All language subtitles for POLR3_English

[slow music and ocean sounds]

May, 1939

My dear friends,

We see the children only
at mealtimes.

They are happy and animated,
and we with them,

especially since we could not find
any rest in Berlin ...

due to so much running around in
recent times.

We will be able to represent two
good companies in Shanghai ...

and hope to make a living in
the international quarter.

At every port representatives from
the Jewish relief committees ...

come on board and bring old things
and cigarettes for frugal travelers.

Colombo,

the capital of Ceylon,

home of the famous tea.

The children exchanged stickers
from the Lloyd Triestino ...

for pineapples and coconuts.

In German money one pineapple
costs only fifteen to twenty cents.

A blessed land,
this island of Ceylon.

Yours, Annie Witting

[slow music and ocean]

Gradually the trip comes to an end.

The day before yesterday
we were in Singapore.

Tomorrow we will arrive in Manila,

then Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

From the experiences
of this journey ...

endless stories could be told.

At the moment
due to high waves ...

my morning exercises
are most interesting.

All the best.
Greetings to all.

Storfer

[slow music]

[ominous music]

Judaism is Criminal. Read the
special issue of the "Stürmer".

[ominous music]

To Dachau ...

[ominous music]

Jew.

[ominous music and footsteps]

1939 was a time, when ...

a lot of Jews were picked up
in the streets,

and taken from homes
and sent to concentration camps.

My father had ...

very good friends
in higher places,

which one day tippet him off
that his name ...

was on the list,

to be picked up for transportation,
to a concentration camp.

And sure enough that evening
the Nazis came to the door,

and searched for my father
which was gone, of course.

At that point they left with
a remark that we will be back ...

to pick up the Jew.

Then, later on that day ...

my father got in touch
with my mother ...

and told her to pack a suitcase
that we were leaving.

My sister and I
where really too young,

to understand what was going on.

My sister was 13,
I was 11.

Nevertheless,
we realized that we were leaving ...

what, I, at the time thought
was a vacation.

We thought Hitler would take the Jews,
the young Jews like me, I was 18,

would take us first,
and throw us in the front line ...

and be cannon fodder.

And I said: "I got to get out of here."
And then my mother saw it.

She wanted to see and stay in Germany ...

to witness the downfall of this mad man.

And I said:
"No, it's too much, I don't want to."

And she realized that it was
important that I should go.

She made contact with friends ...

and they said
I should go over the "green border".

In other words, somebody would take
me over to Holland or France.

And somehow I said,
I don't want to stay here in Europe.

This is not far enough.
If war breaks out,

he'll roll over,

these countries.

And so, where can you go?
We had no money.

We had relatives in the United States.

They were
willing to provide us with a affidavit ...

which they filed with the State Department,
that we would not become a public burden.

That was not good enough.

There was a quota.

And my quota number was 67.000.

And we were told
it might take about a year and a half ...

before our quota comes up.

I wouldn't wait that long.

I wanted to get out in
the worst way. I threat,

if we don't find a place
I go over the border.

So we looked for an alternate solution.

Everbody ask me,
why was it so difficult to leave Germany?

It was not.

It was the free world
that would not give us a place.

The SS Troopers came into the house.

Our apartment was on the 5th floor
and the elevator was out of order.

They asked the custodian, is there
any Jews above the 3rd floor,

because they were too lazy to walk up.

And since he had been tipped
well throughout our stay there,

he said: "No".
And my father slept through it all.

But after that he
decided he did not wish to wait,

for our quota to be called
for the United States,

but rather go to Shanghai.

But since I hadn't quite
finished school,

I was to stay in Berlin
with my mother ...

and we were to meet him
again in the United States.

Somebody came up
in the summer of 1938 ...

with the idea there is one place on earth ...

where you can go without any paper,
no permit,

no affidavit,
no special entry-permit not visa.

You just got there,
that's Shanghai.

[slow music]

It would take about 4 weeks to get there,

but the boats are all full.

There is a waiting list,
6 to 12 months.

The travel agent said
to my mother:

"I know you have some
impressionistic paintings.

The agent of the German steamship
agency is a collector,"

He got a couple of our paintings ...

and a few weeks later
came a call from the travel agent.

A Jewish couple
on board the "Potsdam",

committed suicide on board the boat
as it left the harbor of Hamburg ...

and a cabin for two
would be available.

So it was decided that my mother
and I go ahead.

We were only
allowed to take with us ...

2 suitcases each and 10 Marks,

the equivalent of 8 American dollars.

One of the worst moments was,

when I said good-bye ...

to my father
and to my sister.

I knew in my heart ...

I would never see them again.

[Chinese pipa music and river sounds]

We entered from the mouth
of the Yangtze ...

we got into the Whangpoo river,

the muddy Whangpoo and as
we finally came closer to Shanghai,

we were very getting nervous
because on the right side we ...

saw nothing but ruins.

The whole coastal area
were in ruins.

We found out later on,
since 1937,

when the Japanese invaded China ...

there was severe fighting between
the Japanese and the Chinese forces.

The Japanese controlled
the harbor.

