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Shanghai Refuge: A Memoir of the World War II Jewish Ghetto
The unlikely refuge of Shanghai, the only city in the world that did not require a visa, was buffeted by the struggle between European imperialism, Japanese aggression, and Chinese nationalism. Ernest G. Heppner's compelling testimony is a brilliant account of this little-known haven.
Although Heppner was a member of a privileged middle-class Jewish family, he suffered from the constant anti-Semitic undercurrent in his surroundings. The devastation of "Crystal Night" in November 1938, however, introduced a new level of Nazi horror and ended his comfortable world overnight. Heppner and his mother used the family's resources to escape to Shanghai.
Heppner was taken aback by experiences on the ocean liner that transported the refugees to he was embarrassed and confounded when Egyptian Jews offered worn clothing to the Jewish passengers, he resented the edicts against Jewish passengers disembarking in any ports on the way, and he was unprepared for the poverty and cultural dislocation of the great city of Shanghai. Nevertheless, Heppner was self-reliant, energetic, and clever, and his story of finding niches for his skills that enabled him to survive in a precarious fashion is a tribute to human endurance.
In 1945, after the liberation of China, Heppner found a responsible position with the American forces there. He and his wife, whom he had met and married in the ghetto, arrived in the United States in 1947 with only eleven dollars but boundless hope and energy.
Heppner's account of the Shanghai ghetto is as vivid to him now as it was then. His admiration for his new country and his later success in business do not, however, obscure for him the shameful failure of the Allies to furnish a refuge for Jews before, during, and after the war.
Although Heppner was a member of a privileged middle-class Jewish family, he suffered from the constant anti-Semitic undercurrent in his surroundings. The devastation of "Crystal Night" in November 1938, however, introduced a new level of Nazi horror and ended his comfortable world overnight. Heppner and his mother used the family's resources to escape to Shanghai.
Heppner was taken aback by experiences on the ocean liner that transported the refugees to he was embarrassed and confounded when Egyptian Jews offered worn clothing to the Jewish passengers, he resented the edicts against Jewish passengers disembarking in any ports on the way, and he was unprepared for the poverty and cultural dislocation of the great city of Shanghai. Nevertheless, Heppner was self-reliant, energetic, and clever, and his story of finding niches for his skills that enabled him to survive in a precarious fashion is a tribute to human endurance.
In 1945, after the liberation of China, Heppner found a responsible position with the American forces there. He and his wife, whom he had met and married in the ghetto, arrived in the United States in 1947 with only eleven dollars but boundless hope and energy.
Heppner's account of the Shanghai ghetto is as vivid to him now as it was then. His admiration for his new country and his later success in business do not, however, obscure for him the shameful failure of the Allies to furnish a refuge for Jews before, during, and after the war.
193 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 1, 2010
It is one of the books that helps to illustrate how different fascism and Anti-Semitism displayed itself in pre-war Germany. Heppner grew up in Breslau and is being tortured early on. Compare Peter Gay's memoirs of his youth in Berlin and how relatively un-affected his daily life was in the first years of Nazi-government.
September 21, 2019
There are many memoirs of life for Jewish refugees in Shanghai and they were written by people who lived it and were not necessarily writers. I respect their efforts in writing and in staying alive amidst the deprivations and emotional and physical tolls. This author clearly did an enormous amount of research to augment his memories and spoke with his brother and others to fill in the voids. The result was often an overwhelming amount of detail which often did not enhance the reader's understanding or engagement with the core story. Nonetheless, i learned a lot and had a great deal of respect and empathy for what these people went through in Shanghai apart from being uprooted from their countries of origins and losing their way of life and to often their relatives and friends.
July 19, 2022
This book was really interesting and taught me about a part of the Shoah that I, despite being German, hadn't known about, just as Heppner himself notes - the Jewish community in Shanghai isn't very well known, I've noticed. I really enjoyed reading this book, but it felt a little... dry, in a way, more a factual recounting of the events than the fiction I expected (which was my own fault, but nonetheless).
October 2, 2020
Shanghai Refuge
After a show on PBS and learning about the Jewish community in Shanghai during WW II I wanted to know more. This book was very informative and enlightening. We all seem to know about the Holocaust in Europe but you will learn so much about the Jews who escaped Europe, ended up in China and how they survived.
