"Oma", (grandma in German) Stern died here in Tucson at 92 years old. She and her daughter Gerta were survivors of the St. Louis and the Holocaust. My grandparents didn't make it, but Oma was like a grandmother to me. She's the first woman on the left in the bottom row wearing a black blouse with the collar turned over her jacket. She had an amazing survivors story and will be always missed by my wife and I. I realy got goose-bumps seeing her this morning. My best friend Peter called me this mornig and had no clue this was going to be in the paper. May she rest in Peace.

az-,
probably I should know about the "St. Louis" but I don't.  Please enlighten me.

5sub

The USA fucked them over.

[url]http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/stlouis.html[/url]

The link above probably can tell the story better than me. To sum it up it was ship of mostly Jewish folks fleeing the nazis. They were supposed to land in Havana but were turned back. Despite the efforts of the non-Jewish captain and American Jews, the US turned the boat back to nazi occupied Europe. Most perished in the camps. Erna and Gerta had an amazing survivors story, as did my own parents. But, I wasn't really going to get into the St. Louis story, for me it was more of seeing a woman who was really like a grandmother to me on the front of Parade. Her story though remarkable, was no different the thousands of others who by luck, courage or the bravery of others survived a mass extermination. My parents survived by fighting in the resistance also known as the Partisans. But to me she was just Oma. She would sit and listen to Pete and I with a sly grin as we went through out teenage years and drove our parents nuts. Somehow she knew that since her own daughter didn't have a childhood (Gerta wa 13 on the St. Louis) she could experiance it through Pete and I. She was a very cool. awsome woman. Totally unflapable and tough as nails!

Sorry guys,
I am familiar with the incident but didn't tie the name of the ship to the incident.

5sub