And later on we were puzzled,

that it was the Japanese
that actually permitted us entry.

Declaration from the Japanese
Five Ministers Conference, Dec. 6, 1938.

Our diplomatic ties with Germany
and Italy require ...

that we avoid embracing
the Jewish people.

But we should not reject them
as they do ...

because of our declared policy
of racial equality.

This is particularly true
in light of our need ...

for foreign capital ...

and our desire
not to alienate America.

[steamship horn, Chinese inflected orchestra]

Notice from the National Christian
Council of China, February, 1939.

The persecuted Jews of Europe
are pouring into Shanghai.

Forty arrived on the
Lloyd-Triestino steamer in July;

another 40 in August;
then 80 in September;

and now each steamer brings
them by the hundreds.

At first, it was
the professional men who came,

doctors mostly, who, by a stroke
of the pen were forbidden ...

to practice their professions.

Now it is
the white-collar workers:

grocers, cafe keepers,
tailors, barbers,

and young women who were
secretaries, or corset-makers,

or shop-workers.

Most of them speak neither
Chinese nor English.

They land in Shanghai
- a blind alley.

[Chinese inflected orchestra]

We were met at the docks by ...

a contingent of refugees,

that arrived prior to our getting there.

They had trucks ready.

And we were taken
on the trucks ...

to one of the few camps
that was established at that time.

When we got there,
we were fed noodle soup.

And I'll never forget,
that was very ...

uncommon for me to not
have a complete meal.

But nevertheless,
it satisfied us at the time.

We had no funds
left of any kind ...

to rent private apartments
or quarters of any kind.

[melancholic piano]

May 21, 1939

Two years ago war broke out
between the Japanese and Chinese ...

in which the quarter of Hongkew
was completely destroyed.

The local residents,
mostly Chinese,

escaped into the other
parts of the Settlement ...

and into the French Concession.

[melancholic piano]

As emigration of the Jews
grew more and more,

and there were few possibilities
for accommodating the refugees,

the committee began to repair
buildings in Honkgew ...

in order to establish camps.

Then some refugees began to buy and
repair demolished houses themselves.

Even though these Jews
are mostly without means,

an active life has begun.

In Japanese occupied Hongkew ...

the Europeans can freely
come and go,

but the Chinese only with specially
issued passes from the Japanese.

Otto Israel Gruber

[street sounds]

[mournful Chinese song]

My dear,

Since February 22
I have been in Shanghai,

and feel wretched.

The deplorable economic
circumstances,

and consequently
the hopelessness of getting a job,

the difficulties to get away
from here some day,

the difficulties to get away
from here some day,

and the dread of spreading diseases,

these each in turn
add to inexpressible despair ...

and drive us, who had to go through
inhuman hardships already,

to a complete breakdown.

The building where we are housed
was a school formerly.

There are 40 people
in one room with 40 bunks.

One washing basin
for about 8-10 people.

Food is monotonous.

There is also tea that is
smelling of carbolic acid ...

as the water has to be
disinfected every other day.

I hope you are well ...

which is somewhat
a consolation to me.

I kiss you with all my love.

Tobias Farb

[mournful Chinese song]

You got up in the morning.

You went out
to a common facility ...

to wash yourself.

It was cold water.

There was no hot water.

You stood in line ...

sometimes with many other people ...

with a rag in your hand
which was your towel.

If you were fortunate
to have a bar of soap,

you could use that.

If you didn't, you didn't.

You just used water.

The next thing you would have breakfast.

Breakfast consisted of a piece
of bread that was given you and tea.

The tea was hot water,
which we had to buy.

Three dips of water
would be like a penny,

and then be very careful
to strain the tea ...

so that you would have the leaves
for tomorrow ...

and tomorrow,
and the next day, and the next day.

That was breakfast.

There were committees that
had been hastily established ...

by Jewish communities that had
come to Shanghai previously.

There was a Jewish community got there ...

after the Bolshevik
Revolution around 1917.

There were some 4500 of them there.

Plus some 450 Baghdadi Jews ...

that had arrived during
the Opium war years.

They had prepared
some temporary shelter.

My mother and I
stayed there for about two weeks,

until we were able to find
a furnished room ...

after my mother
was able to get a job ...

with the committee
that dealt with the newcomers.

[market, street sounds,
Chinese pipa music]

My dear friends,

Shanghai has
4 1/2 million inhabitants,

of which only
50,000 are Europeans.

It is always wet,
whether it is warm or cold.

When it rains here one needs,
by all means, high rubber boots ...

because without them you cannot
even walk on the street.

Furthermore, the danger
of epidemics is very great.

And despite the fact that we were
inoculated on the ship ...

against cholera,
pox, typhus and paratyphus,

one must be inoculated here again,
and every quarter year.

We are in any case happy
to be free people again ...

and to have the chance
to make a new life.

Yours, Annie Witting

German and Austrian Jews
who had no other place to go,

went to Shanghai.

Not because they were intrigued
by China, or by Shanghai.

They didn't know much about it.
But that was the only place,

due to the fact that Shanghai
became an International Settlement ...

and it was a free port.