After a show on PBS and learning about the Jewish community in Shanghai during WW II I wanted to know more. This book was very informative and enlightening. We all seem to know about the Holocaust in Europe but you will learn so much about the Jews who escaped Europe, ended up in China and how they survived.
December 19, 2015
I have long known that my grandmother, Erica Myers, left Germany in late 1938 for Shanghai one of the few places open to refugees from anywhere in the world, and lived there through the War. We have some anecdotes of that period and a few mementos, including a very fine loadstone Buddha. But until recently, when a researcher turned up all sorts of new information, the picture was very sketchy.
So Shanghai Refuge, a memoir and history of the community written by a fellow refugee, is very welcome source of information. It's a well researched, well written and strongly felt account and I learned a lot. He evokes the squalor and poverty that most refugees experienced, especially after they were confined to a ghetto, and the shock they felt as mostly affluent professional people who had viewed themselves until shortly before as full members of German society.
He also suggests the range of experiences that the Jewish refugees had in Shanghai. Heppner himself seems to have been a very capable and adaptable young man, and found work quite easily, some of it well paid,a nd at times he and his wife were reasonably comfortable. But they still had to endure the crowded ghetto, the scarce rations, and the dangers posed by the Japanese occupiers, and later the American bombers.
I rather think that that my grandmother may have had similar experiences. In Germany she worked in a photographic studio, developing images, and in Shanghai she worked as a photographer, taking pictures of patrons in nightclubs in the hope that they would buy one as they left. Heppner describes the sights and sounds that met him as he arrived, but says that he didn't notice someone taking photographs as he boarded a truck. He later discovered a photo of the scene, and the same photo appeared in a collection of images my grandmother left when she died. In fact, quite a few of the pictures in the book seem to have been taken by her - something Heppner didn't know, I assume.
Understanding the grim conditions in Shanghai helps me understand my family a little better. My grandmother's second husband had been imprisoned in Sachsenhausen after Kristallnacht, and committed suicide in Shanghai. She joined my father in England, but was a deeply embattled woman for the rest of her long life.
Shanghai Refuge is a unique account of the ghetto, so far as I am aware. Alongside the research is a smouldering fury at the callous treatment these refugees received from many quarters: the Nazis themselves; the foreign countries that refused entry to refugees; the Jewish residents of Shanghai and the Jewish relief organisations that failed to respond adequately to their needs until much time had passed; and the American authorities that were slow to help, even after War had finished.
So Shanghai Refuge, a memoir and history of the community written by a fellow refugee, is very welcome source of information. It's a well researched, well written and strongly felt account and I learned a lot. He evokes the squalor and poverty that most refugees experienced, especially after they were confined to a ghetto, and the shock they felt as mostly affluent professional people who had viewed themselves until shortly before as full members of German society.
He also suggests the range of experiences that the Jewish refugees had in Shanghai. Heppner himself seems to have been a very capable and adaptable young man, and found work quite easily, some of it well paid,a nd at times he and his wife were reasonably comfortable. But they still had to endure the crowded ghetto, the scarce rations, and the dangers posed by the Japanese occupiers, and later the American bombers.
I rather think that that my grandmother may have had similar experiences. In Germany she worked in a photographic studio, developing images, and in Shanghai she worked as a photographer, taking pictures of patrons in nightclubs in the hope that they would buy one as they left. Heppner describes the sights and sounds that met him as he arrived, but says that he didn't notice someone taking photographs as he boarded a truck. He later discovered a photo of the scene, and the same photo appeared in a collection of images my grandmother left when she died. In fact, quite a few of the pictures in the book seem to have been taken by her - something Heppner didn't know, I assume.
Understanding the grim conditions in Shanghai helps me understand my family a little better. My grandmother's second husband had been imprisoned in Sachsenhausen after Kristallnacht, and committed suicide in Shanghai. She joined my father in England, but was a deeply embattled woman for the rest of her long life.
Shanghai Refuge is a unique account of the ghetto, so far as I am aware. Alongside the research is a smouldering fury at the callous treatment these refugees received from many quarters: the Nazis themselves; the foreign countries that refused entry to refugees; the Jewish residents of Shanghai and the Jewish relief organisations that failed to respond adequately to their needs until much time had passed; and the American authorities that were slow to help, even after War had finished.
February 28, 2013
Very interesting part of history that I had previously known nothing about. But it was not very well-written and more detail-oriented than I thought was necessary.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews