated in China 3,000 years ago. While a crucial part of Chinese culture, the demand for Chinese medicinal materials has risen both in China as well as in international markets. China’s economic growth has allowed Chinese consumers with high purchasing power to seek Chinese herbal medicine and other natural health products. The interest in using Chinese herbal medicine for wellness, medical treatments and longevity by people in other parts of the world has created new markets for TCM products. The development of TCM depends on natural resources so medicinal wildlife resource conservation is a precondition of sustainable use and continuation of TCM. Unfortunately, medicinal natural resources have declined rapidly, with Chinese manufacturing companies searching for large quantities of supplies inside and outside China to produce old-brand products and to develop new products for profit. The overuse of resources has caused a number of both animal and plant species to become extinct. The conflict between demand and supply is a big challenge for the development of traditional Chinese medicine and biodiversity conservation. In her presentation, Lixin will address how the TCM profession views these challenges and addresses them to promote healthy people and a healthy planet? She also discusses strategies that can be developed to bring TCM and conservation communities together to work with a shared vision to protect our one and only planet.

 

Catastrophic Climate Change

I made the following comment on the contributor’s site: 

‘You say: “. . . we might still light a candle for democracy, for freedom, and for truth.” Let’s hope so. Great article. I’ll publish a link to it on my website together with some excerpts of your article.’

Catastrophic climate change is not a problem for Fascists — It is a solution

Catastrophic climate change is not a problem for Fascists — It is a solution

Written by Contributor, 23rd September 2019, 2 Comments

Umair Haque writes: The tables have turned. The problem isn’t climate change anymore, and the solution isn’t global cooperation — given today’s implosive politics. The problem is you — if you are not one of the chosen, predatory few. And the solution to the problem of you is climate change. To the fascists, that is.

How Capitalism Torched the Planet by Imploding Into Fascism

Umair Haque, Eudaimonia & Co

…………….

“There are no solutions, because these were never “problems” to begin with. The planet, like society, is a garden, which needs tending, watering, care. The linkages between these things — inequality destabilizing societies making global cooperation less possible — are not things we can fix overnight, by turning a nut or a bolt, or throwing money at them. They never were. They are things we needed to see long ago, to really reject together, and invest in, nurture, protect, defend, for decades — so that capitalism did not melt down into fascism, and take away all our power to fight for our worlds, precisely when we would need it most.

But we did not do that. We were busy “solving problems”. Problems like…hey, how can I get my laundry done? Can I get my package delivered in one hour instead of one day? Wow — you mean I don’t have to walk down the street to get my pizza anymore? Amazing!! In this way, we solved all the wrong problems, if you like, but I would say that we solved mechanical problems instead of growing up as people. Things like climate change and inequality and fascism are not really “problems” — they are emergent processes, which join up, in great tendrils of ruin, each piling on the next, which result from decades of neglect, inaction, folly, blindness. We did not plant the seeds, or tend to our societies, economies, democracies, or planet carefully enough — and now we are harvesting bitter ruin instead. Maybe you see my point. Or maybe you don’t see my point at all. I wouldn’t blame you. It’s a tough one to catch sight of.)

The tables have turned. The problem isn’t climate change anymore, and the solution isn’t global cooperation — at least given today’s implosive politics. The problem is you — if you are not one of the chosen, predatory few. And the solution to the problem of you is climate change. To the fascists, that is. They are quite overjoyed to have found the most spectacular and efficient and lethal engine of genocide and devastation known to humankind, which is endless, free natural catastrophe. Nothing sorts the strong from the weak more ruthlessly like a flooded planet, a thundering sky, a forest in flames, a parched ocean. A man with a gun is hardly a match for a planet on fire.

I think this much becomes clearer by the year: we have failed, my friends, to save our home. How funny that we are focused, instead, on our homelands. It would be funny, disgraceful, and pathetic of me to say: is there still time to save ourselves? That is the kind of nervous, anxious selfishness that Americans are known for — and it is only if we reject it, really, that we learn the lesson of now. Let us simply imagine, instead, that despite all the folly and stupidity and ruin of this age, the strongmen and the weak-minded, in those dark and frightening nights when the rain pours and the thunder roars, we might still light a candle for democracy, for freedom, and for truth. The truth is that we do not deserve to be saved if we do not save them first.”

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UN says climate genocide is coming. It’s actually worse.
David Wallace-Wells, NY Mag
We’re on track for four degrees of warming, more than twice as much as most scientists believe is possible to endure without inflicting climate suffering on hundreds of millions or threatening at least parts of what we call, grandly, “civilization.” The only thing that changed is that the scientists, finally, have hit the panic button.

Report: The rise of the Right and climate catastrophe
Michael T. Klare
Nationalistic exceptionalism could become something of the norm if Donald Trump wins, or other nations put the needs of a fossil fuel-based domestic growth agenda ahead of global climate commitments. In its latest report, the Norwegian energy giant Statoil outlines a chilling scenario focused on just this sort of dystopian future.

Without a viable alternative to capitalism, our goose is cooked
Richard Smith
The fundamental contradiction with capitalism is that maximizing profit and saving the planet are inherently in conflict and cannot be systematically aligned even if, occasionally they coincide for a moment. But saving the world requires that the pursuit of profits be systematically subordinated to ecological concerns— and this no corporation can do.

Capitalism and the destruction of life on earth: Six theses on saving the humans
Richard Smith, Truthout
As global capitalist economic growth accelerates planetary ecological collapse, Richard Smith argues that – impossible as it may seem at present – only the most radical solution -the overthrow of global capitalism, the construction of a mostly publicly-owned and mostly planned eco-socialist economy is the only alternative to the collapse of civilization and ecological suicide.

How vulture capitalism is swallowing the world
Honi Soit, HoniSoit.com
“What you see in a lot of countries is a predatory capitalism, from Afghanistan to Pakistan to Australia, which show the corporations that are involved in the neo-liberal agenda, an agenda that has been implemented without really any public consent. This is happening, I would argue, almost by stealth,” says author and journalist Anthony Lowenstein.

 

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2 Responses “Catastrophic climate change is not a problem for Fascists — It is a solution”

  1. Saral Sarkar

    2nd October 2019 at 6:44 pm

    Sorry to say, this is too superficial for such a serious subject, not convincing at all. This is merely scapegoating a system, i.e. a thing, for the “sins” of humans, groups of humans and leaders of humans.
    This is also very cheap. Since all of us are humans, can think and have a will, Haque and leftists who share this view (Ecologise.in has referred to two articles of Richard Smith) can exonerate us all by blaming a thing, namely capitalism, for everything that is bad in the world. As if capitalism fell from the sky like a meteor. As if it were a sort of Satanic being, a Frankenstein, with a character and will of its own.
    This is also ahistorical thinking. Industrial Capitalism as we know it – and Huque is writing of this capitalism – is just 200 to 250 years old. Who or what is to blame for its coming into existence? Who or what is to blame for all the pre-capitalist evils and environmental destructions? Who or what was responsible, for example, for the demise of the ancient Sumerian civilization? (Please read Clive Ponting’s A Green History of the World). Were not the Jews persecuted in Europe since much before Capitalism came into being? And why could not the Kaiser. the king and the Czar of Germany, Great Britain and Russia respectively, who were even cousins, cooperate to prevent the First World War?
    This is not the place to write a whole essay. I only suggest that Haque and all who share this view of his delve a little deeper into the human condition in search of answers to the serious questions of our cursed times, and in order to know what can still be done. For instance, take cognizance of the fact of limits to growth, of the fact that It is simply impossible to fulfill the continuously growing “needs”, demands, wishes, aspirations and ambitions of a continuously growing world population while our resource base is continuously dwindling and the ability of nature to absorb man-made pollution is continuously diminishing, of the fact that it is a lunatic idea that in a finite world infinite growth is possible.

    Reply

  2. Anonymous

    15th October 2019 at 3:30 am

    Yes, it is obvious, in a finite world infinite growth is not possible.
    So, if infinite growth is not possible, why then do capitalists act as though it was possible?

 

Metropolitan Police impose London-wide ban on Extinction Rebellion protests as arrests top 1,500 By Chris Marsden

“The policy of mass arrests and now an unprecedented city-wide ban is a major stepping up of state repression that will not stop at climate activists.”

barovsky's avatarThe New Dark Age

16 October 2019 — WSWS

Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists yesterday defied a London-wide ban on protests by the Metropolitan Police (Met). The basis cited for the ban Monday evening was a revised Section 14 order, of the Public Order Act, stipulating that by 9:00 p.m., “any assembly linked to the Extinction Rebellion ‘autumn uprising’…must now cease their protests within London.”

View original post 1,155 more words

The irrationality of capitalism: Millions cut off from electricity, lives endangered by California utility PG&E

“The forced blackouts highlight the sharp conflict between the interests of the working class and the financial aristocracy. As long as it remains in the hands of private interests, PG&E continues to put the lives of thousands in danger.”

barovsky's avatarThe New Dark Age

11 October 2019 — WSWS

The forced blackouts affecting over two million people and businesses across 34 counties in Northern California are a stark example of the irrationality of the capitalist system.

View original post 1,166 more words

A Cemetery in Leipzig

https://auntyuta.com/2012/11/23/a-cemetery-in-leipzig/

This is a copy of my post from 23rd November 2012:

