Film night with eyewitnesses: “Captain Schröder and the Odyssey of the St. Louis”

The German-language film to be broadcast will be “Captain Schröder and the Odyssey of the ‘St. Louis’ – Memories of a Drama at Sea,” which was made by documentary filmmaker Manfred Uhlig and recently aired on NDR, the public broadcaster for Northern Germany. In it, Uhlig recounts the dramatic story of the 900 Jews men, women and children who tried to escape the terror of the National Socialists in May 1939 aboard the “St. Louis,” a Hapag steamship. But neither Cuba nor the United States would allow them to come on shore. Thus begins the dramatic odyssey in which everything depended on Gustav Schröder, the captain of the “St. Louis.”

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. and is expected to last until 9:00 p.m. After the 45-minute film is shown, a panel of four people will speak about the events it covers, including director Uhlig, a descendent of the captain, and two eyewitnesses.