Shanghai Diary: A Young Girl's Journey from Hitler's Hate to War-Torn China

by Ursula Bacon, Various (Illustrator)

By the late 1930s, Europe sat on the brink of a world war. As the holocaust approached, many Jewish families in Germany fled to one of the only open ports available to them: Shanghai. Once called "the armpit of the world," Shanghai ultimately served as the last resort for tens of thousands of Jews desperate to escape Hitler's "Final Solution." Against this backdrop, 11-year-old Ursula Bacon and her family made the difficult 8,000-mile voyage to Shanghai, with its promise of safety. But instead of a storybook China, they found overcrowded streets teeming with peddlers, beggars, opium dens, and prostitutes. Amid these abysmal conditions, Ursula learned of her own resourcefulness and found within herself the fierce determination to survive.

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction, Memoir, Holocaust, Biography, World War II

267 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2002

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

ETA: I also highly recommend: The Distant Land of My Father
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
This gives you another perspective of Shanghai during the war!


Now that I have finished the book, I think I will give it 4 stars. You know me, I hand out those stars VERY stringently. Furthermore, I am swayed by my emotions - this book feels best as a book I "liked a lot", rather than being "amazing"! Let me explain. This book covers the 8 years and 3 months that the author spent as a child and young adult in Shanghai, from 1939 - 1947. She grew from a precocious 10 year old to become a fully adult 18 year-old. The book excellently covers her flight to Shanghai, life in Hongkew, life in the French Concession and finally the forced displacement back to Hongkew in 1943, now termed "the Designated Area". Shanghai was split into three districts, the International Settlement, the French Concession and Hongkew, under Japanese control following the Chino-Japanese Wars. Comparatively, life in the French Concession was a dream world to life as it had been on arrival and the ghetto like conditions of the "Designated Area". As the alliance between Germany and Japan grew stronger and when finally Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Allied businesses were closed. Americans, Englishmen, Dutch, French, Dutch, all enemies of the Japanese empire were rounded up and placed in prisoner camps. A month earlier the European Jews had been classified as "stateless citizens". They had become nonentities! Finally in May 1943 these stateless citizens were restricted to the "Designated Area". The book details the historical facts and how they played out in Shanghai and for her family. Details is the word I must emphasize. You learn about the sanitation, or lack there of. It was filthy beyond words. I will not quote parts on this subject. Just imagine and multiply your imagination by 100. Ughhhhh. This is done so you truly see it. Health care is deplorable, and of course makes life precarious. There is so much that is horrendous, but the strange thing is that it is NOT a depressing book. The deplorable conditions are vividly displayed before your eyes. What makes it not depressing is the spirit of the family. Sometimes this bothered me to the point that I felt maybe she was childishly ignorant. That is not the explanation. The explanation is that this family and their closest friends were always aware that their conditions were so very much better than those of the Europeans in the Japanese prisoner camps and the Jews who failed to leave Europe in time. And this family set high standards. "If you can't change it, don't complain." (page 204) or "If there is nothing better, then we have the best!" These attitudes infuse their way into every decision made by the family and their close friends. Ursula's father attracted friends like honey attracts flies. Good friends. Friends you could count on. Her father says:

"The world is full of wonderful people, and I know them all." (page 194)

Or from the mouth of one elderly European Jewess, stranded in Shanghai among the other thousands (BTW, there were 18000 in the "Designated Area"!:

"Well, darling, Mrs. Goldberg will have to tell you again. Now listen and remember what I am telling you. Go out and make a miracle today. God's busy. He can't do it all." (page 194, showing the exact spelling!)

This optimism sometimes feels jarring, but by the end of the book I felt that this IS how the author sees the world around her. It does not reflect a childish style of writing but rather a way of looking at life. This view is mirrored in most every sentence:

"The Japanese occupation forces were not raised in a Swiss finishing school..." (page 177).

This is just one quip, displaying Ursula's tone, how she expresses herself.

