When we study Jewish history in the world, there were many points that we can see a level of discrimination, persecution, and hatred. Although not all times in Jewish history were bad, and therefore should not be generalized, there is a particular time in history when the Jewish experience in the world was at its worst. In 1933, Adolf Hitler became the dictator of Nazi Germany. Hitler had an incredibly strong hatred for the Jewish people; whom he believed caused many problems, including the Great Depression in the 1930s. As a result, Hitler and the Nazi regime in Germany began to impose restrictions on Jewish life in Germany, and later on other countries that were occupied by Germany. In the wake of this era, many German Jews attempted to escape Germany in hopes of finding a safe haven in the world. One of those attempts occurred on May 15, 1939, when nine hundred and seven German Jews boarded the SS St. Louis in hopes of finding a place to settle outside of Europe. They had visas for Cuba and made the voyage across the Atlantic towards Cuba. When they reached the port in Havana, they were denied access as the Cuban government denied the legitimacy of the visas and the St. Louis had to turn away. The last hopes for these Jews was to dock either the United States or Canada. Neither country agreed to allow the Jews through their gates. The strength of anti-Semitism by this point in time is truly felt by the fact that no nation would take them in as refugees. Canada's Prime Minister Mackenzie King completely closed the door to Jewish refugees at this time. As all their options came to a close, the St. Louis turned around and returned to Europe. Along the way, few countries in Europe including England, France, the Netherlands and Belgium took some of the passengers from the SS St. Louis as refugees. Unfortunately, most of those countries, with the exclusion of Britain, were occupied by Nazi Germany during WWII. Because of that, even those that were granted refugee status were not able to escape German influence. Most people on the St. Louis ended up dying in the gas chambers during the Holocaust.