Friday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a time for people to both honor those killed under the Nazi regime and prevent future genocide.
Russell Neiss, a St. Louis man, chose to commemorate the day by creating the @Stl_Manifest Twitter account. Using information from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the account is posting photos and names of people turned away at the United States border in 1939, only to be killed in the Holocaust.
My latest twitterBot uses data from @HolocaustMuseum to remember the victims of the MS St. Louis w/ an eye to our current political climate. https://t.co/thXnyPdhG3
— Russel Neiss (@russelneiss) January 27, 2017
Inspired by the work of @HIASrefugees & others and in memory of the victims of Naziism turned away at the doorstep of America, I made this: https://t.co/xXEuFxDOTE
— Russel Neiss (@russelneiss) January 27, 2017
The tweets came on the same day President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily banning immigrants from seven Muslim countries.
The U.N. General Assembly established International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005. It chose Jan. 27 to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration, killing and labor camp. Seventy-two years ago Friday, the Soviet army liberated 7,000 prisoners at Auschwitz, the largest of the Nazi's camps where at least 1.1 million people were murdered.
The tweets refer to the German ship St. Louis — carrying nearly 1,000 people, mostly Jewish refugees — attempted to land in Cuba and the United States in 1939, but were turned away. In the case of the U.S., the passengers weren't allowed in the country because they were added to a waiting list of refugees. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum said 254 of them later died in the Holocaust.
The powerful photos posted to the @Stl_Manifest account have been making their way across the internet.
My name is Ilse Karliner. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/qkD7dP4pbt
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Margot Hirsch. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/uwMRFqxOya
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Erich Dublon. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/wlVcCiUt2P
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Carl Simon. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at Sobibor pic.twitter.com/B7f3lvWAts
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017
My name is Jakob Köppel. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered at France pic.twitter.com/j46MM897gQ
— St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) January 27, 2017