Religious themes are covered, as the child becomes a teenager and doesn't know how to deal with the horror around her. She sees the different religions with clarity and does not hesitate to question and doubt the set views of Judaism, Lutheranism and Buddhism. As an individual she is curious and behaves in a manner beyond her years A close friendship grows between her and Yuan Lin, a Chinese Buddhist priest with a degree in economics from Harvard. He had a Chinese father and an English mother. The people you meet, the life you live through Ursula's tale are memorable. She puts all these religious beliefs and life experiences together and come out with her own religion, one that fits her and makes her a wonderful human being.

The history and exact detail of life in Shanghai 1939-1947 are interestingly described. The book includes marvelous photos depicting the author's life in Shanghai. They are not modern photos, but ones taken by her friends, then and there, when they lived this life! I highly recommend this book.

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I am only on page 20, so I shouldn't have any opinion yet, but I do. I love it. I cannot put it down. The author, Ursula Bacon, from a wealthy Jewish, German family, tells of her experiences fleeing Germany with her mother and father in 1939 by rail from Breslau, Germany, (now Wrocauw, Poland) and then by steamboat traveling to far off Shanghai, one of the few spots on the earth willing to accept Jews. America, Canada, South America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and of course the European countries had all closed their borders. They were the lucky ones endowed with money! So it was to Shanghai they were headed. Shanghai was the "armpit of the world", the "slum-scum of the Orient" or the "boil on the hide of China". Take your pick! She is flung from her eiderdown, luxurious quilts to rescuing her father from a German prison - alone, dragging him naked in a burlap bag out the prison gates. She is 10! The tale is immediately gripping and horrifying and yet hopeful too.

You understand from the first few pages what kind of a family Ursula comes from. On departure, she receives a blank diary from Maria Burdach in which she is to recount her tale:

"'You'll be back soon,' she tried to assure herself and me, forcing a smile as she dabbed at her face with one of her lavender-scented, lace-edged hankies. She made me promise to write everything down every day, so she could read all about our life in China. As the oldest of the Burdach family, Maria was head housekeeper and watched over her three brothers, her two sisters, and their mates, to see that Marienhall - the home we had fled - ran smoothly. The whole family, including Grandmother and Grandfather Burdach, had been managing the estate long before my Grandfather, the Old Baron, had given it to his son. My father always said the Burdach family had belonged to the land a heck of a lot longer than the Old Baron, and had a lot more class. The young Burdach children were my playmates on the few occasions I escaped Fraulein Amanda, and among the eight of us, there wasn't a corner of the fields or the gardens of our fairy-tale forest we didn't know. We swore, in unison, that we all had seen the "White Lady" - the sad ghost of Marienhall - float through the hallways and the attic, trailing yards and yards of a filmy silk gown - moaning and weeping. Her dark hair streamed behind her like silk ribbons as she moved lightly from room to room searching for her lost child. Never mind what Fraulein Amanda said. We knew a ghost when we saw one." (page 19-20)

There, you get a taste of the prose, although mind you, this was a happy sequence.

Sometimes it isn't that hard to determine right at the start if a book is going to be a winner. Perhaps I will be proven wrong, but I bet this will end up a 5 star book.

[Barb H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this shopworn copy from the library today and plunged right in. It reads like a novel! Much more will be added as I get further along, but I am "hooked"!

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Most people are familiar with the WW II Holocaust literature involving European Jewish people and other victims, but this book relates the saga of those who sought shelter in Shanghai. It was especially of interest to me because my family has members who immigrated to Harbin, China from Europe during this period. Unfortunately we have lost contact and I cannot personally add to this story.

Ursula Bacon's Shanghai Diary is a memoir of her family's escape from Nazi Germany to Shanghai, from 1939 when she was just 9 years old, to 1947. Few people are aware of this refuge for approximately 18,000 European refugees. Bacon stated that Shanghai had always been termed "the armpit of the world, the slum-scum of the Orient and the boil on the hide of China". Throughout her narrative, it is clear that the immigrants' lives there were far from easy, or pleasurable. They suffered much privation, including hunger, poor sanitation, overcrowding and disease. Despite all this, these refugees, who had already experienced losses of home, loved ones, cherished belongings and outrageous brutality, now felt relatively safe with great hopes for the future.

