Floral evening dress with purple slip worn to the Celebration Ball on the ill-fated voyage of the MS St. Louis

Liesl Joseph was born in Rheydt, Germany, on June 17,1928, the only child of Josef, born November 9, 1882, in Altenbamberg, and Lilly Salmon Joseph, born April 25,1901, in Odenkirchen. Her father was a successful lawyer and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD.) The family was wealthy, with a twenty room house, servants, and a governess for Liesl. Following Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in 1933, political opposition was violently suppressed. The SPD was one of the few political organizations that tried to resist Nazi rule. Josef was blacklisted for his membership in the SPD and barely escaped arrest. Civil rights for all citizens were soon abolished and antisemitic policies became increasingly punitive. Gentile friends stopped associating with them, and Liesl had stones thrown at her as she walked to school. During Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938, Josef was arrested. The next night, a mob broke into their home; Lilly and Liesl hid with their non-Jewish tenants on the third floor. Everything was destroyed - the furnishings, all belongings, and the windows and doors were smashed. Lilly and Liesl left to live with Lilly’s relatives in Bonn. Josef was being held in a local jail and soon was released on the condition that he leave the country. They purchased tickets for a trip aboard the Hamburg-America luxury liner, MS St. Louis, sailing to Havana, Cuba. They left Hamburg on May 13, 1939, and arrived in Cuba on May 27. Nearly all of the 937 passengers were Jewish refugees hoping to escape from Nazi dominated Europe. The plan was to wait in Cuba for permission to enter the US, but Cuban authorities denied entry to all but 28 passengers. Josef, skilled as a lawyer and negotiator, was asked to chair the passenger committee. Liesl remember feeling that “as long as my father was involved, we would be all right. He was busy telegraphing and communicating with the rest of the world trying to find a safe place for the passengers." The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee negotiated with the Cuban president for refuge but, after a week, the ship was ordered to leave the harbor. Despite urgent pleas to the United States government, the US President and Congress chose not to make any special exceptions to the stiff US quota limits and the refugees were denied permission to enter the US. Captain Schroeder took the ship within sight of the Florida coast, before heading back to Europe on June 6. Jewish aid organizations had negotiated with four European governments, Belgium, Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands to admit the passengers rather than return them to Germany. The Joseph family disembarked in Antwerp, Belgium, on June 17, Liesl’s eleventh birthday. They then travelled to England with Morris Troper, the head of the Joint Distribution Committee, and his family on board the Rhakotis. The Joseph family rented a one-room apartment in London. During the Blitz, the intensive bombing campaign on London by Germany, Liesl was sent to Clifton where she attended a Jewish secondary school and boarded with the Whittington. In August 1940, her father was interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien. When the bombing raids ended, Liesl returned to London to live with her mother. In 1940, the family received US visas and departed on the Camaronia. They arrived in the US on September 10 and settled in Philadelphia where Lilly had relatives. Her mother worked as a maid and her father sold candy. In 1945, Josef learned that his sister and one of her two sons had been killed in a concentration camp. The members of Lilly’s family who had remained in Germany, including her mother and two sisters, also perished in the camps. Josef died, age 63 years, in November 1945. Liesl completed school, and in 1947, married Hans Joseph Loeb. They had a son and a daughter. Hans died in 1987. Liesl had a career as a graphic designer. She was a frequent speaker to community groups, dedicating herself to teaching others through her experiences of the Holocaust. Her mother, now Lilly Joseph Kamin, died, age 92 years, in November 1993. Liesl passed on August 25, 2013, age 85 years.

