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Memories From our lives in Shanghai A report written by a former Jewish refugee from Shanghai
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Those that came from Europe and had finally reached Shanghai after four weeks at sea, were lucky to dock close to a magnificent part of the city with millions of people called the Bund (Figure one). They saw for the first time as they disembarked the wide boulevard adjacent to the Whangpoo River with ten to thirty story high office buildings, occupied mostly by world banks of Asia. Also visible was the popular Custom House with the big clock (Figure two) and the Palace and Cathay Hotel located at the entrance to Nanking Road (Figure three and Figure four), the main street with large department stores and restaurants (Figure five). Not far away was the Garden Bridge (Figure six), and the beautifully situated Public Gardens with colorful flower beds and benches overlooking the Whangpoo River (Figure seven). From the Hongkew side, one could see the popular twenty-eight story apartment building called “The Broadway Mansions”, and the Soochow Creek with its many Chinese houseboats and motor boats (Figure eight). The French Town with its large and smaller apartment buildings (Figure nine), unique storefronts, restaurants and bars (Figure ten, Figure 10a, Figure 10b, Figure 10c), was a modernly built part of Shanghai. There were approximately one-thousand immigrants living in that particular area that emigrated to Shanghai from Germany prior to 1936. Albeit they had a good life before they left Germany, they did not want to experience the anti-Semitism anymore that proliferated in the early 30’s when the Nazis came to power (Figure 11 and Figure 12). In addition, they realized that Jews had no future anymore in their place of birth, and therefore chose to leave while they were still able to take along most of their possessions. Among those that left early were academicians and other respectable people well trained in their profession including business people that later opened their own stores and restaurants. Many of the German- Jewish men and women were working at the time under the management of Sir Victor Sassoon and Mr. and Mrs. Kadoore (established Sephardic Jews). They were also serving on committees helping refugees that came later after 1938. In 1939, Shanghai had a population of six million. During 1936 and 1937, the inner city called Hongkew experienced a lot of war activity leaving many streets and Chinese residential properties in ruins (Figure 13 and Figure 14). Extreme hot weather and high humidity plagued many refugees and Chinese inhabitants. And as a result of the Sino Japanese War, dirt and debris was found on the streets with young Chinese orphans and beggars dressed in rags, sleeping on the ground at doorways and public restrooms, trying to survive by scraping food out of garbage pails (Figure 15). It was said that at the time 40% of the Shanghai population suffered from tuberculosis, and 25% from gonorrhea. Most of the emigrants arrived between 1939 and 1941 from Germany, Austria and Poland. They considered themselves lucky to have found a place that saved their lives and to have been able to circumvent further Nazi persecutions. Because of the war situation in China, there was no need for a visa or any other entry requirements except for a passenger ticket on a steamship sailing from Genoa via Port Said, Ceylon, Singapore, and Hongkong to Shanghai (Figure 16). After the war in Germany had begun, several hundred emigrants came by train via Russia (Siberia) to Shanghai. According to Nazi regulations, Jews in occupied Europe could still buy their own passenger tickets, and take only the bare essentials with them. All items, however, had to be reported on a list, and only ten German Marks were allowed to take over the border. All other items, including savings, stock certificates, insurance policies, and jewelry had to remain in their homeland. Most immigrants came to Shanghai with only one or two suitcases; a few with lifts. Necessary clothes, dishes, and eating utensils were the minimum items that a person was hoping to take along for daily use. One did not know at the time where to reside and sleep in Shanghai without money, and where to store the suitcases. Not known was the fact that within a few weeks Jewish organizations and subsequently the Joint had already prepared for the immigration to Shanghai in order to help thousands of Jewish refugees. Empty school buildings in Hongkew were made accessible by the Chinese public authorities for shelter. The Jewish Committee (J.C.) bought thousands of metal beds, and bunk beds, mattresses, blankets and pillows, wooden tables, narrow benches, and installed large kitchens and hospitals. Shown on a photograph is my stepfather, Victor Stummer assembling those metal bunk beds for the shelters called “Heim” (Figure 17). And the moment immigrants disembarked from German, Italian, English, and Japanese Ocean liners close to the godowns (warehouses), they were surprised to see the well organized welcome committees greeting them and to make sure that they were transported on trucks to vacant school buildings for their temporary or permanent living quarters in the Heim (Figure 18). The luggage was transported on separate trucks. The Heime were located on Ward Road, Choauffong Road, East Seward Road, Alcock Road, Wayside Road and Kinchow Road.
