Once My Name Was Sara

by I. Betty Grebenschikoff

Grebenschikoff, I. Betty

Genres: Book Club, Holocaust

180 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1993

About the author

Betty Grebenschikoff (née Ilse Kohn) is a Holocaust survivor. When her peaceful childhood in Berlin, Germany, was shattered by Nazi violence against Jews, the family was forced to flee to China in 1939. They were just one step ahead of the Gestapo. Shanghai was the only open port at that time that admitted European Jews without visas or passports. It became a place of refuge for about 20,000 refugees.

Grebenschikoff grew up in Shanghai where the family tried to make a living under difficult circumstances. During World War II the Jewish refugees were interned by Japanese authorities in a segregated area of Shanghai, also known as the Shanghai Ghetto. Life became even harder than before.

In 1950 political events in China made yet another escape necessary, this time to Australia. Grebenschikoff finally realized her dream of emigrating to America in 1953.

Betty Grebenschikoff lectures extensively to museums, organizations, schools and colleges. Her memoir Once My Name Was Sara is for sale directly from the author (here).

She is featured in two documentary films: Shanghai Ghetto, which premiered in 2002, and the more recently released Survival in Shanghai.

She was also a volunteer consultant to the world premiere of Shanghai Sonatas Production, University of Delaware, February 2020, http://shanghaisonatas.com/

Reviews

[Tracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was honored to meet the author when she was selling her book at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, July of 2019. She is a lovely woman, and I am so glad I got to meet her.

Betty's story is not like other Holocaust survivor stories I have read. Her family escaped Germany together and fled to China. Her description of life as a refugee in China and later in Australia was compelling.

The style of the book is not quite as polished as other books. When I met her, Betty told me that she self publishes her book each time she runs out of copies! The chapters are short and topical, but generally sequential. I wish there was more of her story to read. I definitely recommend it for readers who are interested in Holocaust survivors.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A memoir of a Holocaust survivor whose Jewish family got out of Berlin right before the outbreak of WWII, she tells of how her family went east, to Shanghai, rather than trying to find some western country who would harbor them. (And most of them weren't..)

She was 8 when they got out of Germany, and spent over ten years as an expat in China before Mao's regime decided they didn't want westerners in their country. By then, she was married, and she and her husband (a "white" Russian, i.e., a Russian expat in China because his family had political disagreements with the Communist regime) had to flee to Australia, before finally managing to gain US visas.

An interesting read, made even more fascinating because the author is a local resident, and came to our discussion to talk about her experiences! She was a sweet, gracious lady, and our whole group was fascinated! I think the discussion could have gone even longer, if we'd had the time.

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to hear the author's story about her early childhood in Germany, a visit with her Czech relatives leaving the country by train to get a boat in Italy to Shanghai, life in Shanghai under the Japanese rule, liberation at the war's end, then having to flee again as the communists took over China, going to Australia with her Russian husband, and then finally being reunited with her family in America. The author is not a writer (hence my 3 rather than 4 star rating), but wrote this for her family.

[Sarah LeMoyne-Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up in a whim at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. when the family was there and selling her book. It is advertised as a middle school book, so it a pretty easy and quick read. I went into this with reasonable expectations because I understood it was a women’s life story, not a professional author. Ultimately, I enjoyed it as it gave a new and different perspective that I haven’t heard or read about before.

I look forward to giving this to my 7th grade daughter to read.

[Melinda Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story of a life lived - with optimism in spite of being surrounded by dire and risky circumstances. I am always amazed by the resilience of the human spirit and by those who survived the Holocaust including Betty, whose immediate family was able to get to China in 1939 but lived through unimaginable challenges. We are blessed by the lives she and her husband created for this world.

[Adrian Hunley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was beautifully put together.

[Noah Canel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once My Name Was Sara is a true memoir about the life of a Jewish family during the holocaust. Betty the narrator is a young Jewish girl living in Germany when world war 2 begins. After much worring and a lot of bribery her family hitches a ride on a ship bound for Shanghai to escape the horror that would later be known as Kristal Nacht. Her family went to Shanghai because the it was the only place that would take them in. Shanghai was ran by the Japanesse at the time but they did not mind taking in the Jewish families just as long as they did no harm. Secretly voting for the Americans, Betty's family lied low in the Japaneese Ghetto for many years until the war came to an end. Betty spent several months celebrating with the new american soldiers that swarmed in by the shipload until she met a man that she loved. They spent much time together in Shanghai but soon more war broke out and they had to escape for the second time. Then with a baby and being pregnant she traveled to Australia in search of a safe place for the baby to be born. She later met up with her family in the U.S. and lived a happy rest of her life.

