Gustav Schröder

Gustav Schröder was a German sea captain most remembered and celebrated for his role in attempting to save 937 German-Jewish passengers on his ship MS St. Louis having sailed from Hamburg to escape Nazis in 1939. Disembarkation of nearly all of the passengers at the official destination port of Havana, Cuba, was refused in the midst of Cuban political turmoil and corruption. Knowing the risks to his passengers of returning them to Hamburg, Capt. Schröder sailed on to several other countries, in order to save the lives of his passengers. Most notably, America and Canada refused his plea for landing passengers as refugees.