In May 1939, a group of 900 refugees boarded the S.S. St. Louis in Hamburg, Germany, destined for Havana, Cuba. Facing death in the Old World, an escape to the New World was now their only hope. They scraped together what little funds they had and purchased tourist visas in Cuba, hoping to eventually make their way to the United States once quotas increased.
When the Cuban government refused to let them in, the ship desperately turned north to the land of the free. The lights of the Miami were visible. The hope and freedom and life, literally, was in their sight. But Roosevelt said he wouldn't allow them in either. The Coast Guard was dispatched to keep these criminals at bay.
The thought of returning to Germany and Europe was too much for many. Some committed suicide. As the S.S. St. Louis sailed back to Europe, an American Jewish relief organization acted at the last minute, purchasing visas for the 900 refugees for various countries in Europe. At least they wouldn't go back to Germany.
On June 17th, the S.S. St. Louis docked in Belgium, where the Jewish refugees were scattered. The world never heard from half of them after that. As the Nazis swept through western Europe, the Nazis took most of them into the concentration camps.
After telling this story on radio Friday, Glenn urged listeners to think about that story as it relates to the Syrian refugee crisis today.
"We're not talking about refugees. We're not talking about migrants," Glenn said. "We are talking about those who are Christians - are provable Christians - who are provable, that are being hunted by the state. And they're asking for asylum."
Watch Glenn's powerful monologue below.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
GLENN: When there are Jews on a boat and they have been marked for death, they're not refugees. They're not immigrants. They're not migrants. They are seeking asylum. There is a difference between a refugee and those who are seeking asylum. Refugees are those who are going to go back. Refugees should be kept as close to their homeland because once the slaughtering stops, they go back to their homeland.
But, see, the Middle East knows, that doesn't happen in the Middle East. Once they're there, they're there permanently. We are taking whole Somali communities and we're saying that they're refugees. And the State Department is just dropping them in places like Minneapolis. If you go to Minnesota, it is a dramatically different place than it was ten years ago.
We're not talked about refugees. We're not talking about migrants. We are talking about those who are Christians, are provable Christians. Who are provable that they're being hunted by the state. And they're asking for asylum.
In Birmingham, I announced the Nazarene Fund to help rescue the Christians in the Middle East. They're facing exactly the same circumstances that those 900 Jews that boarded the St. Louis faced. They are at risk of death. If they stay, they will die. But they also are risking death if they try to flee to Europe because it's out of control now.
The world -- it's very easy to say, "Auxiliary we're going to disrupt this. Oh, we're going to support the Muslim Brotherhood. Oh, we're going to support the uprising in Syria." It's very easy to support those things. But now we're seeing the consequences. The ones that we warned of. The Nazarene Fund has now raised 7.5 -- I think it's $7.56 million. That's in three weeks. That's never happened before. Just two days I've been asking you to match the $37 -- what is it -- 37.32. We had a veteran try to -- he gave us his savings for the last few months, and he gave it all in change. And it was $37.32. And I said, "Could you just match that?" We have gotten this from children opening up their piggy banks. We have gotten this from people who are just trying to just -- they don't have a lot. We have raised just in two days $70,000 just from people matching 37.32, or less. People are doing bake sales. People want to help provide asylum.
We now have identified over 400 families. I have to have a conversation. I was hoping to have a conversation with you today. But I can't until probably next week.
And I have to be very careful of my language because I have now heard that we are, at least, the most famous effort to save these Christians. And every word that I speak could be a death sentence to people. And so I have to be very, very careful. But I also have to be very careful with you. This is an extraordinary responsibility. And I want you to know that we have looked at this money -- this is God's money. This is money that you didn't give to me. You didn't give to my company. You gave to Mercury One. But you want to make sure that it is going exactly to the right place and that we're saving the right people.
The pressure is enormous. And I would ask for your prayers. We are traveling to -- my staff is traveling to the Middle East soon. I can't give you any more details on this. But evil is working as it did in 1939.
These families are now delayed due to the vicious propaganda machine that is working in Europe and the rest of the world. Suddenly, they are not people escaping death, they are criminals, they are terrorists, and they're invaders.
We don't have the quotas here. We can't take anymore. We can't help them. The world is turning away the S.S. St. Louis. Now, I want you to understand, that it's not the same. Those who are refugees, those who are Muslim, it is not the same as those who seek asylum because they have been marked to death because of their Christianity.
I want to thank you. I want to thank the most amazing radio audience literally in the history of, I believe, this medium. I have never seen anything like this in the 35 years of broadcast that I have done. I've never witnessed an audience like this. This now has taken on a life of its own. And I know how much heat you're getting. And I know how much trust you're giving to me. And believe me, I know the forces of darkness, and I know the forces of the -- we fight more than flesh and bone, but we also fight flesh and bone.
There is a great propaganda campaign going on right now against this effort. And they're trying to make this into, "Glenn Beck wants to just scoop up a bunch of Muslims and bring them here." I never said that I would smuggle anyone in. I never said -- we take this responsibility. I am with you. I understand the security of the United States of America. Do you not think that we've had serious conversations in saying, "We cannot let one bad guy in. Not one." And not for any other reason other than, one bad guy dooms every other Christian in the Middle East to death. No one will ever take anyone. Do you know how much sleep my staff has lost?
My staff, some of them are currently over in the Middle East now. Some day when this is all over, I will share their emails. And I will share their concerns. And I will share their in the middle of the night getting up and crying and sweeping after hearing the stories, and Sophie's Choice, I can't help that person.
If you will, I'm not asking you to donate or anything today. If you'd like to, you can do it at now.mercuryone.org. Here's the one thing I would like to ask you for, is your prayers. Please, pray for the spirit to guide. Pray for the spirit to keep our hearts soft, and pray for miracles to happen. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the S.S. St. Louis.
Featured Image: Migrants board trains and buses at the train station in Beli Manastir, near Hungarian border on September 18, 2015 in Beli Manastir, Croatia. Officials are saying that they had no choice than to close eight road border crossings yesterday after more than 11,000 people entered the country since Hungary fenced off its border with Serbia earlier this week. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
