“Complicit” Film and Post Film Discussion with the filmmaker Robert Krakow in conversation with SS St. Louis Passengers, Sonja Geismar and Eva Wiener

Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with Rodef Shalom Congregation and the George Washington University’s Rabin Chair Forum, is excited to offer the opportunity to watch the film “Complicit” and engage in a post-film discussion with the filmmaker Robert Krakow in conversation with SS St. Louis Passengers, Sonja Geismar and Eva Wiener.
Complicit is a production of the SS St Louis Legacy Project and is touring as part of the 82nd anniversary of the voyage of the SS St Louis. The film contains rare footage and candid interviews with the heroic Jewish refugees from Germany who were turned away by the United States in June, 1939 and who returned to the US to make extraordinary contributions to American society. It also includes never-before-seen footage of the US Special Envoy Hannah Rosenthal’s exposé of America’s inadequate response to the Jewish refugee crisis of the time.

Complicit also features the 2012 US State Department ceremony in which Deputy Secretary of State William Burns makes the first ever apology to a delegation of surviving passengers of the SS St Louis before a group of high-ranking diplomats and foreign service officers. Part of this ceremony includes the fictional courtroom drama depicting Franklin D Roosevelt on trial for complicity in crimes against humanity.

Click HERE for more information about the SS St Louis Legacy Foundation

Robert Krakow

Robert Krakow (on the right pictured with Jonathon Krakow attending PM Justin Trudeau’s apology to the passengers of the SS St. Louis on November 7, 2018) Robert is a graduate of Georgetown Law School and the author of two acclaimed plays, The False Witness and The Trial of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Both plays have been performed in theater venues throughout the United States.

Krakow is the creator of the documentary film, COMPLICIT, which won 1st prize at the Rhode Island International Film Festival for the festival’s prestigious Judaica category for films celebrating the Jewish Experience. His foundation was responsible for bringing 14 surviving passengers from the refugee ship, SS St Louis, to the US Department of State in September, 2012, where Deputy Secretary of State William Burns welcomed the passengers on behalf of President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton. The ceremony included the first ever apology by the State Department for refusing to address the Jewish refugee crisis during the pre-war and wartime period.

Krakow’s groundbreaking research on the origins of Hitler’s anti-Jewish propaganda was published in The Qualitative Report of Nova Southeastern University. In November, 2018, his foundation lead a delegation of 5 SS St. Louis passengers to the House of Commons in Ottawa, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed the passengers on behalf of the Government of Canada and made the official apology statement for Canada’s refusal to grant them safe haven in June, 1939.

In May, 2014, he was honored by the City of Miami for his “Championship of Justice and Human Rights and his critical work in the SS St Louis Legacy Project”.

Sonja Geismar

Sonja Geismar – Bronx, NY: In May 1939, Sonja’s parents, paternal grandparents, two great aunts, and another great aunt with her husband were passengers on the St. Louis.. In Havana harbor she remembers the tenders and waving to cousins who came to see their grandparents who unfortunately went to Belgium and met their fate in a gas chamber. They went to England at and when their quota numbers were reached they sailed into New York harbor on February 11, 1940 and the Statue of Liberty came into view. Sonja became a high school social studies teacher. Years later she changed the direction of my career by returning to graduate school for her second Masters degree. She became a high school librarian in an inner city school and after ten years became head librarian.

Eva Wiener

Eva Wiener, Neptune, NJ Eva Rose (Safier) Wiener was born in Berlin, Germany during the rise of Hitler. To escape the Nazis, her parents were able to book passage on the St. Louis, for its ill-fated voyage to Havana, Cuba. When the ship was forced to return its passengers to Europe, Eva and her parents were among the fortunate ones to be accepted into the quota for England. They immigrated to the United States in May of 1946. Eva was employed as a Budget Analyst at Fort Monmouth, an installation of the U. S. Department of Defense. While at the Fort she was instrumental in establishing a yearly program commemorating the Holocaust. This program grew to become the most successful program of its kind for a military installation. She has been Past President of the Monmouth County Chapter of B’nai Brith Women and the Gibor Zimel Resnick Chapter of American Friends of Magen David Adom. In November of 2006 Eva was honored by being the recipient of the Eishet Chayil (Woman of Valor) awarded by the Central New Jersey Women’s Branch for Conservative Judaism. In 2012 Eva was selected by her synagogue as the Woman of the Year. In May of 2012 Eva also received a “Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition” for “invaluable service to the community” presented to her by Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr.

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