The SS Quanza

The corner of the Muse Row Library near the office of the reference department is S. S. who served in the 1840's. It is a model of Quanza. This model is commemorating the legal heroism of Jacob Morewitz, a lawyer who graduated from Richmond College (then Richmond College) in 1916.

On August 8, 1940, a group of refugees who fled the European Nazi occupation pulled a Portuguese cargo ship and tried to find a safe harbor in the United States. Meanwhile, the policy of the US government clearly was immigration prevention. Quanza arrived in New York for the first time on the 19th, but most Jewish refugees were refused entry. Kuanza continued his trip to Veracruz in Mexico, and 86 refugees were prohibited from getting off again. The Mexican government then ordered Quanza to return to Europe.

On September 11, 1940, Quanza resumed coal replenishment at Norfolk, Virginia and temporarily stopped refueling in preparation for the next return. Molvitz practiced the maritime law at Norfolk, claimed on behalf of four passengers a blaspheming claim of 100,000 dollars and claimed a breach of contract. By lawsuit, Quanza stayed at the harbor for several days. During this delay, Eleanor Roosevelt, the first woman who served as the honorary chairman of the European Child Care Committee, knew of the passengers of Quanza and persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt, the husband, to intervene. Roosevelt dispatched the State Department official Patrick Murphy Marine to investigate the identity of the passengers, assigned all 86 people as political refugees and issued visas. Molvitz's quick litigation saves these passengers from massacres

For more information about Jacob Morewitz and S. S. Quanza, please see Paul Brockwell, Jr, Safe Harbor, University of Richmond, 9th September 2016. And Frank Overton Brown, Jr., Jacob L. Morewitz, Eleanor Roosevelt, Virginia Lawyers, April 2008, 28

In August 1940, Quanza was included in a group of passengers trying to escape from Europe, including French actors Marcel Dalio and Madeleine Lebeau. Passengers travel with various visas, but some of them are counterfeited. Because the captain doubted the validity of his visa, I asked many passengers to purchase the return ticket. The ship departed from Lisbon on August 9th and began its first voyage across the Atlantic. After a difficult ferry including a hurricane, the ship arrived in New York on August 19th. 196 passengers landed, 66 of whom were American citizens. The remaining 121 passengers, including almost all Jewish passengers, were refused entry. Kuanza traveled to Mexico Veracruz and arrived on 30th August. Only 35 passengers including 86 passengers were allowed to go down, most of whom were Belgian. Later, the ship was ordered to return to Europe, the rest of the passengers became hopeless.

On September 11, 1940, Quanza suspended refueling to Norfolk, Virginia, resumed coal supply and prepared for the next return. Molvitz practiced the maritime law at Norfolk, claimed on behalf of four passengers a blaspheming claim of 100,000 dollars and claimed a breach of contract. By lawsuit, Quanza stayed at the harbor for several days. During this delay, Eleanor Roosevelt, the first woman who served as the honorary chairman of the European Child Care Committee, knew of the passengers of Quanza and persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt, the husband, to intervene. Roosevelt dispatched the State Department official Patrick Murphy Marine to investigate the identity of the passengers, assigned all 86 people as political refugees and issued visas. Molvitz's quick litigation saves these passengers from massacres