It was important at that moment to get a bed and a meal, hence a new way
of life had begun, living in poverty and not knowing what the immediate
future would bring. It was very difficult to live comfortable in rooms
where eight, twenty, or forty people were sleeping together (Figure 19).
For the elderly that had a worry-free upper middle class or aristocratic
background, the unhygienic and very poor sanitary conditions were
extremely hard to get used to. Those conditions, however did not affect
the younger set that had the willpower to create a new and better way to
live (Figure 20). — The attitude among the younger group was “AND WE,
THE JEWS CAN STLL ACHIEVE A BETTER WAY OF LIFE,” and “nobody will
undermine us.” The ruins that were left after the Sino Japanese War were
rebuilt by young Jewish refugees that later became housing units and
storefronts (Figure 21). Chusan Road where Michael Blumenthal (former US
Secretary of the Treasury) was living during the war is a good example
(Figure 22). Most of the young people spoke a little English. Efforts
were made to contact the Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Americans to
secure a job in order to make a living. Refugees began to sell some of
their belongings to buy food and to live, not merely exist, under
somehow normal conditions. This meant moving from the heime into a
separate room in a lane or fiat (apartment) in the central part of
Hongkew (Figure 23). Those that were not able to find a job after one or
two months began to work in their old profession from their home (Figure
24). Men were trying to find some kind of work; women were trying to work in a household, doing maid service, caretaking for the elderly or selling merchandize. A number of women began to knit jackets with a pattern. This did not bring in enough money to make it worthwhile; competition was too great from the Chinese that were living in an environment unfamiliar to the refugees, and in poverty. For example: There were ten young Chinese ladies working in a modern Hongkew hair salon from eight o’clock in the morning to nine o’clock in the evening, 6 1/2 days a week. Those employees received a small salary and three meals daily from their employer (a shave in 1939 cost three cents and a haircut, ten cents). The employees had their own little area to wash themselves and a pale to use as a toilet. At nine o’clock in the evening they swept the floor and went to sleep in their sleeping bag on the floor inside the salon. Refugees that came to Shanghai were not used to this kind of primitive way to make a living. Therefore, they began to sell their belongings which they did not need at that moment to stay alive. Those items including clothes, shoes, and dishes, even heirlooms were spread out on the street on blankets or on small tables between the ruins on Kumping Road and were sold to support a family and not to be dependent on others Figure 30). Many refugees, once well to do were not cut-out to stand on the street and sell their personal possessions, therefore they gave them to the street vendors to do it for them. The beginning was very difficult and hard to get used to. Within three years, a total of 14,000 immigrants left the Heim and moved into a one room flat in a lane or small housing complex like the one at corner Paoting Road and Wayside Road (Figure 31). It was at that corner building where yours truly played with a friend who was living there with his parents “Shanghai Millionaire every Sunday afternoon. However, 7,000 immigrants remained between 1939 and 1947 in the heime. Refugees were glad not to live together in large groups (Figure 32). Cooking a warm meal on a small Chinese stove was problematic to say the least. To get the coal hot, one had to light up a few wooden fragments on top of the coal and produce a current of air by waving a Chinese fan (Figure 33). There were also ovens with an electric heating element; however, many times they did not function especially during the war when the electricity was on only twice a day for two hours and not during meal time. The buildings (or lanes) in which refugees were living at had no water closets. An empty pale called “Em Marmeladen Eimer” with a toilet seat was located in a poorly lit room with no windows (Figure 34). This type of a primitive set-up served ten to twelve tenants per house. Each morning at 4:00 a.m. thousands of coolies pushed their dump carts (“honey carts”) across the city to pick up from house to house the human waste. And at 4:30 early in the morning, thousands of women traded off washing the pales with hot water and brushes; and this is how our daily lives continued day after day. Those, who had their own room or flat but did not have enough money to buy food, picked up their daily warm lunch