Lilly Salmon was born on April 25, 1901, in Odenkirchen, Germany. Her father, David, owned a clothing manufacturing business. Lilly was the youngest of three daughters and she trained as a coloratura soprano. Her mother, whose maiden name may have been Strauss, was from a very liberal family in Kaiserslautern; she had twelve siblings and several of them had married non-Jews. Lilly married Josef Joseph, born November 9, 1882, in Altenbamberg. The couple had a daughter, Liesl, on June 17, 1928, in Rheydt which had close-knit Jewish community of about 100 families. Josef was a successful lawyer; he had been a judge in Cologne prior to World War I (1914-1918) and on the military tribunal during that war. The family was wealthy, with a twenty room house, servants, and a governess for Liesl. Josef was also a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD.) Following Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in 1933, political opposition was violently suppressed. The SPD was one of the few political organizations that tried to resist Nazi rule. Josef was blacklisted for his membership in the SPD and barely escaped arrest. Civil rights for all citizens were soon abolished and antisemitic policies became increasingly punitive. Lilly and Josef did consider emigration to Palestine around 1936, but Josef decided that living conditions there were too harsh for his family. Josef was no longer permitted to have non-Jewish clients and their Gentile friends stopped associating with them. During Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938, Josef was arrested. The next night, a mob broke into their home; Lilly and Liesl were hidden by their non-Jewish third floor tenants. Everything was destroyed - the furnishings, all belongings, and the windows were smashed; only one other house in Rheydt was vandalized. Lilly and Liesl left to live with Lilly’s relatives in Bonn. Josef was being held in a local jail and was soon released on the condition that he leave the country. Lilly and Josef registered for immigration visas to the United States, but the quotas were very restrictive. Among the Joseph’s friends in Bonn was a couple from Cuba whose children were attending university in Bonn. They had recently visited Cuba and while there, they had purchased immigration permits for the Joseph’s. In April 1939, the Hamburg-Amerika line announced a special voyage to Cuba on the luxury liner, MS St. Louis. The Joseph’s purchased tickets and left Hamburg on May 13. Nearly all of the 937 passengers were Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi dominated Europe. Even before the ship reached Cuba, there were concerns about the validity of the Cuban visas purchased by many passengers. Josef was involved with discussion with the ship’s caption, Gustav Schroeder, about this problem. Josef’s family, and many others, planned to wait in Cuba for permission to enter the United States. But when the ship arrived in Cuba on May 27, the Cuban authorities denied entry to all but 28 passengers. Josef was asked to chair the passenger committee established to deal with the problem. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee negotiated with the Cuban president to admit the refugees, but the ship was ordered to leave the harbor on June 2. Despite urgent pleas to the United States government, the US President and Congress chose not to make any special exceptions to the stiff US quota limits and the refugees were denied permission to enter the US. Captain Schroeder took the ship within sight of the Florida coast, before heading back to Europe on June 6. Jewish aid organizations had negotiated with four European governments, Belgium, Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands to admit the passengers rather than return them to Germany. The ship docked in Antwerp, Belgium, on June 17, 1939. The Joseph family then travelled to England with Morris Troper, the head of the Joint Distribution Committee, and his family on board the Rhakotis. The majority of the passengers would survive; 254 would perish in the Holocaust in Europe. In London, the family rented a one-room apartment. During the Blitz, the intensive bombing campaign on London by Germany, Liesl was sent to Clifton where she attended a Jewish secondary school and boarded with a family by the name of Whittington. In August 1940, Josef was interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien. When the bombing raids ended, Liesl returned to London to live with her mother. In 1940, the family received US visas and departed from Scotland on the Camaronia. They arrived in the US on September 10 and settled in Philadelphia where Lilly had relatives. Lilly worked as a maid and Josef sold candy. In 1945, Josef learned that his sister and one of her two sons had been killed in a concentration camp. The members of Lilly’s family who had remained in Germany, including her mother and two sisters, also perished in the camps. Josef died in November 1945, age 63. Liesl completed school, married Joseph Loeb in 1947, and had a son and a daughter. Lilly Joseph Kamin died, age 92 years, in November 1993.

The evening dress was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Liesl Joseph Loeb, the daughter of Lilly Joseph Kamin.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Liesl Joseph Loeb

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.