Occasionally I wondered how Bacon was able to recall conversations and events with such fine detail, but the narrative was so enthralling, I concluded that it was an impressive chapter in Jewish history, nevertheless. She did recount early in the book that she had diaries, so I believe these served her well. She interwove tales of her fellow refugees with rich details, often with harsh, painful realism, but clear and evocative.

The environment was challenging, difficult, grim and often horrific. Sanitation was non-existent, rats ran freely, living quarters were incommodious and generally unsuited for human habitation, food was scarce,unavailable or barely palatable. Yet the survival skills of these people were innovative, remarkable and admirable. They managed to provide for themselves and others in small, meaningful ways.

"When I was admiring the little organ, she grinned, and told how she had traded a curling iron and 2 heavy skillets for the ersatz piano.
"That pretty much described the needs of many of the Jewish refugees.Music, art and books were the inspiration to help them rise above their misery. By getting lost in the jubilant notes of a Beethoven symphony, dreaming with Shubert and Mendelsohn, living for a moment in the pages of literature, we fed on food for the spirit, even if food for the body was sparse." (p.158)

The people seemed to survive by their hopes for the future and by their close association and cooperation with fellow escapees. Their favorite entertainment was animated conversation over numerous cups of hot tea.
Despite the fact that Bacon had lost her childhood, she developed in the world of adults with self-sufficiency and wisdom and an appreciation for the simple things of life and Nature.

Although quite different, this book makes me think of , Empire of the Sun .

(To reread!)

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot about a part of wwii I never knew existed while reading this book, but I didn't think Ursula was a very good writer. I borrowed it from the library and someone had corrected many of her facts and claims in pencil, so she didn't seem very reliable. Wasn't a big fan of her style.

[PDXReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book, and how quickly it moved along. Often first-person accounts get mired in things the author thinks is important, but which the readers really don't care that much about. Such was not the case with this book. The story was fascinating from start to finish, and I learned a bit of history about which I'd been ignorant.

[jag · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this autobiography of a young German girl's experiences in Shanghai during WWII. Previously I had limited knowledge about the fate of German citizens who fled to China at the start of the war. Written for young adults, Bacon tells a compelling story of her life in that city, under the Chinese and then under the Japanese as they ruled China.

[Rea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book taps into an unknown but fasinating aspect of World War II, the refugee Jews in Shanghai. Unfortnuatley I found the writing style to be slightly repetative and infused with cliched descriptive adjectives. The tone was too child-like through-out which prevented the reader from regarding with respect and awe the author's experiences in extraodinary times. This was also aggravated by the fact that some experiences were described in a dead-pan rush which left the reader cheated (think about her encounter with the Japanese officer). The story-line occassionally suffered from being too literal, with sentences such as 'and then we boarded the train' being superflous. The risk with auto-biographies is that the author cannot help with hindsight to paint themselves in a better light, but luckily Ursula Bacon does not fall into this trap although she did over-use the sentence 'I've so much to learn'. It's easy to read and an honest account of extraodinary times.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never knew that Jews fled to Shanghai. I loved Ursala's storytelling style. It captivated the historian in me searching for how her tale fit or contrasted with other refugee narratives and WWII knowledge I had. Her structure is easy to follow and her interwoven tales of coming of age and how their world fit into the bigger picture of history was a great balance to the real hardships she and others endured.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mediocre writing, but very interesting story. After having read so many holocaust memoirs centered around Euopean refugees, it was a new perspective to see it from the Asian front.

[Richard_C1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though not as intense or action-packed as other Holocaust diaries, Shanghai Diary is still a great book that gives the reader insight into the global influence of Adolf Hitler during World War II. The story takes place in Shanghai, a place that although (at the time) was plagued by war and poverty, offered a safe haven for Jews in Europe. Throughout the story, Ursula, the author, went through some enormous changes in the environment around her that challenges her emotionally and physically. However, as the war ended, she realized that the problems she faced did not compare to the suffering that the Jews in the Nazi concentration camps endured. I would recommend this book to anyone that is bored of typical Holocaust stories and wants a different perspective on this significant event.

