Renate Breslow, a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor, recently recounted her experience as a child in Nazi Germany at Cedarbrook Middle School in Wyncote, writes Hadas Kuznits and The Associated Press, KYW Newsradio.

Breslow was just 8 years old when she and her mother boarded the SS St. Louis in 1939 to escape Nazi Germany.

No port, however, would allow the boat of almost 1,000 Jewish refugees to dock and after about a month at sea, it was forced to return to Europe.

Breslow explained that despite purchasing legal landing certificates for Cuba, they were denied entry by the Cuban government.

The United States government also refused to take in the Jewish refugees.

“All of the passengers were in a position to earn their own living,” she said. “We wouldn’t be a drag on the country, but we were Jews.”

After returning to Europe, many of the passengers were murdered by the Nazis. Breslow and her mom ended up in a Dutch detention camp but were eventually able to escape to New York.

“What I remember most is I was always hungry — just wasn’t enough food and it was very filthy.”

Read more about Renate Breslow sharing her story of survival with Cedarbrook Middle School students at KYW Newsradio.

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