The British, when they had
the famous Opium Wars in 1845,

insisted on a treaty to get
a free harbor in certain spots.

And that counted for the fact that ...

since they didn't impose
any restrictions of arrivals,

you got there
and that was it.

That saved out neck.

[traditional Chinese violin music
and street noise]

Shanghai consisted of
several colonial occupiers.

There was the International Settlement.

There was the French Concession,

where many of the
Russian immigrants lived.

And there was the inner city, ...

the Chinese inner city,
Nantao.

And of course Shanghai was
a cosmopolitan city,

perhaps the most cosmopolitan city
in the world.

Also the most
crime-ridden city in the world.

[Chinese big band music, street sounds]

How can I make it possible
for you to feel ...

the specific atmosphere
of this extraordinary city?

The many smells,

ranging all the way from
the burnt incense in temples,

to the carts in which human
excrement was collected for fertilizer.

The peculiar sounds and noises,

emanating from
the great variety of people,

from the poorest coolies ...

to the wealthiest
men in the world,

from the lives of socially
accepted taxi dancers ...

to the puritanistic British
society ladies.

Shanghai was a fake,

a phony,
neither occidental nor oriental.

And yet - God forgive me ...

she was the most exciting
and unique city in the world.

She was poison,
and the old-time Shanghailanders ...

were addicts who never
could free themselves ...

from being in love with her.

Max Berges, refugee

The number of prostitutes
running around on Nanking Road,

you must remember,
the main drag was covered with girls.

And they had these ballrooms
with taxi dancers.

You went to a ballroom with
5 friends and you bought, ...

let's say for 50 cents,

30 Cents, 6 tickets and then you
went to a girl and danced with her ...

and gave her one of these tickets.

That was the taxi dancing.
It was very popular.

And we had very good bands,
mostly Filipino bands.

They played beautiful
modern music.

You had nightclubs
in the western part of Shanghai,

past the Settlement
which was Chinese territory ...

and which was run by the Japanese
but not directly.

The Japanese had gotten
themselves a puppet,

a former Associate
of Chiang Kai-sheck

by the name of Wang Sheng-wai.

In this area there were
quite a number of gambling dens,

opium dens,

clubs for transvestites
for gays.

And I worked at this
"Maskee Nightclub",

And I really learned to see,

what a gay nightclub was.

I didn't know what a gay club
was, homosexuals.

It was very interesting.
There were many interesting people,

very good looking British and German.
Mostly German and British people.

That was an interesting
introduction to the night life.

[big band music]

[bomb explosion, dramatic music]

Germany invaded Poland
on September 1, 1939.

And it became apparent
that we maybe should not wait.

And my father let us know that we
should meet him in Shanghai instead.

Then, Italy
entered the war ...

and we could not go
by boat anymore.

So now we had to get rail
transportation over Siberia.

We left in May, 1940, ...

and finally landed in Shanghai
sometime in early June.

At that time too many
refugees had gotten into Shanghai,

so the Shanghai Municipal Authority ...

required a permit.

And my father was able to get it ...

for my mother and me, because
we were wife and child.

My father was a banker,

and through his connections
he had been able ...

to transfer a little bit of money
out of Germany into Switzerland.

So he had some
limited funds to draw on.

And we moved into a
European-style apartment building.

Of course, into a very small apartment,

but it had hot water
and steam heat in the winter,

so we weren't really too uncomfortable.

[upbeat bass and violin music]

Emigrants have made
unbelievable achievements.

Wonderful shops have opened
and they are doing well.

When you walk on Broadway here ...

you think you are in Vienna or Berlin
and forget that you are an immigrant.

A large number of people have already
built a nice existence for themselves ...

and for some it definitely
goes better than before.

Refugee

[upbeat Klezmer-style music]

Since I was so interested
in printing and writing ...

I met somebody who was
a friend of Mr. Storfer,

and said he is
planning to open up a newspaper.

And I met Mr. Storfer, who was
a very intelligent, interesting man.

He had been a publisher of books
for Sigmund Freud ...

and had published himself
as he proudly told me.

And he liked me and said,
would you like to work for me.

I said: "Oh, I'd love to."

March 31, 1939.

To Dr. Siegfried Bernfeld,
San Francisco

Dear Doctor...

The "Gelbe Post" is concerned
with East Asian matters,

but will take every opportunity
to draw on psychoanalysis.

In the first issue I have an
article by a Japanese professor ...

about psychoanalysis in Japan,

and another by an English author,

"On the Psychoanalysis of Chinese
Written Characters."

The main thing is
that I hurdle over the ...

financially difficult
beginning of my magazine.

I work 15-16 hours a day ...

and sleep 4-5 hours.

But the worst is still to come ...

the notorious
Shanghai warm period,

which will set in in a month.

I remain yours with heartfelt
greetings, A. J. Storfer.

[upbeat Klezmer-style music]

My dear friends,

I have started several
export businesses ...

lingerie, pork bellies, etc.

Furthermore I have sold
unneeded crystal and ...

I've bought American dollars.

Then I also sold
some sports coats ...

for which I brought
samples from Germany.

The Chinese are
very handy at copying ...

and under the guidance of
a European middle-man ...

they came out very fine.