We had come by train from Berlin arriving at the Main Station in Leipzig (Hauptbahnhof)[/caption] A tram took us to the Southern Cemetery (Südfriedhof). When we got of the tram we could see the Völkerschlachtdenkmal.Crossing the road, we found ourselves right at what looked to us like the main entrance to the cemetery. There was a friendly lady in the building next to the entrance. She had the particulars of the graves at hand which were still under the care of the cemetery. People usually pay a fee which covers five years of care. If for any reason a renewal fee isn’t paid anymore, the grave site becomes a new plot for a new grave. My grandfather’s grave dated from February 1947. I knew that some of my cousins had continued to pay for the care of it. We even knew that the grave should be in section XXIV. I asked the lady could she please look up whether the grave-site still existed. The lady said, indeed, this particular grave was still under their care. It had been paid for till the year 2017. She showed us on the map where section XXIV was. This was it. We didn’t get any information about the position of the grave. We thought with the help of the grave’s number we should be able to find it anyway. Each grave under care had a particular number. We had the number of our grave. However to see the number you had to remove a stick from the soil. Then you could see the number underneath the stick. The problem was the numbers were not arranged in a consecutive order. We found the section all right. The grave-site number? This was another matter. We saw a young working woman who saw to the surrounding garden areas. She tried to help us find what we were looking for. She couldn’t work it out either where this particular site was. A gravestone with my grandfather’s name on it? Forget it. We covered the whole section, right left and center. We found nothing. In the end I felt rather tired and had a rest on a wooden bench while Peter kept on searching. Nothing! We hadn’t packed any food. Somehow we assumed we would be able to buy some food somewhere. But then except for flower-shops there had been nothing near the entrance. The toilet near the entrance was under repair. In the middle section of this huge cemetery there were toilet facilities which had been indicated at the entrance. Eventually we were heading for this middle section which turned out to be very beautiful: There were lovely well kept garden sections and stunning buildings with comforts, plenty of water and even a prayer room. Eating something, well, this had to wait. There was an office. Peter made inquiries. In this office every particular about every grave from way back was filed away. The lady from this office was able to give us a print-out with the exact position of the grave. Immediately we were full of hope again and we headed all the way back to section XXIV. We searched, and searched, and searched. We knew we were in the right area. Still no grave. We just could not see it! What was wrong? We didn’t know. I took another rest on that bench where I had been sitting before. Peter roamed about close by. The rest of the story is in the following pictures to be seen. Me, taking a rest We definitely had entered the right section. Peter contemplated in front of this more recent gravestone that here was a person who’s name ended in “….mann”. But where was “Spickermann?” Peter picked up the stick at the end of this grave site that said it was still under care. He turned over the stick, looked at the bottom of it. This was it. He shouted over to me: Darling, Darling, I found something! Look, look, look at the name! Wow, I had been sitting close to Grandfather’s burial ground all along! This is how this 65 year old gravestone has been supported for I don’t know how long. Walking through this cemetery with its tall trees was actually quite uplifting and relaxing. Lots of autumn leaves on the ground already. View to the middle section of this huge cemetery where the Crematorium is. I might publish about this a bit more some other time. An excellent cup of coffee was on offer in one of the flower shops close to the cemetery. We were told they didn’t sell any food yet. With the coffee we did get a very tiny biscuit. After coffee we had the energy to walk a bit closer to this impressive memorial. The tram took us to the city center of Leipzig where we indulged in a beautiful meal in the old council building’s restaurant. . This is where we had a lovely cooked meal.

A bit of Family History

This is a bit of family history about Peter’s parents and Peter’s paternal grandfather.

https://berlioz1935.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/october-27th/

Peter’s father, Richard Hannemann, was born on the 28th of October 1900.

Seventeen of his descendents live in Australia and nine in Germany . Two of his grandchildren have passed away.

https://berlioz1935.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/6-november/

Peter’s mother, Frieda Hannemann, nee Müller, was born on the 16th of November 1900.

“She was always a rather physically weak child, did not like any strenuous activity. On Sundays her father liked to walk with the family across the Tempelhofer Field (later Airport Tempelhof) where the walk over the sandy ground drove her to tears. But her father wanted to have his beer on the other side of the large field.

After school and training to be an “early childhood carer” she worked for a little while as a nanny, but later, during the Big War, she joined the Post Office and became a telephone operator in the new technology of telephony. She had a beautiful, clear voice right to the end of her life. In old age she still sounded like a forty year old on the phone.

Peter’s parents got engaged in 1922
and married in 1929.

https://berlioz1935.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/my-granddad-and-world-war-i/

This blog is about Peter’s grandfather, Otto Hannemann, father of Richard Hannemann.

“Otto Hannemann, was a carpenter foreman in the growing city of Berlin. Born in the small town of Lukenwalde, south of Berlin, he looked for work in the big city to support his growing family.

When the war started he was not called up straight away. Only later, in the beginning of 1916, he was called upon as he was a reservist (Landjäger).
It seems he had his training in Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg

He was sent to the Western Front. (Perhaps he was even opposite Australian forces.) We know from the war reports and history books that it was hell. On the 2. 12. 1916 he fell. Some reports tell of cold and frosty days. He is buried in a war cemetery just outside Lille: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lille”

A Video well worth watching!

https://auntielive.wordpress.com/2019/10/16/george-monbiot-capitalism-is-destroying-our-living-plant-and-life-support-systems/

‘‘If everyone pursues private luxury there is simply not enough resources to meet everyone’s needs. If we try to obtain public luxury then we create space and support for everyone’ ‘You have to leave as much on earth at the end of your time on earth as there was at the beginning’ This talks delves into areas around capitalism, life support systems, new models of democracy, citizen assembly, non party politics, proportional representation, referendums, flat pack democracy and alternatives to capitalism. LOVE IT TV – thinking outside the box. Please share our video and help others to live more naturally on the planet.’

You find the video when you go to auntielive!