Over the Big Water: Escaping the Holocaust Twice

When Hitler’s army rolled into Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1939, Sam and Manya Schillinger had to act fast to save their family from the Nazi terror that was reigning on Europe. The Schillingers booked a trip to Cuba on the S.S. Saint Louis. But when the ship was refused in Cuba and the United States, more than 900 Jewish passengers returned to Europe to face an unknown future. It was then that Sam and Manya put into motion their “plan B.”

In Over the Big Water, Manya and Sam each tell their s...