The children are doing
very well here.

They attend a school in which
instructions are only in English.

The second richest man in Shanghai,
Mr. Kadoorie,

an Arabic Jew,
established a club ...

which is completely modeled
on the English youth clubs.

The children go to theater
and concerts, take excursions.

And all this is financed
by this Mr. Kadoorie.

He wants the emigrant children to
lose the inferiority complex ...

that has been partly
caused by emigration.

Yours, Annie Witting

There were concerts in the parks
in the summer.

They had a, of course,
symphony orchestra.

They had very nice ballet,

due to the fact that so many
White Russians came to Shanghai,

after the Revolution.

We had excellent ballet.

When I was then dating,

I met my
future husband ...

we were dating
and there were Chinese dance halls.

It was wonderful.

There were big halls
with big bands.

And for the price of a glass of tea, ...

you could dance all day.
That was the cover charge.

We danced whole afternoons away.

Sunday afternoons
that was the place to go.

[romantic music]

I started working for a
Russian-owned toy store,

in the French Concession.

It was a long, long walk
from Hongkew.

Until a small branch store
was established down in Nanjing Lu,

in Nanking Road,
very close to the "Bund".

And I became the branch manager.

I was a Teenager,
but I learned quickly.

Connected with the toy store
was a Chinese-owned book store ...

who dealt primarily with
pirate editions.

I made a little money
in the book store.

And the best part was that
I worked with Chinese ...

and got lunch.

[street noise]

Our store was right next door
to a Chinese money changer ...

and I watched it every day.

When I had a few dollar left,

I bought and sold dollars.

And I was lucky,
I always made a few dollars.

[street noise]

[sombre electric guitar music]

German General Consulate, Shanghai

To the Foreign Office in Berlin

From the recently arrived
estimated 18,000 Jews,

around 11,000 live in Hongkew,

about 6,000 in the
International Settlement,

and the rest in the
French Concession.

Out of despair
the Jewish girls are forced ...

to go into the
public hostess bars ...

where they are trying to push out
and undercut the Russian women ...

who have dominated that
field until now.

From the approximately
250 Jewish musicians,

a number of them find employment
in the city orchestra,

as well as in hotels
and nightclubs.

In Hongkew
the Jews have established ...

an estimated
50-60 coffee houses and bars.

[sombre electric guitar music]

Nobody liked to stay home.
The little rooms,

where maybe 6 or 8 lived
in a small apartment,

with one toilet. And maybe
three apartments in the building.

And they went out to the Kaffeehaus.

That was were the action was.

You had to go
in order to drink a cup of coffee,

and that in turn brought about
more cultural activity.

They had hired singers, actors, ...

they started making up little skits
in nightclubs and restaurants.

And opened up a quite few
nightclubs along Broadway ...

and on the Hongkew side because ...

that's where
good money was to be made.

And it's interesting to note
that this became known ...

to the more adventurous
in the International Settlement,

the younger ones,
they came to see these shows ...

and there was a lot going on.

[upbeat Klezmer-style music]

[shuffling footsteps and street noise]

Each morning we get up
between 5:15 and 5:45 ...

depending on our energy.

By 7:00 papa must
already be in the shop ...

in order to carry the bread
rolls with the boy.

I stay home to put the
room in order,

and get the child
ready for kindergarten.

Then every morning
I cook 30 to 35 meatballs ...

that are sold for 10 cents
each in the shop.

Aside from groceries and fruits,
we sell homemade pickled herrings,

grilled foods,
red beet salad, etc.

At 9 o'clock, papa comes home,
because the shop closes at 8:30.

Then at last we eat.

Finally socks are mended,
laundry is ironed,

and when we have time a letter
is sometimes written.

In any case, no evening
do we go to bed before 11:30 ...

and then we are
of course dead tired.

Our clientele are
85 percent immigrants.

Most likely
we will never learn Chinese ...

because we have
no opportunity to speak.

[traditional Chinese violin, wind sounds]

The "Gelbe Post".

"Pidgin - English" will nevertheless
not be a subject in the schools of Shanghai.

by A. J. Storfer

Of the nearly four million
Chinese people in the city,

the greater part will never
even try to learn English.

On the other hand, neither
the Englishmen and Americans ...

nor the other foreigners,
will learn the language of the natives.

One should therefore
make Pidgin English ...

an obligatory school subject
for foreigners and Chinese,

and the Babylonian
chaos of languages ...

in Shanghai will be banished.

Representatives of the
teaching profession ...

rejected the
unreasonable demand ...

to actively participate
in the murder ...

of the language of Shakespeare.

After all, if one cannot comprehend ...

the soliloquy
"To Be or Not to Be",

one could still understand that
Hamletian question in Pidgin:

can do - no can do.

[plucked string music]

"Die Gelbe Post" was a paper
really on a high intellectual level ...

and unfortunately,
the readership wasn't there.

By that time I needed
a good job ...

so I wound up becoming a reporter
for the "Shanghai Jewish Chronicle".

I could work
with the Chinese printers ...

and tell them how to make up
the headlines, 18 p. and figure out sizes.