I can connect to this article because I purchased this book in Shanghai where it took place. It was cool to walk the streets that she walked and see the things that she saw. I can not imagine how she felt when this was happening but to see it after was really inspiring. Also, I am Jewish and to sit in the temple that the people in the Japaneese Ghetto sat and hoped for their lives in was amazing. The holocaust was a huge disaster and to read amazing stories about how some families like Betty's survived and escaped is a great way to learn and think about the beter parts.

ACADEMIC HONESTY--By pasting this statement, I am indicating that I read the book, and the information on this page is accurate.

[Lorri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once My Name was Sara: A Memoir, by I. Betty Grebenschikoff, is an excellent Holocaust Memoir, written from a unique perspective. It is written before World War II begins, and then from within Hongkew, China, and eventually the Shanghai ghetto, during World War II.

Grebenschikoff recalls her life within China, beginning when her family fled Nazi Germany in 1939, as Jewish refugees, and were given refuge in China. They were able to move their without passports, as, at the time, China allowed Euorpean Jews into the country.

We follow Grebenschikoff’s family’s daily existence in the Jewish community of Hongkew as they adjust to their new life, and the hardships they endured: disease, cramped living conditions, the poverty and street beggars, Chinese citizens living on the streets, the beatings and brutality of the Japanese, the confines of the Shanghai Ghetto, air raid sirens, bombings, and adjusting in a foreign land.

Betty Grebenschikoff’s memoir is well-written, articulated with detailed descriptions of life. “Once My Name Was Sara” is an excellent book and resource for junior high and high school aged students, as it contains a personal life accounting, remembered from childhood through adulthood, all the decades of life, through the present.

Students will be able to relate to her youth and teenage years, and therefore gain a better understanding of the events of the Jewish refugee during World War II, and the Holocaust. Adults will be able to understand and appreciate the emotions within the pages, the historical aspects and depths of the Holocaust, and how it affected Jewish refugees in China.

This is my second reading of this book. I had to read it for a book club, after reading it about six years ago.

[Leah Canel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased Once my Name Was Sarah: A Memoir at the holocaust museum in Shanghai. This memoir is about a girl named Betty and her experiences while growing up during the holocaust. Specifically, this is the story of how she fled Germany with her family during the holocaust and the hardships that she faced. One of these hardships was finding a place to go. The only place that would accept her family was Shanghai, because the Japanese were controlling Shanghai at that time and did not require a visa for Jews coming there.

Personally, I thought this was a good book. I saw many of the places she described which was interesting. I have the book if any of you want to read it. It also has interesting pictures and information which helped me understand that time period.

[Laurie]

Loved this book, especially because Betty's family stayed in Shanghai AFTER the Japanese left and it gives a great idea of what Shanghai was like after the war, between 1945 and 1950, when her family left for Australia and then for the U.S. Amazing that by 1950 every country had closed their consulate in Shanghai, since the Communists won the war against the Nationalists in China. Also it tells what her life and family were like when they lived in Australia and in the U.S. I was SO sad when her daughter was killed in a car accident. This is the type of book where you feel like you know Betty and the people she is writing about, and you care about them and are sad when the book is over.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a young adult (middle school) memoir of events I'm embarrassed to admit I was previously unaware of. When we were in Shanghai recently we visited the Jewish Refugees Museum and were stunned and amazed by what we learned. Previously a synagogue, the museum is a reminder of the over 20,000 refugees who were allowed to live in Shanghai when no other country would take them. This is difinitely an incredible act of humanity that deserves to be more well known and remembered along with all the other Righteous Gentiles of that time.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book at the Holocaust Museum and had opportunity to visit with the author. She had a photograph album with her that had amazing pictures of her family. Her book tells of her family's life in Shanghai as Holocaust refugees.

[Terri Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like true stories of Jewish survival during WWII (without the heartache that many feel when reading books like Night by Elie Wiesel), you would probably very much enjoy this story. It is different in that it is set more in Shanghai where the author's family escaped to.

[Amanda Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

A VERY interesting side of the holocaust that I wasn't super aware of. I met this author/survivor at the Holocaust Musuem in Washington DC, and I was lucky enough to get her to sign my copy of this book.

[A Foxtrotter Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purchased at the Holocaust Museum in DC when they author was there for a signing. Very much worth a read.

[Chantelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story and I appreciated learning more about the Jewish refugees in China. I was very distracted, however, by some of the punctuation and grammatical errors throughout the book.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A true survivor!