Refugee: Josef: On the Atlantic Ocean – 1939, 10 days Summary & Analysis

Josef and some of the other children on the St. Louis take a tour of the ship’s bridge and engine room. Captain Schroeder demonstrates how to change the ship’s speed. Josef notices that the settings are on full, and asks if they’re going full speed because they’re racing two other ships to Cuba. The captain assures him that they’re just making the best speed because of the calm seas.

Another officer then takes Josef and the other children  down below decks to the engine room. They pass a room where crewmen are drinking and singing. Schiendick, the crew member Josef noticed storming off as the portrait of Hitler was taken down for Joseph’s bar mitzvah, grows angry that passengers are being shown downstairs. Schiendick calls the children “Jewish rats” before staggering back and continuing to sing another Nazi song. Josef tries to block out the words, “When Jewish blood flows from the knife, things will go much better.”

Josef feels weak and upset through the rest of the tour, realizing that they haven’t fully escaped antisemitic hatred on the St. Louis. None of the other children are excited either, and the tour ends solemnly. Josef realizes that below the decks lies a different world than the one he has been enjoying above.