So I became at this very young age
of 19, 20, a night editor.

And here I was in charge of putting
a paper together ...

and they had all these very
well known former writers.

But I was more or less,

they had to ask me to give
them a good spot in the paper.

And satisfy the ad salesmen
for the advertising ...

where to place their ads.

So, I had a fairly
important job there.

[street noise and traditional Chinese flute]

My father was able to start a business ...

in the International Settlement,
doing books for people.

So, he managed all right,

drawing a little bit
on the Swiss money.

For my mother it was devastating.

She spoke French fluently,

English very badly.

She missed her mother and
her sister and her surroundings.

She was afraid to go out.

So, our roles really reverse
and whenever I explored,

I would take her along. But without me
she really didn't go anywhere.

And I realized
much, much later ...

that she really was clinically depressed ...

and had a very, very hard time of it.

[melancholic piano music]

Shanghai Jewish Chronicle

Mars is the only spot
in the universe ...

where a Jewish emigrant
can enter without a passport ...

and an immigration visa.

We heard this yesterday in a
melancholic and amusing operetta ...

which was performed at
the Jewish Club.

A dentist and his wife ...

have a hard time adjusting
to Shanghai.

Then the emigrant falls asleep
and dreams ...

that he and his wife have
landed on Mars.

On Mars,

at least in the dream,

immigration, commerce,
and love are free.

The bitter irony of this piece ...

unfortunately mirrors reality.

Six million Jews in Central and
Eastern Europe ...

are still suffering
with no prospects ...

of ever finding refuge in
this miserable world.

[sombre piano and violin music]

With my mother I tried to stay
in touch as best as I could ...

and as frequently as I could.

And in the beginning
when I was in Shanghai ...

we had a regular correspondence.

And she was careful,

knowing the political situation
better than most.

She hinted about
"this one left and, he disap---"

She didn't say "disappeared,"

but she indicated somebody was
taken away by the Gestapo.

The worst thing was, when she reported
about her former husband,

my father, with whom she had
parted in good company.

She went to see my father off
when he was taken away ...

to a special collective station
where they were sent by train ...

to Russia, where
my father died,

was killed.

The letters became
more and more desperate.

In the last letter she said whether
I could help her to come to China.

I was devastated ...

and I tried, but ...

the communication was so
bad already ...

and I could only
communicate via the Red Cross,

which didn't, wasn't too good.
And this failed.

I was terribly upset
about my father.

My father was a sick man.
At that time ...

he was about, just about 50.

When I left him,
I knew I would never see him again,

which was a horrible thing to think.
My mother,

I was fully confident when
I left on the 19. Dec. 1938,

that I would ever see her again later.

[Chinese pipa music and typewriter sounds]

Report of The Committee ...

for the Assistance of
European Jewish Refugees ...

in Shanghai for the first
six months of 1940:

The American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee's ...

monthly allotment of $18,000
was reduced to $14,000 in April.

The task of operating with
considerably less funds ...

was made vastly more difficult
because of the rise ...

in the cost
of foodstuffs and coal ...

The prices of these commodities
went up from 50% to 150%.

Six camps and two hospitals
are operated.

As of June, about 11,000
people were assisted monthly,

being given shelter,
food and money.

There is no future for
refugees in China.

Business has been disastrously
affected by the wars.

[soft acoustic guitar]

Within the camp those that
were fortunate to have a job,

dressed and went to work.

The rest of the people,

more or less,
congregated in groups.

They did have one radio
which had short wave,

which occasionally we would
get news of the war.

"The Russians were doing this
the Germans that..."

Listen to that.

And many would sit
around a table ...

and play cards.

And basically that is the way
you would spend your day.

[sorrowful cello]

All my dear friends,

We have unfortunately suffered
very much grief.

That is, first I had a tropical
dysentery for 6 weeks,

and then my husband,
especially heavy, for 14 weeks.

And due to the dysentery,
an inflammation of the heart muscle,

which does not heal so quickly.
Besides, he lost 40 pounds.

Expenses from the sickness
were enormous,

and my greatest fear was:
How do I make it?

The first thought
when I got up in the morning,

and the last thought
before going to sleep was:

Making dollars!

Sometimes I don't recognize myself.

Was I ever so sober?

Yours, Annie Witting

[sorrowful cello, rickshaw]

July 1941.

Dear Doctor Wittels,

for one long year I have not
let anyone hear from me,

and I know that this makes
an ugly impression.

It was in the middle of August
that the $400 arrived by wire ...

and I had every reason to
see a rosy future.

But I had not expected
the unmerciful small-mindedness ...

of my business competitors.

Besides the two men
who did night-duty ...

felt compelled to suddenly report
sick. I myself had to fill in at once,

which had the outcome that
right after the first night ...

I suffered a severe heart attack.

I was forced to liquidate the
business within 8 days.

I am completely cut off from
friends in Europe.

But I also never hear anything
from America.

However this is, in fact, my fault.

Don't think too badly
about your devoted ...

A. J. Storfer

[sorrowful cello]

It was the night of the 7th,
my headline read ...

something in German of course,

that there's good hope
that they will ...

come to some sort
of agreement in Washington.

