Unlike the case of the 630 migrants who found refuge in Spain last week, the fate of a group of German Jews who attempted to come to Malta because of the dangers of Nazi Germany remains unknown.

In the summer of 1939 – just a couple of months before the outbreak of World War II, a Mr K Blumann “urgently” begged permission for some 15 to 20 farmers and gardeners to migrate and work in Malta, then a British colony.

The suggested reply, according to documents found at the National Archives in Rabat, was to turn down their request “owing to the size of the island and the unemployment situation”.

The more diplomatic reply that was sent to them stated that it was not possible for them to migrate here because of “the limited scope for agriculture in these islands, and for other reasons”.

It is believed that the approximate Maltese population in 1939 was 269,000, and the situation of Jews in Nazi Germany is well documented.

While the world this week remembered refugees and raised awareness of their situation as it does every June, the US separated children of asylum seekers from their families in a move reminiscent of the separation of families during World War II.

President Trump subsequently backed down from the policy after facing widespread backlash, and said Republican lawmakers should wait until after November mid-term elections to reform immigration laws.

Last week, 630 asylum seekers were meanwhile stranded on a ship off Malta as the island and neighbouring Italy refused to budge from their refusal to accept them. Spain eventually offered to provide refuge.

The 1939 attempt by the group of German Jews, aged between 25 and 45, to relocate to Malta before the war broke out, was not the first of the sort. A German Protestant man wrote to Malta’s Lieutenant Governor expressing his wish to marry his German Jewish fiancée in Malta. The two were unable to marry in Germany because of the ‘Aryan laws’ there.

Meanwhile it was “impossible” for them to marry in Italy because the country adhered to an international agreement that required a certificate of marriageability, which the German authorities refused to provide.

In his letter, Martin Hanf said it had been suggested to him to marry under British law, considering the Empire was not a signatory to this agreement. The reply he received was there were “no facilities” in Malta for the marriage of German people of Protestant faith to Jewish women. Successive correspondence enquiring about the possibility of a non-religious marriage turned Mr Hanf down, because civil marriage was “not recognised in Malta”.

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