Lothar Molton, a boy traveling with his parents, said that the passengers thought of it as 'a vacation cruise to freedom'. A bust of Hitler was covered by a tablecloth.

Dances and concerts were put on, and on Friday evenings, religious services were held in the dining room. Food served included items subject to rationing in Germany, and childcare was available while parents dined. Louis vessel set sail from Hamburg to Cuba on May 13, 1939, under command of Captain Gustav SchrГ¶der, carrying 937 passengers, most of them Jewish refugees seeking asylum from Nazi persecution in Germany.Д¬aptain SchrГ¶der was a German who went to great lengths to ensure dignified treatment for his passengers. Louis was built for both transatlantic liner service and for leisure cruises. Louis regularly sailed the trans-Atlantic route from Hamburg to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and New York City, and made cruises to the Canary Islands, Madeira, Spain and Morocco. Her sister ship, MS Milwaukee, was also a diesel powered motor vessel owned by the Hamburg America Line. Louis was a diesel-powered passenger ship properly referred to with the prefix MS or MV, built by the Bremer Vulkan shipyards in Bremen for HAPAG, better known in English as the Hamburg America Line. MAN diesels, twin triple-blade propellersД©73 passengers (270 cabin, 287 tourist, 416 third) Д«remer-Vulkan Shipyards in Bremen, Germany

Ship of the damned short story