And I couldn't save it.

The paper came out
with that ridiculous headline.

And all of a sudden
at night I hear ush,

a tremendous noise.
We were pretty close to the harbor.

I hear what sounded
like gunshots and bombing.

I called up my friend
at "Domei",

the Japanese news agency,
he happened to be on duty.

I said, what the hell is going on?

Well, the Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Who knows where
Pearl Harbor was?

The Japanese occupied Settlement
and French Concession.

But basically there
wasn't much change,

I mean it was slowly.

The hope of going
to the United States ...

was squashed for the time being.

But we really didn't expect
that this would last very long.

We expected the American forces
to win at that time.

And, for us, aside from the fact ...

that the Japanese were there ...

marching up and down with their bayonets,
which was a little scary,

personally I wasn't
really affected by it.

[dramatic music and voice
from Japanese propaganda film]

The Jewish Community ...

Association received word ...

that Germany ...

declared all Jews living
abroad as stateless.

So I pitched my passport
in the waste basket.

As far as the Japanese were
concerned, we were just nobody.

Furthermore,

the rumors flew around
in Hongkew constantly.

One was,

that the Nazis had
sent a Colonel Meisinger,

also called the "Butcher of Warsaw"
Gestapo agent,

to negotiate with
the Japanese ...

to murder all
25.000 Jews in Shanghai.

That would be 18,000
of us, 1,000 Polish Jews,

4,000 or so Russian Jews and ...

some 500 Iraqi Jews, Baghdadi Jews.

[Japanese military music]

January 17, 1942

Subject: Emergency Measures
for Jewish People.

From:
Japanese Foreign Minister Togo.

Since Germany has deprived the
Jewish people overseas ...

of their nationality,

German Jews will hereafter be
treated as denationalized Jews.

Those who are or will
be made use of on our part ...

will be treated in a friendly way.

The rest of them will be placed
under strict surveillance ...

so that any hostile activity
may be eliminated or suppressed.

At 14 years, it was in my mind,

that I can be much more
productive in trying ...

to earn some money,
rather than to go to school ...

and bring home nothing.

So I worked by mostly
day labor.

That is throughout the time
that the war was on.

I was out each morning
looking for work.

And that work
that was available ...

underbidding coolie wages
was "Kohlendrehen",

which means turning ...

a wheel that would
grind sand and coal dust ...

and then to be mixed to be
made into charcoal briquettes.

Or, since there was no
electrical power ...

to drive machinery ...

they would build
transmissions turned by hand.

Some were rods ...

which you would
pedal like a bicycle.

And there might be
15 or 20 men ...

on one row doing this ...

and again creating power
to power some machinery.

[Chinese folk singing, sound of streets]

At the end of the day
there was a good chance ...

that Inflation
throughout just one day ...

had changed the value of
what we were paid that evening.

But somehow it always
was enough ...

to buy us a sweet potato which
the vendors on the street were selling,

or a bowl of noodle soup,

and eat up what
we had earned that day.

Then go back to camp and
then crawl into our straw sack.

[sounds of people talking and eating]

[tense music]

February 18, 1943

The Imperial Japanese Army
and Navy authorities,

in a joint proclamation
issued today, announced ...

the restriction of
residences and places of businesses ...

of stateless refugees
in Shanghai ...

to a designated area
as from May 18.

By "stateless refugees" are meant
those European refugees ...

who have arrived in Shanghai
since January 1, 1937.

[tense music]

All those middle
European refugees ...

who had arrived after 1937,

which was cleverly done the
word "Jew" was never mentioned,

had to move into Hongkew.

For instance,
my uncle's cafe.

Then he was forced to sell at
very cheap prices their businesses,

similar to what happened
in Germany, for instance ...

to the Jews who had
to give it away when they were arisiert ...

for a fraction
of the actual value.

[tense music]

That was the watershed.
We had to move into the ghetto ...

and that was terrible.

The only requirement ...

that my mother had
was that it would have a WC,

a real flush toilet,
not buckets.

And, so, the only
thing we could find ...

was one little room
for the three of us.

For my father of course
that was terrible.

He had to close is office
in the city.

And then he still went on
and kept books ...

for refugee businesses
in the ghetto.

Sometimes he got paid and
sometimes he got paid in goods.

And I taught English
to some people ...

in exchange for food,

and that was
basically it.

[solemn music, street sounds]

The Japanese established the borders
of the so-called ghetto,

where they very cleverly did not
put the Japanese soldier,

maybe in the beginning a few.

But a refugees civil patrol
was started,

a militia,
called "Pao Chia".

We were forced by law to do
"Pao Chia" duty ...

at the border where if you came through
I asked: "May I see your passport?"

They issued passports to go
to the Settlement or theFrench Concession.

[solemn music]

Ghoya was the person ...

that called himself
"King of the Jews".

What it amounted to is
he was of the Japanese group ...

which administered ...

or supervised
all refugees.

If you wanted out of the district
you needed a special pass ...

which in turn he in
his office administered.

And this little guy was about ...

4 feet 8/10 inches tall ...

and felt his power.