from the heime. The dispensing of food was administered by the Kitchen Fund (Figure 35). To maintain order and security, the Heim Police (Heim Polizei) was founded. After a few years, more then 50% of the immigrants were working in their own little store, or were employed in other stores, offices, and factories. Many immigrants also traveled by street car to the Russian and Japanese sector to sell garments. It was called being in the “schmate business “. There were a lot of Shanghai Jewish refugees that were extremely competent in their field and therefore were able to find any job in their endeavor, including architecture, accounting, carpentry and gardening. And, there were also refugees that used to work in agriculture, farming and raising cattle before they came to Shanghai, and men and women knowledgeable in drugs and pharmacy. Well trained technicians were also among the many Jewish refugees that could repair cameras, binoculars, radios, and all kinds of machinery. My stepfather, Victor Stummer is shown with his colleague installing a large centr(fuge at Mutual Chemical Industries on Connaught Road (Figure 36). Men’s suits and ladies dresses were personally designed by the many Chinese and European tailors and dressmakers respectively for Japanese customers and for those refugees that could afford it. Young ladies at age twenty and above began to work as waitresses and bar-girls in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and refugee restaurants and bars. Some had to work in the “red light” district to make ends meet. Many Jewish men became waiters and bartenders in Hongkew and in other parts of the city. Cooks, chefs, and kitchen helpers followed later. Several young Jewish men, who could play the piano or violin, began to create their own small dance band. There were a lot of small restaurants and stores in Hongkew owned and operated by refugees especially after the Japanese Proclamation became effective as explained below. Most of them were located on Chusan Road, Wayside Road, Ward Road, Tongshan Road, East Seward Road, and on lower Broadway (Figure 37 and Figure 37a). Stores operated by immigrants could also be found at the Chusan Road Markt Halle (Figure 38) and the Seymore Road Market. On account of the world situation at the start of the war, a Proclamation was announced in 1942 by city officials stating that all Jewish refugees had to move into a specific part of Hongkew (Figure 39). As a result, all the refugees that resided for years close to Bubbling Well Road (Figure 40) and the French Town had to move into this “Designated Area” or as it were sometimes called, the “Restricted Area”“. (This was considered a loss of freedom under Germany’s Restitution Act) The Proclamatiom also caused more refugees to open their business in the “Designated Area” as mentioned above. For those that had a job or an office outside the Restricted Area, this harsh demand made by the Japanese military authority made things more problematic and difficult for everyone concerned. To get a pass from the Japanese authorities to leave the Designated Area always involved a lot of chicanery and harassment (Figure 41). This pass was different from the regular Resident Pass with the yellow stripe that was issued to every Jewish refugee that immigrated in the late 30 ‘s (Figure 42). The Japanese began to institute a security watch which they called “Pao Chia” (Figure 43). Night and day, immigrants had to take turns standing guard for three hours. A special pass had to be shown to the guard in order to leave or re-enter the Restricted Area. Approximately eight public libraries opened in the area, thus a person could check out a book and sit in his primitive little corner at home and read and learn while forgetting the world around him. The Kadoorie School and the Freisinger School had already opened in the early forties (Figure 44 and Figure 45). They were two valid learning institutions with very good teachers, most of them refugees from central Europe, the others of British subject. The school director of the Kadoone School was Mrs. Lucie Hartwich (Figure 46). Refugees tried to keep the old tradition by praying together with fellow Jews in a congregation. Shabbat and the High Holidays services were conducted under the direction of Rabbi Teichner and Rabbi Kantorowski. They were held in social halls, movie theaters, schools, and small synagogues. Many of the Jewish refugees that were in their youth learned their profession at ORT, Organization for Training and Rehabilitation (Figure 47). Sport clubs like Hakoah, and Maccabee were organized for calisthenics, boxing, and gymnastics. Racing and soccer was always a major Sunday event especially with Vienna versus Berlin (Figure 48). And those that were interested in