NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — An author felt there just weren't enough people who knew about an important moment in history. She's set out to change that.
"That story was so heart breaking and compelling," said Cathy A. Lewis, speaking at a book release at One Garage.
Lewis has written a previous book inspired by what she learned about her Jewish family history and family members killed in the Holocaust. Then came this other unexpected inspiration in the form of a 1976 film.
"After seeing Voyage of the Damned on Turner Classic Movies, I felt very compelled about telling that story," Lewis said. "I started asking people, 'do you know about the St. Louis? Do you know the story about the SS St. Louis? Most people had never heard the story, and that's how I knew I had to write about it."
It was 1939. 937 passengers left Hamburg, Germany. Many were Jewish refugees seeking to escape the Nazis. The St. Louis attempted to anchor in Cuba, the United States, and Canada. The ship was refused each time, and the St. Louis returned to Europe.
"254 of those 937 passengers died in the Holocaust," Lewis said. "The Third Reich was so devious in what they did to these people, giving them all the hope in the world that they were going to get away, knowing they would never get away."
Pictures from 1939 capture a family with a 10-month-old on the St. Louis. Lewis invited that child in the pictures to the event, Eva Wiener.
"I think this is why we were saved," Wiener said about sharing her story. "I think this has become my mission in life."
Wiener's family ran a bakery in Berlin.
"They were very comfortable until the 1930s, what was called the Nuremburg Laws," Wiener continued. "Germany was no longer welcoming. The mission of the Nazis was promoted by hate."
When the St. Louis returned to Europe, Wiener said her father made the wisest decision of his life. He located the family to London because the English Channel would give them distance from the Nazis.
"We were bombed by Nazis, but it still became the safest place," Wiener remembered. "Belgium was invaded within weeks after the ship landed, Holland and France months later."
At the end of the war, Wiener's family was finally able to go to the United States.
Wiener now lives in New Jersey, but traveled to Nashville as Lewis launches her book, Some Came By Ship.
"Anyone who tells the story of a Holocaust event has to be kept on a pedestal because it is so vital," Wiener said.
"I am grateful every day that my father made that wonderful decision to be put on the list for England," Wiener told the crowd gathered at a book signing. "That's basically my story. The ship has become a symbol of what hate and bigotry can evolve and become. In order for this to never happen again, we must stand up where we see injustice. Thank you."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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