Miami Premiere of documentary film: COMPLICIT

On May 12, 2014 Temple Beth Torah, North Miami Beach, will premiere the documentary film: COMPLICIT: the untold story of why the Roosevelt Administration denied safe haven to Jewish Refugees
By: SS St Louis Legacy Foundation
 
MIAMI - April 24, 2014 - PRLog -- PRESS RELEASE

April 23, 2014

MIAMI PREMIERE OF “COMPLICIT: the untold story of why the Roosevelt Administration denied safe haven to Jewish Refugees”


On May 12, 2014 Temple Beth Torah, North Miami Beach, will premiere the documentary film “COMPLICIT: the untold story of why the Roosevelt Administration denied safe haven to Jewish Refugees”.

On May 13, 1939, a German luxury liner sailed out of Hamburg for Havana with 937 Jewish refugees aboard.  Known as the “Voyage of the Damned” for being denied permission to dock in Cuba and subsequently being turned away from the United States and Canada, the SS St Louis was ultimately forced to return to Europe where over 250 refugees perished at the hands of Nazis in concentration camps.

On Monday May 12 at 7:00 pm at a Commemorative ceremony marking the 75th Anniversary of the voyage of the SS St Louis, Temple Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus, will host the Miami premiere of the acclaimed documentary film, COMPLICIT: the untold story of why the Roosevelt Administration denied safe haven to Jewish Refugees. The film is currently on worldwide tour of film festivals and was recently screened as an official selection of the Australian Jewish International Film Festival and the Georgetown University Law School Equal Justice Film Festival.  In addition to documenting the true story of the voyage through the testimonies of surviving passengers, the film includes a watershed moment in American, Jewish and Holocaust history; the US State Department’s first ever admission of wrongdoing for the failure of the US Government to grant safe haven to the passengers of the SS St Louis.  The film documents the US State Department Special Envoy on Global Anti-Semitism Hannah Rosenthal speaking to an audience of diplomats, foreign service officers and dignitaries, summarizing the State Department’s failure to assist the European Jewish community caught in the grip of the Nazi death machine as well as comments by ambassadors and a presidential historian.  The film emotionally documents how the saga of the SS St Louis became a symbol of the world’s indifference to Jews suffering under Nazi tyranny and how the refusal to grant the passengers safe haven sent a signal to Hitler that the Jewish people were expandable.  The film dramatizes the accomplishments of survivors who eventually entered American shores.  A delegation of SS St Louis survivors, including Herbert Karliner, a tireless advocate for rights of Holocaust survivors, will be honored.  Rabbi Ed Farber, Temple Beth Torah, reflects on this tragedy, “we can understand why evil people do evil things but how do we understand good people standing by and letting evil triumph?”

The documentary film COMPLICIT is a production of the SS St Louis Legacy Foundation, a Boca Raton based nonprofit dedicated to education through drama on issues of human rights, anti-Semitism, immigration and the fight against genocide.  The Foundation uses education through drama to educate multi-generation audiences about signal events in world history, include the story of the voyage of the SS St Louis and its meaning within world history.

Temple Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus is proud to partner with the SS St Louis Legacy Foundation to present this historic premiere and remembrance ceremony.  Rabbi Ed Farber, Temple Beth Torah, along with Robert Krakow, Executive Director, SS St Louis Legacy Foundation are dedicating proceeds from this event to support: Temple Beth Torah Scholarship Found for the March of the Living and the establishment of the permanent SS St Louis Archival Exhibit at the Temple Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus, and worldwide distribution of the documentary film COMPLICIT to high schools, universities, museums, Jewish educational systems and film festivals.

For tickets and sponsorship opportunities contact: Ruth Ann Kalish, Associate Director, SS St Louis Legacy Foundation, ruthann4321@aol.com or Rabbi Ed Farber, rabbiedfarber@aol.com.

Stlouislegacyproject.org

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Ruth Ann Kalish, PhD
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Source:SS St Louis Legacy Foundation
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Tags:Film Premiere, Holocaust Survivors, Roosevelt Administration, Documentary Film, 75th Anniversary
Industry:Entertainment, Religion
Location:Miami - Florida - United States
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