An entry in an address book: Goldstein, Erich, Oppeln, Plakatmaler, 153 Lisoyang.
That was the one fragmentary detail about my husband Brian’s family that we discovered during a pleasurable Sunday afternoon with Sonja Mühlberger. Sonja and Brian’s mother Maude were both born in Shanghai just a few months apart in 1939. Both girls were in utero during the passage to Shanghai, born into families who took refuge from the Nazis in one of the last available havens for German Jews. After looking through many photos to see if Brian could recognize a young Maude Goldstein (he couldn’t), Sonja showed us her copy of the 1939 address book where we found a listing for his Papa Erich.
Maude died when Brian was young so he never had a chance to learn much about her early childhood in Hongkou, Shanghai’s designated area for Jews. Sometimes referred to as the Shanghai Ghetto, it was a ghetto without walls, inhabited by Jews, Chinese, Russians, and a broad assortment of misfits and adventurers. Sonja told of a relatively happy childhood within this two and a half square kilometer area far from the land her parents missed and would return to after the war. Her recollections gave Brian some reassurance about his mother’s childhood and insight into what it must have been like.
Thanks to Sonja for sharing her stories with us, for opening a window into the life led by the mother-in-law I never met. We enjoyed visiting Sonja at her home in Friedrichshagen, the southeastern community of Berlin where she has lived since 1961. Her deep roots in the region were evident from the many people who greeted her when we strolled down to the Müggelsee after our Kaffee and Apfelkuchen.
If you’d like to learn more about Sonja, her story of survival in Shanghai is featured in the same Deutsche Welle German Jewish Cultural Heritage Series that our family participated in.
Thank you very much for the interesting article. Keith Nickol
Hi
Great article indeed!
My father was born in shanghai September 19, 1939. His parents left Stettin, Germany after securing passage on a ship and acceptance to China. My grandfather was in a concentration camp for three weeks and was released when my grandmother secured passage on a ship and acceptance into china. She was pregnant with my father en route to china. My father and grandmother are both living in Las Vegas, NV. My grandmother will be 100 in December!
Thank you for sharing this article.
(We are aware of their names on the copper wall at the museum in shanghai)
Hans Heimann
Eva Heimann
Klaus Heimann
Thanks for your nice comment. We hope to also visit Shanghai one day.