Passenger on 1939 ‘Voyage of the Damned’ and Holocaust survivor dies at 94
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South Florida Holocaust stories
Over the years the Miami Herald has written obituaries on several Holocaust survivors who made their lives in South Florida. Here are some of their stories.
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Passenger on 1939 ‘Voyage of the Damned’ and Holocaust survivor dies at 94
He ‘really thought he was a lucky man.’ Man who survived the Holocaust dies at 99.
Herbert “Herbie” Karliner was 12 when he and his family boarded the S.S. St. Louis in Germany and headed to Cuba to escape the Nazi regime.
When the ocean liner arrived in Havana with more than 900 hundred Jewish refugees, it was denied entry. The ship — which would become known as the “Voyage of the Damned” — then asked the Unites States for permission to dock. Once again, it was turned away, despite Jewish leaders in Washington begging President Franklin D. Roosevelt to let the passengers into the country.
After returning to Europe, about 250 people were killed in the Holocaust. Karliner and his brother survived, but his parents and sisters were killed at Auschwitz concentration camp.
“We were so close to Miami Beach, I could see it,” Karliner, a retired baker, told the Miami Herald in 1997. “I said to my parents, ‘Some day, I’ll come back here.’”
Karliner, who in the early 1950s made good on his promise of moving to South Florida, died Tuesday in his Aventura home. He was 94.
Over the years, Karliner became a resource for Holocaust education and an advocate for the rights, interests and needs of survivors through the Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA. For years, he’d spent every Saturday at the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach leading tours.
“Herbie Karliner lived an extraordinary life,” said Sam Dubbin, a longtime friend and the attorney for the Holocaust Survivor Foundation USA. “He experienced the worse of humanity and yet offered nothing but goodness and integrity in the way he spent his years after WWII, including service in the United States army in the Korean War and dedicated advocacy for the rights, interests and needs of Holocaust survivors, especially those in need.”
In 2017, Karliner joined other Holocaust survivors to protest a global insurance company’s sponsorship of the PGA Champions tournament in Boca Raton. The survivors said the company, Allianz, didn’t pay billions of dollars in policies purchased by European Jews before war. Karliner’s father Joseph had bought a policy that the company refused to honor.
Herbert Karliner’s daughter Debbie said that “he was an incredible father.”
“Loving giving, patient and gave us everything,” she said.
In addition to Debbie, Karliner is survived by his wife of almost 60 years, Vera; his daughter Michelle; son-in-law Amir; and three grandchildren, Jessica, Zachary and Jonah.
A funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, at the Beth David Levitt Weinstein Hollywood Funeral Home in Hollywood.
To attend via Zoom visit https://viewneral.zoom.us/j/95979784259?pwd=K1ZiQXIybFg2a3k0ZHQwaTdXUmMxZz09
Viewneral ID: 959 7978 4259; and password: 327641.
Carli Teproff: 305-376-3587, @cteproff
This story was originally published June 2, 2021 at 8:23 PM.
