Voices from Shanghai: Jewish Exiles in Wartime China

154 Pages·5.234 MB·English

by  Eder I. (Ed.)

Δ Voices from Shanghai

Voices from Shanghai
jewish exiles in wartime china
Edited, Translated, & with an Introduction by Irene Eber
The University of Chicago Press Chicago & London
irene eber is the Louis Frieberg Professor of East Asian Studies Emeritus at
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the author of many books, including The Choice:
Poland, 1939–1945.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2008 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2008
Printed in the United States of America
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-18166-0 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-18166-9 (cloth)
Frontispiece: “Lane in Hongkou, ca. 1944” (4648/39). Courtesy H. P. Eisfelder Photogra-
phy Collection (now housed at Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Voices from Shanghai : Jewish exiles in wartime China / edited, translated, and with an
introduction by Irene Eber.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-226-18166-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-18166-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Jews—China—Shanghai—History—Sources. 2. Refugees, Jewish—China—
Shanghai—History—Sources. 3. Shanghai (China)—Ethnic relations—Sources. I. Eber,
Irene, 1929–
ds135.c5v65 2008
940.53′181420951132—dc22
2008009646
Maps by Dick Gilbreath and Eric Truesdell at the University of Kentucky Cartography Lab.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ansi z39.48-1992.
for my colleagues & friends
Harold Z. Schiffrin, Elli Joffe, and Avraham Altman

Contents
introduction 1
•
Meylekh Ravitch • “A Rickshaw Coolie Dies on a Shanghai Dawn”
(1935) • 29
Annie F. Witting • Letter (1939) • 33
Alfred Friedlaender • “Prologue” (1939) • 38
Egon Varro • “Well, That Too Is Shanghai” (1939) • 42
W. Y. Tonn • “Peculiar Shanghai” (1940) • 45
Annie F. Witting • Letter (1940) • 49
Lotte Margot • “The Chinese Woman Dances” (1940) • 56
E. Simkhoni • “Three Countries Spat Me Out” (1941) • 59
Kurt Lewin • “More Light” (1941) • 62
Yehoshua Rapoport • “And So It Begins . . .” (1941) • 65
Yosl Mlotek • “The Lament of My Mother” (1941) • 70
E. Simkhoni • “My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me”
(1942) • 73
Mordechai Rotenberg • “Sun in a Net” (1942) • 75
Yosl Mlotek • “Shanghai” (1942) • 78
Karl Heinz Wolff • “The Diligent Mason” (1942) • 82
Hermann Goldfarb • “Wandering” (1942) • 85
Jacob H. Fishman • “Miniatures” (1942) • 87
Yosl Mlotek • “A Letter . . .” (1943) • 89
Yehoshua Rapoport • Diary (excerpts, 1941–1943) • 91
Anonymous • “Pins, Not for Me” (1944) • 96
Yoni Fayn • “A Poem About Shanghai Ghetto” (1945) • 98
Herbert Zernik • “A Monkey Turned Human” (1945) • 104
Shoshana Kahan • In Fire and Flames: Diary of a Jewish Actress
(excerpts, 1941–1945) • 107
Kurt Lewin • “The Weekly Salad” (1946) • 119
Jacob H. Fishman • “A Wedding” (1947) • 121
acknowledgments 131
•
notes 133
•
index of names 141
•
Δ Voices from Shanghai