And he really abused his power
in many different ways.

He would jump
on his desk ...

and slap the daylights
out of a person ...

simply for
saying a wrong word.

My father and I stood
in line one day ...

waiting to go to his office.
He wasn't there yet.

And word comes down
very quickly, he's coming.

Well, he came
and walked by us.

For some reason. My father
must have either made the wrong move.

I still to this day don't know why,
but he stopped in front of my father.

My father wore
very thick glasses.

And he made my father
bend down and ...

beat him in the face.

Knocked his glasses off
and broke them.

And that day,

I stood there and swore the day will come
where I'll get even with him.

[sorrowful music]

From The International Committee
of the Red Cross:

June 15, 1943

With reference to the situation of
the civilian population in Shanghai,

the worst distress exists
undoubtedly ...

amongst the German-Jewish
immigrants,

of whom at least 6,000 are on the
point of starvation ...

and about 9,000 more are
not far better off.

For the moment the Jewish
Committee has still some of the ...

3,000 bags of flour
left which was donated last July,

but even that will be exhausted
by the end of next month.

The fact that during the recent
first cold spell ...

534 dead bodies were picked up
in the streets after one night ...

may give you an indication of the
extent of the misery ...

which prevails amongst the poorer
classes of the Chinese population.

[sorrowful music]

Food was, at that point,
becoming very scarce.

We had to go to the market every day
and we ate whatever we had.

But then my mother got ill,

and got Bacilary Dysentery and ...

died within 3 days, because
we didn't have any medication.

After this it fell to me ...

to do all of this.

That was kind of a shock ...

to find out
how to cook,

to take care of the house,
whatever there was,

to take care of my father who was ...

getting more and more
despondent, being a ...

fairly young widower.

And the situation for me
personally became worse,

much worse.

[mournful music]

[mournful music, footsteps]

[mournful music, shoveling dirt]

Just about midway
through the war ...

conditions were so that ...

the clothes you had
either brought or acquired ...

in the meantime gave out ...

and no money to buy
anything else.

So that even though
in the wintertime ...

it would come down to zero
or below,

you had
no warm clothes ...

and you might,
I might have worn a T-shirt,

a pair of shorts, no socks.

In place of shoes ...

I would whittle or cut
out of a piece of wood ...

I would find,
the shape of a sole.

Put a strap
across the front part ...

and what might be
described as a slipper ...

use that for shoes.
They didn't last very long.

Either the darn strap
came off every 15 minutes,

or the wood would be too soft ...

and be used up in nothing flat.

But all this came much after
we got actually in so low,

that we sold every
single thing we owned.

[mournful music]

[mournful music,
sounds of people, street sounds]

[sounds of people, street sounds]

People's nerves
were on edge.

Everybody seemed to be screaming.

There were lots of family fights ...

among the families in the ghetto.

And, of course, you heard
everybody else's fight,

along with all other noises -

the Chinese noise,

the Mahjong-tiles.

What I remember most about
Shanghai in that time ...

is there was never silence.

There wasn't ever a moment
where it was silent.

[Japanese military singing]

That was the time ...

when the Japanese ...

advanced in the Pacific ...

and the Allies were retreating.

We had radio news,
local news.

We could get news from the Soviet Union,
but we didn't trust it.

We had through underground
channels access to short wave.

So even that news
was not very good,

that the Allies were retreating.

We couldn't even begin to imagine
what would happen ...

if the Japanese would win.

we didn't even dare
to think about it.

To describe the mood,
it was almost near desperation.

It was getting worse and worse ...

as time progressed ...

between 1943, 44.

And then
after Illo's mother had passed away,

we decided,

why don't we get married.

It looked to us as to
some of the other young adults,

that we might not
survive the war.

We might not survive the ghetto.

So we got married.

A very good friend
of my mother-in-law's ...

was a Viennese dress designer
and she offered,

if we would find her some fabric,
to make me a real wedding gown.

My mother had brought
some white curtains ...

from Germany
and they didn't fit any windows,

so they were lying there.

And she used that.
And I had my mother's veil,

so we had a very elegant wedding.

I asked my father
as a wedding present ...

to buy me enough hot water
from the hot water dealer ...

to have a warm bath
for the first time in years.

Well, it was so wonderful to luxuriate ...

that I was almost late
for my own wedding.

They had to pound on the bathroom
door to get me out of there.

I moved into her room,
with whom she had lived previously ...

with her father and her mother.
And her father moved out.

And this room was just around the corner
from the bakery where I worked.

So at least I had something.

I earned a little money ...

and I got two breads per day.

That was my ...

That was my pay.

We had a very good
friend who was a pianist,

and we used to go
to their room at night.

There wasn't enough money
for lights or candles,

but we were sitting in the dark
and he'd play in the dark.

There were lots of things
you could do.

[airplane sounds]

We rejoiced when we ...

heard the American bombers
in the distance,

when they were starting
to attack in Shanghai surroundings.

And when they finally
attacked the Shanghai wharves,

I stood out on the window sill,

because they were very often
low-level attacks.

And once I could even
see the cockpit ...

and I cheered them on.

