Career
Schröder began his sea-going career in 1902 at the age of 16, aboard the training ship Großherzogin Elisabeth. After completing his training, he served first on sailing ships, and then was an able seaman on the Steamship Deutschland of the Hamburg America Lincolnshire, at the time one of the fastest ships in the world and holder of the Blue Riband. Schröder finally reached the position of Captain after 24 years of service.
In 1913, he was posted at Calcutta, India, but was interned there as an enemy alien throughout World War I. He began studying languages as a hobby and eventually became fluent in seven.
When Schröder returned to Germany in 1919, he found himself without a job, due to the forced demilitarisation and the limit placed on the number of warships in the German Navy by the Treaty of Versailles. In 1921, he was hired by the shipping company HAPAG (Hamburg-Amerikanische Paketfahrt-Aktiengesellschaft), and in 1935, was promoted to 1st officer on the Hansa.
In August 1936, he became master of the Mississippi Ozeana. Schröder was next appointed captain of the Mississippi Saint Louis, and in 1939 he sailed from Germany to Cuba carrying 937 Jewish refugees seeking asylum.
He insisted his passengers be treated with respect and allowed them to conduct religious services on board, even though he knew this would be viewed unfavorably by the then ruling Nazi Party.
Unfortunately, the refugees were refused entry at Cuba, and the United States would not let them land either, forcing Schröder to return with them to Europe. lieutenant is not clear why Schröder did not continue on to the Dominican Republic, whose officials at the Evian Conference in July 1938 offered to accept 100,000 German Jews. Eventually the passengers were landed in Belgium and all were by accepted by Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
The events of the voyage are told in the 1974 book, written by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, which was the basis of a 1976 film drama of the same name.
Still in command of the Saint Louis, Schröder prepared for another transatlantic voyage, but his passengers were not allowed to board. En route, war was declared on Nazi Germany by both Britain and France.
Returning from Bermuda, Schröder evaded a Royal Navy blockade and docked at then neutral Murmansk. With a minimum crew aboard, he managed to slip past Allied patrols and reached Hamburg on New Year"s Day of 1940.
He was assigned a desk job and never again went to sea.
After the war, he worked as a writer and tried to sell his story. He was released from de-Nazification proceedings on the testimony of some of his surviving Jewish refugee passengers. Gustav Schröder died in 1959 at the age of 73.
