--- title: Historical Parallels for Migrant Crisis in Europe and Southeast Asia description: The migrant crises of today echo events of a century ago, from the St. Louis to the Komagata Maru canonical: https://time.com/3914106/history-migrant-ships-st-louis/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-09T18:00:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:08.588Z article:section: History og:title: The Long, Sad History of Migrant Ships Being Turned Away From Ports og:description: The migrant crises of today echo events of a century ago og:url: https://time.com/3914106/history-migrant-ships-st-louis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad108ed1da6c81a6/698853ac8e06011ea0460df9/louis.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: St. Louis In Antwerp og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Long, Sad History of Migrant Ships Being Turned Away From Ports twitter:description: The migrant crises of today echo events of a century ago twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad108ed1da6c81a6/698853ac8e06011ea0460df9/louis.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Long, Sad History of Migrant Ships Being Turned Away From Ports  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 9, 2015 6:00 PM UTC  Refugees arrive in Antwerp on the MS St. Louis after over a month at sea, during which they were denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada, June 17, 1939. Refugees arrive in Antwerp on the MS St. Louis after over a month at sea, during which they were denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada, June 17, 1939.Three Lions / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 9, 2015 6:00 PM UTC This year has seen a [crisis](http://time.com/3833333/ian-bremmer-europe-migrants-deaths/) of devastating proportions for seafaring migrants around the world. The total number of smuggled migrants who have arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean in 2015 has [just topped 101,000](http://time.com/3913202/migrants-mediterranean-rescue-italy-pictures/), and Southeast Asia has seen [its own crisis](http://time.com/3908627/burmas-nowhere-people/), with thousands of Burmese and Bangladeshi refugees attempting to reach Indonesia, Thailand or Malaysia. The news is filled with horror stories about the fates those migrants have met, from death by [drowning](http://time.com/3827557/migrant-boat-capsizing-mediterranean-europe/) to starvation while desperately seeking a harbor that wouldn’t turn them away. The [U.S.](http://time.com/3890323/burma-u-s-migrants-human-trafficking-southeast-asia/), the [U.N.](http://time.com/3833463/unhcr-antonio-guterres-migration-refugees-europe/) and the [Pope](http://time.com/3604648/pope-francis-european-parliament/) have all urged the world to help the desperate refugees. But, as news of 2015’s migrant crisis continues to evolve, it’s worth remembering that the turning away of ships full of hopeful immigrants has been occurring for decades, with catastrophic results. In 1914, for example, a ship called the _Komagata Maru,_ carrying hundreds of Indian immigrants to Canada who were subject to restrictive and confusing immigration policies, was turned away from Vancouver and forced to sail back to India, where many of the passengers faced imprisonment or death. Canada’s prime minister Stephen Harper has offered an [apology](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/harper-apologizes-in-b-c-for-1914-komagata-maru-incident-1.747120) for the events of nearly 100 years earlier, and in April, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi tweeted a photograph from his visit to Canada, remembering the incident. > [](https://twitter.com/PMOIndia/status/588843219061846016) Another historical example of a ship of refugees being denied entry to a port—one of the more famous such incidents, thanks to the 1976 movie _Voyage of the Damned_—was the 1939 story of the MS _St. Louis_. In May of that year, as [TIME reported as the incident was underway](http://time.com/vault/issue/1939-06-12/page/24/), the _St. Louis_ left Hamburg, Germany, laden with nearly 1,000 German-Jewish refugees. The destination was Cuba, as a way station for eventual immigration to the United States. Upon reaching Havana, however, only a few dozen people were permitted to disembark. As the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum [explains](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005267) in an investigation of the incident, the _St. Louis_ left Cuba bound for Miami, but a cable to President Roosevelt went unanswered. The State Department responded that all immigrants must take their turns on a waiting list and acquire visas in advance before being allowed into the U.S., even though at that point the waiting list for immigrants from that region was several years long. In general, anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. at the time—this was before official American involvement in WWII, and before many Americans understood the scope of Nazi ambition and ruthlessness—was stronger than sympathy for the Jews of Europe. The ship returned to Europe, arranging with Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and France to avoid returning directly to Germany. Even so, about half of the people who were on board in 1939 did not survive the Holocaust. And, as TIME [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1939-06-12/page/24/) in 1939, the _St. Louis_ incident was not isolated: --- > “” --- The individual cases are unique in their details. But in general, each situation was sparked by the need to flee one place—for reasons such as poverty or persecution—and the unwillingness of another place to accept new people. ### See Images of the Mediterranean's Migrant Crisis  A ship belonging to Italian authorities approaches one of three migrant rafts some 120 miles off the Italian coast, about 40 miles from Libya, on June 6, 2015. Giulio Piscitelli  Italian authorities are seen during an operation some 120 miles off the Italian coast that rescued more than 100 migrants coming from Libya on June 6, 2015. Giulio Piscitelli  A boat of migrants that set off from Libya, as seen from a ship belonging to Italian authorities, during a rescue operation on June 6, 2015. Giulio Piscitelli  A member of Italy's Guardia di Finanza brings a migrant aboard after they were rescued from an inflatable boat, which originated in Libya and was found some 120 miles off the Italian coast in the Mediterranean, on June 6, 2015. Giulio Piscitelli  Immigrants from Bangladesh on a ship belonging to Italy's financial police after being rescued some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015. Giulio Piscitelli  An officer with Italy's financial police speaks to colleagues on a radio from the command cabin during a migrant rescue operation—which also involved the Italian and Irish navies—some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015. Giulio Piscitelli  Smoke billows from a migrant boat, set ablaze by Italian authorities so other smugglers don't use it, after they rescued more than 100 people some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015. Giulio Piscitelli  Rescued immigrants are covered with thermal sheets in Lampedusa after being rescued some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015. Giulio Piscitelli  An African man disembarks a ship belonging to Italy's financial police after being rescued with about 100 other people in an operation some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015. Giulio Piscitelli  An African boy stands covered with a thermal sheet in Lampedusa after being rescued some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015. 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