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Haiti Haitian History Vintage Haiti

Haiti History: During the Holocaust, Haiti Issued Passports To Jewish Families to Leave Germany

Pictures Courtesy of Wiki

I bet you didn’t know that during the Holocaust, Haiti issued out passports (sold them) to Jewish families so that they could leave Germany?

As much as I love posting about the beauty of Haiti, my second favorite thing to do is read about our History and how instrumental we were in helping so many people and different countries. The sad thing is most people don’t know about it so we don’t talk about it and I don’t think I’ve ever seen most of the information in history books.

Thanks to my Haitian sister site Kreyolicious, we can read, comment, and share these important historical facts with the world.

According to this article titled ” Haiti History 101: Haiti’s Role in Saving Jewish Families During the Holocaust

Most people, aren’t aware of it, and even today only a handful of historians may know this, but Haiti was indeed responsible for saving about 70 Jewish families (an estimated total of up to 300 lives) during the horrendous Holocaust that occurred in the 1930s, in which Jewish families were hunted down in Europe and placed in concentration camps, some starved to death. Some were Austrian Jews, others were Polish Jews, still others German Jews, and a trickle of Romanian-Jew and Czech-Jewish descent.

300 lives…That number is certainly not as high as the number of Jewish families that Schindler helped saved, but human life is a human life.

According to documents furnished to Kreyolicious.com by the Jewish dating from December 5, 1939, it was estimated that anywhere from 250-300 individuals fleeing Nazi Germany had come to Haiti. There were others other than this bunch who never came to Haiti at all, but from Germany were given Haitian passports by the Haitian government that allowed them to flee Germany to other countries. Continue Reading on Kreyolicous.

haiti-holocaust-passport-575x860
Picture courtesy of Kreyolicious

 

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    • You asked the right question. There is a proverb that says “selfishness and ignorant make people become more wicked.” If one notice, we’ll see that the people seeking the presidential chair is no more than a bunch of wanna be who doesn’t even know anything about politic or being a president. All they see is “I am going to become president and be respected.” while they rip the country and set up their bank account in a different nation such as Swiss land. They will do anything to get to where they want. They push the people to commit crimes in order to get them by their sides to become powerful. Haitian people believes that a president is an all knowing person which is not true. Haitians only see: President, Doctors, lawyers, engineer as the only way to become important. What about the home builders, the laborers, farmers, the shoe makers, taylors, what happen to these people that we need in our lives everyday? If they are not there how would a doctor becomes a doctor and so on? They only give importance to the white man. Just because he is white, he has the ability to do achieve great things, then they regard their own as a piece of whatever, unless he is with a white man. Again, Haitians are also racists . That is why only the mulattos are able to possess, travel, and have money. And, where do they get their money from if it’s not from the people that they are killing everyday to become rich. The old time slavery is still in Haiti and that’s why they will not allow orders to be educated like them, making life miserable in order to control others.

      • You are anbsouletely right because Haiti is the first black republic that won their freedom ,so iwe should have progressed a lot not more and be further in its national development then where its at today .but unfortunately thanks to the people thats governing the country it cannot develop because they seek to become politician in the country not To help it progress but to enrich their pocket . on the low they are really agents of our long time enemies and until that change the country will never experience real national developments

      • Raoul, I have a different slant on the problems of our beloved country. Colorism has markedly handicapped Haiti’s progress. As far as I’m concerned Toussaint Louverture is the greatest Haitian who ever lived, however he was arrested, deported and died in a wintry prison cell in the French mountains of the Juras. Dessalines was a superb general but he didn’t have the intelligence nor the political savvy of Toussaint. He let his hatred take over and we cannot blame him. (the French masters had been inhumane in their atrocities toward the revolting slaves). After his victory over the French forces he gave that order “Koupe tetes boule kayes” or cut heads, burn houses. And that was the beginning of Haiti spiral towards the bottomless pit. And if Haitians keep singing the same song our country will never recover. The people Dessalines massacred because were the people who could have helped us the most at that difficult time. They were engineers, lawyers, doctors, scientists, politicians. They were the only educated people available to Haiti at the time, many had been born in Haiti and had no desire to migrate to France. Dessalines gave armistice to the Polish soldiers of fortune who came with the Napoleonic troops but joined the slaves’ cause but they were mostly uneducated young men and they disappeared into the countryside anyway. We have been following the same hateful path over more than 2 centuries. The darker Haitians hold a deep dislike even a hatred for their lighter skinned countrymen unless they are looking for a lover, wife or mistress. We encounter that same behavior Black versus White here in America. After Dessalines’ massacre the world turned its back on us, the savage Africans. France imposed a large tax and the USA refused to associate with killer slaves. They gave us diplomatic recognition only after the civil war. The Duvaliers and then Aristide have been preaching that same dark skin, light skin nonsense, of course in order to keep themselves in power and fill their Swiss bank accounts… and because we have a 90%, 10% Blacks, Light skinned and because most of the education and money are with the latter group (no fault of their own, we also have hundreds of very rich and very educated Blacks in Haiti) the country became a caricature, a tiny head with a huge torso. I heard the new political groups and Aristide are up to their old games again. Is he not rich enough with his light skinned wife ? Time to get together my friend. Let educate our masses but don’t let uneducated folks lead our country just because they are dark skinned. Wait until we get them ready. Let’s put our best brains forward may they be Black, Light skinned or White. Let’s get together in harmony and rescue our country . Time to bury colorism and stop being hypocritical about our true intents, time to stop getting rich by entering Haitian politics and robbing our uneducated Black majority. Let’s all get together and try to save Haiti. It’s probably already too late.

  • May I simply say what a relief to discover someone who really understands what they’re discussing online.
    You certainly realize how to bring an issue to light and make it important.

    More and more people need to check this out and understand this side of your story.
    I was surprised you’re not more popular because you surely have the
    gift.

  • Haiti was not always the beggar, tree eating, minustah governed country she has become. Once she was a beacon that attracted young people from all over the world, French, Lebanese, Syrian, Chinese, Italian etc. Just before WW2, and during, a number of Jewish families moved to Haiti to escape the Nazi regime. I remember Dr. Wag or Wagg well. He took care of me as a youngster. A street “Ruelle Wagg” was named after him. I don’t know if it still exists. There was Dr. Lymbkay ? who owned a lovely flower scented estate in the heights of Morne l’Hopital below Laboule. Simon Bolivar was defeated by the Spanish forces and took refuge in Haiti with President Alexandre Petion… Haiti was then the bad boy of the world and like a beacon attracted young revolutionaries. Bolivar was treated like a king and used Haiti as a spring to bounce back in his search for the Latin American independence. When he went back Petion gave him arms, money and many young Haitian soldiers who were itching to fight for the independence of other oppressed humans. 20.000 or more young Polish soldiers stayed in the newly freed Haiti after turning their back on the French. They came as soldiers of fortune with the Napoleonic forces. Many of their descendants are still living in Haiti. Haitian soldiers like Henri Christophe fought for the American Independence war. Haiti is not the Black Blob, poorest country of the hemisphere as she is often described by Western press. Haiti has a glorious history. She has fallen under the misdirection of criminally venal and ignorant politicians who have sucked the blood out of her. Like Dessalines did in 1804 and like many American politicians are doing now with White and darker skinned Americans, lighter skinned Haitians (often the better educated and more prosperous ones) are being pitted against the Blacker majority. The Haitian problem is not that simple, Skin color should not define the country because most Haitians are mixed. Haiti indeed has a glorious history and could be a paradise. She just needs intelligent leadership from her most educated and competent children might they be Blacks, Mulatres or Noirs.

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