The New York Times reported May 28th, 1940 that "Nazi forces concentrated yesterday (May 27th) on smashing the troops held in the roughly triangular salient extending from the region of Calais down to the Arras Cambrai area and back up to the Netherlands border." And on May 28th, when my father and sister arrived in New York Harbor, the King of the Belgians surrendered his army, a decision that, as the Times reported the next day, on Wednesday, May 29th, "France received with horror and anger," and that the "Belgian newspaper published in Paris carried a banner headline: 'Belgium Betrayed by Her King.' " Nevertheless, "it appeared that the prime task was to got those men in the Flanders pocket out of there and get them out fast. Paris still claimed to hold Dunkerque." And the Times also reported that "RAF bombers had raided military objectives in the important German industrial centers of Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Dortmund, Hamburg, Bremen, and Cologne." 

The Last Boat

The May 28th Times noted that "Italy went on openly preparing for war against the Allies today." Also, in a Times report datelined Naples, May 27th, the "United States liner Manhattan arrived here today her return passage already filled to overflowing by 2,000 home-going Americans. Many believed it might be the last American passenger ship to enter the Mediterranean area until the war is over. Five hundred applicants were unable to obtain passage because the liner is booked to capacity. Americans jammed shipping offices." Also, the liner the SS Washington "was expected to sail from Italy June 15, but the belief was expressed that she might not be able to complete her next eastward voyage to Italy before this country became a belligerent." Indeed, Mussolini declared war on France and Britain on June 10th, about three weeks after my father and sister left Genoa for the United States.

And the first major ghetto of the new German empire had been created in Lodz in February 1940 and sealed on April 30th.