[Jonathan Wilkes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I have never heard of Jewish people going to china to escape Hitler in WWII. This was a very interesting read and i loved learning about how they lived and interacted with people of different cultures. This was a book that taught me a lot on a subject I thought i knew about. Writing was good and very descriptive. Recommend this book highly.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story about a bit of history that I knew nothing about. Ursula Bacon was 10 in 1939 when she and her parents escaped Nazi Germany and fled to Shanghai. It was the only place left that would accept Jewish refugees, and 20,000 of them ended up there, leaving everything behind and trying to build a life in the Shanghai ghetto. Starting out with very little money, no knowledge of the language and customs, shocked at the level of poverty and disease, they managed to find friends, create jobs, and survive.

Ursula and her parents were brave,resourceful, adaptable and creative, and somehow managed to maintain a sense of humor and optimism amid the most trying circumstances. Ursula is an excellent storyteller - and what a story! At 14 she was giving English lessons to the three young concubines of an important Chinese general, learning all about the life of that household, studying martial arts, helping her father in his house painting business.

When the Japanese took Shanghai the family and friends became refugees once again, had to move from their pleasant, safe neighborhood back to a squalid ghetto. They kept up with events from the outside world with hidden radios and did what they could to support the Allies. They risked their lives to rescue and hide downed American airmen.

It was not until 1947 that the family was finally able to realize the dream of moving to the US and making the new lives that they had hoped for for so long. It's a wonderful story about amazingly brave and resourceful people,

[Kassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique book about a young Jewish girl who moves from war-torn Europe to a Shanghai ghetto in the 1940's. A well-told and extremely fascinating piece of history. Imagine if Anne Frank and her family had fled to China to live in the slums. Very highly recommended. Five stars for the story, four for the writing.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm almost finished with this book and I've been enmeshed in the story. This book makes one really think about what it's like an American and how persecution existed in both China and here during the McCarthy Era. I'm really enjoying it.

I highly recommend this book

[Victoria Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing but true memoir

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best writing and sometimes sounded a bit like 20/20 hindsight, but nonetheless a fascinating insight in life in Shanghai during WWII.

[Positive Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well told story of a young woman and her family escaping Berlin before WWII.

[Barbara Pearlman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before WWII 18,000 European Jews immigrated to Shanghai to escape the Nazis. They were welcomed by the Chinese government and China was the only country in the world that would accept them. They were greeted with poverty, pestilence, filth, unsanitary conditions and horrible weather. In spite of this many of them eked out survival and managed to earn a living and live well until the Japanese invaded China. Then they returned to the horrible conditions that greeted them when they first arrived. The author, tells their story and her story in an uplifting memoir covering the years from 1939 until 1947. This book could have been horribly depressing. But Ursula and her family never lost hope. This book is awesome.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book. Ursula was a pre-teen when she and her parents escaped from Nazi Germany in 1939. She chronicled the 6 years they lived in Shanghai. She wrote so well. The book was published in 2002. I was able to get it through Prospector. I am not sure how I even heard about it. She wrote in such detail. It was interesting to find that she settled in Denver. I wonder if she is still here. I appreciated hearing how the refugees held a close community, tried to bring culture and made due with terrible conditions after living in luxury in Germany. Just brought back to me the horrors of the Nazis. Yet, that horror, that evil is still alive and well on planet earth. God, Have mercy. People still deny the Holocaust and racism is still a terrible thing in the world.

[Kristy Johnston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found Ursula’s curiosity and open-mindedness towards new cultures, languages and religion refreshing. While I feel like these personal accounts are important for history, I didn’t really engage with this story perhaps due to the writing style, which was often repetitious and lacked focus, though I think I was in the minority with the rest of my book club enjoying it much more. It is very detailed and recounts the story of Jewish refugees during World War II at a time when most countries closed their borders and they were forced to travel to Shanghai where they lived in squalor. As a historical text it is filled with interesting information for the time period and actual experiences of the author. Recommended for history and WWII buffs.

[linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another memoir culled from several different recollections. It is basically the story of a family who was was lucky enough to escape Hitler's Germany. They migrated to Shanghai and found the conditions they encountered to be deplorable. They were. They thought they were safe moving half a world away from Hitler until the Japanese overtook China and they were forced to live in a policed ghetto without basic necessities. it is very sad story to see the aging process on the young people and what they were deprived of. They all held the United States out as their beacon of hope and it was.

[Jim Firestone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really touched me. A diary of a young girl/woman Jewish refugee who “escapes” with her parents to Shanghai in 1939, the only place in the world accepting Jewish refugees at that time. The memoir covers the 8 years her family is stranded there until the eventually emigrate to the United States. For a young girl growing from age 8 to 17 living through this period, in that city, as a refugee, she had a lifetime of experience.

The author is the same age as my mother. I wish I had had the chance to discuss this book with my mother and hear more of her story from the same years growing up in the States at that time.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off...my Kindle version of this book was full of formatting errors (words running together on nearly every page, and punctuation errors), which made it a bit challenging to read. Had the story not been so incredibly good, I would have quit reading. This was a story I never heard about in any of my history classes - Jewish refugees during WWII escaping to Shanghai! The strength and spirit of this author who was a child when going through this horrible experience, as well as that of her family and closest friends, is absolutely incredible! it is a hard read, but one everyone should read!

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read many books about WWII, the Holocaust, the Resistance, life in the Jewish ghettos, etc., but had never read one about the Jews who were able to escape to Shanghai. This book tells a compelling story. The depictions of life lived in one room “apartments,” the bartering for food and water, the unsanitary conditions, are graphic and moving. Offsetting that is the value of human interaction and friendship, as well as the appreciation of a vastly different culture. I highly recommend this book.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir recounted a German, Jewish born girl's adolescence spent in Shanghai with her family during WWII. In her flowing prose, the author shares the chronology of her family's escape from Germany and particularly how they lived in Shanghai.

I gained quite an education and many insights from reading this book, and I have a far greater understanding of what these 18,000 or so refugees experienced.

[Shirley223 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this was an emotional read for me this book gave me insight into my own parents lives in Shanghai during the war. I believe my parents were moved to the Hongkue Ghetto much earlier than Ursula's family the experience was probably similar. She does not write about her life after the war in America which might have been insightful. My mother suffered terribly from survivor's guilt and PTSD but they were the lucky ones and they knew it.

[Barbara Hershey · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it was recommended I thought, "Ugh. Another holocaust story." I'm looking for less weighty books right now. This was marvelous. The author had a great ability to make me feel like I was reading what a teenager experienced. It is not a wholly European story since it's set in Shanghai. It was a first person account of a place unfamiliar to me. It really read easily and included some nice details.

[John McNulty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Direct and incredible. Ursula Bacon's memoir is a great window into Shanghai's past and a chapter of history that should be remembered in order to live forward. She is also in no small part an extraordinary individual, this is no ordinary refugee girl: kills a solider with Ju jitsu, tries to save a ballerina from Diptheria and saves a baby.

[Bonnie Noehr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very well written book about which I knew little. Although I have read many books about the Holocaust, I was unfamiliar with Jewish resettlement in Shanghai. As well as being rich in history, this book is full of the wisdom of the author’s elders whose positive and humble bearing is inspiring.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting view of WW2 from those who fled to Shanghai. It has a feeling of emotional distance that may reflect how those who experienced these brutal experiences dealt with situations that were shocking but the reality they lived. A valuable read to remember the resilience of human beings and the horror of war.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, very educational, read. I had never heard anything about Jews going to China during WWII, so was very intrigued. Overall, well written. Very tough times, but balanced with love and humor.