nature took the streetcar on a Sunday to Jessfield Park located at the end of Yuen Ming Road (Figure 49) or to Hongkew Park situated at the end of North Szechwan Road. The mode of transportation consisted of bicycles, streetcars and buses (Figure 50), rickshaws (Figure 51), and Pedi cabs (Figure 52), Jewish refugees in Hongkew had a talented theater group and their own orchestra made up of immigrants (Figure 53). There were also many Jewish refugees that provided first class entertainment to boost the moral in the ghetto (Figure 53a and Figure 54 ). Variety shows and other entertainment on a larger scale were usually presented at a movie theater like the Eastern Theater that was available for rent after 6:00 p.m. (Figure 55). Performances like “Die Fledermaus” (Figure 56), “Three Penny Opera”, “Merry Widow”, and “Countess Maritza”, presented by top notch artists will always be remembered. A few Jewish composers, like Siegfried Sonnenschein composed their own musicals while living in the Shanghai Ghetto (Figure 57). There are also many good and unforgettable memories of names like Herbert Zemik (Figure 58), Lilly Flobr, Ros! Albach Gersti, Rajah Somina, Greta! Kleiner, Jenny Rausnitz, Gerhard Gottschalk, and the Friedmanns. And the beautiful music and choirs can also not be forgotten including the talented Ilse Marcuse, Sabine Rapp, Irene Margolinski, Fritz Me!chior and his wife Ursula Perthoefter (Figure 59), and many more. The director of the opera in the Frenchtown was Schoenbach. Many Shanghai refugees visited this new part of the city before the war, designed in a European style with side-walk cafes. In the afternoons, approximately 150 people in Hongkew sat on the patio at Café Roy opposite the Broadway cinema (Figure 60), and in the evening they danced on the rooftop of the cinema (Mascot Dachgarten) leased by Keller and Weinberg (Figure 61). Couples were dancing to popular music played by an eight piece band. Songs like “Besame Mucho “, “You belong to my heart “, and “Sentimental Journey “, were always played at the Mascot and in local night clubs. Other good restaurants and night-clubs included the Tabarin (Figure 62), Palm Garden, and the White Horse Inn, or as it was called Weissen Roessl (Figure 63). German Jewish newspapers and magazines began to circulate early when stateless refugees began to arrive, becoming in time more comprehensive and interesting to read. Examples were the Shanghai Jewish Chronicle (Figure 64), Shanghai Echo (Figure 65), Die Gelbe Post (Figure 66), the Shanghai Times, Eight O’clock Evening Bulletin, Der Kreis, Die Laterne, et a!. During an air raid on the 17th of July, 1945, an America plane accidentally dropped a bomb over a populated area in Hongkew occupied by the Japanese military authority killing hundreds of Chinese and seventeen Jewish refugees (Figure 67). WW1 I was over in 1945, followed by the arrival of the American armed forces. Many able immigrants, both men and women, were hired by the American Forces to work in the PX or to drive a truck (Figure 68). Many Jewish refugees that were skilled mechanics or technicians were also hired by the American Forces including my stepfather shown on a photograph (Figure 69). His valuable contributions with respect to help maintaining a well run military facility was stated in a letter of recommendation from his boss (Figure 70). A total of 115,000 Japanese civilians and military personnel had to leave Shanghai after the war and return to Japan. The new Chinese Authority instituted their own curfew regulation to help curb prostitution, hold-ups, and murder. The rich Americans and Europeans were reluctant to abide by this new regulation saying that nobody can tell them when to go home. They filed a complaint with their respective consulate; hence, the American, English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Russian consulates had to subsequently negotiate a deal with the Chinese governing body to ease the situation. The result was that all Americans and Caucasians had to leave Shanghai within one year but were allowed to take along all their valuables. This was a blessing in disguise since all the Jewish refugees were Caucasians. President Truman issued 9000 affidavits for refugees to enter the United States, Australia gave 6000. A few thousand chose to go to other countries to be with their relatives. Two-thousand, eight-hundred refugees had died in Shanghai between the years 1939 to 1947 (including my father, Hans Harpuder whose tombstone was only recently discovered). All things considered, it was good for all refugees to move to another country and to a better future, especially to provide for all the refugee children in Shanghai a normal and healthy life.
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