Until 17th of July 1945.

[frantic violin music]

The bombers came over the ghetto ...

I climbed out of the window again,
and we got hit.

And I decided
to go back to the bakery.

Well, there was nothing left.

The whole lane was destroyed.

I don't know
how many hundreds of Chinese ...

lived in that lane
and were killed.

Not a single baker survived.

We heard we had become
a secondary target ...

because the Japanese
had a munition dump.

They also had a
communication transmitter ...

in our ghetto.

[frantic violin music, fire brigade sounds]

About 38 or 39
of our refugee people died,

and hundreds, 5 or 6 hundred Chinese,

and it was pretty bad,

it was the highest time,

because if things got worse I don't know
what would have happened.

But things were already
pretty bad ...

in the summer of '45.

[frantic violin and cello music]

In the daily paper
we found a little notice ...

that an atomic bomb ...

was dropped on Hiroshima.

What's an atomic bomb?
We had no idea what it was,

but, we felt that is must
be pretty good if they're ...

dropping some sort of bombs
on Japan.

so the tide
must have turned.

And, then, of course,
one day the Japanese ...

guards, or whatever you call them,
army, they were gone.

And then we heard that, actually,

there's going to be peace,

which was just,
almost unbelievable.

[parade sounds, Chinese 1940s pop song]

We ran around and tore down ...

the border signs,
the border of the ghetto.

We ran to the city.
And then the ...

first American troops arrived.

They had been in the
Alusians for two years.

They hadn't seen a woman
for two years.

So you can imagine
what went on in Shanghai.

I got friendly with
some Navy officers ...

and that was our ...

greatest thing
to go to these Officers Clubs,

being invited and
eating decent food.

Well, it was wonderful.

[Chinese 1940s pop song,
celebration sounds]

[tense bass music]

The Japanese soldiers
registered for repatriation.

We found out
where that was,

and two other friends of mine
and myself ...

decided we were
going to try and find him.

And by the third day,
sure enough, he came.

He knew immediately
what we intended to do.

And what we intended to do
was truly kill the man.

We marched him back to our camp
and to our surprise ...

we entered and
the "Heimpolizei",

the camp police quote unquote ...

were furious.

People gathered and said,
this is undignified for us ...

to bring the man in there
for whatever reason.

And immediately made us turn
around and take him back out.

We went out in the street with him
and took him over in the field,

in a bombed out field,

and were going to kill him.

We knocked him around
quite seriously.

He would fall down
and stand up again,

come to attention and look
you straight in the face ...

without any expression
whatsoever on his face.

And when you face a person
like that,

even thought he may be
your worst enemy or you're,

the type of person that
you just want to kill,

you can't.
I can't. We couldn't.

Perhaps if I had a gun,

I might have at the beginning
that we had him.

But we had a knife.
That's all we had.

And we simply turned him loose.

To this day, I asks myself,

what takes place in
a person's mind ...

after all the hate
I had for the man,

after all the things
I wanted to do to him.

And then having the opportunity to do
it and not being able to do it.

And yet, today in the back of
my mind I'm so glad I didn't.

I'm so glad I didn't.

To kill a human being is
not the thing to do even ...

if you hate him.

[tense string music]

We didn't know about the Holocaust,

until on some
buildings,

sheets of paper was printed,
names appeared ...

and everybody started looking
and trying to find names of relatives.

And then the news finally
filtered out,

but we didn't really have
the full extent for a while ...

what had happened.
We didn't know about Auschwitz.

We knew
there were some camps,

where Jews were killed.

And I started
searching for my father,

my sister, of course,
never found out to this day ...

what had happened to them.

After the war, I got
a letter from my mother, it was really ...

devastating, in which
she related that she was ...

abandoned by two of her best friends.

She was very unhappy and started
philosophizing ...

about the fate of the Jews
over all the last 2000 years and ...

nobody will come to
our help. She cannot understand ...

that the British and Americans
would not do anything to help,

and people disappeared and
were killed and tortured.

I never realized
that it was that bad.

I was fully confident
that she would survive.

The thought that
my mother would perish ...

and wind up in Auschwitz,
it never occurred to me.

First of all, I didn't know
about these camps.

I was after all a newspaper man.
I knew more than most people.

But the rumors were always flying around.

I know the Jews were
transported to the East,

that the conditions
got worse and worse.

But I had no idea
that they went so far as ...

to have factories where they
would burn them and kill them ...

by the carloads and by the millions.

That, I had no idea.

[sounds of loading boxes,
melancholic piano music]

Shanghai Journal,
January 20, 1946

A. J. Storfer

Shanghai has not
yet forgotten him.

He came out
with the "Gelbe Post" ...

and won,
with one stroke, everyone for him,

who in that time of dying culture,

was seeking the sun of
spiritual cheer,

the shimmer
of the sharpened word,

the warmth of a deep soul.

One week before the outbreak of
the Pacific War he traveled away.

Now we come to learn of
his early death.

I came to know him
in the year 1920 ...

at the Viennese Cafe Central,
at that time the literary cafe.

We sailed together to Shanghai ...

after he lived for the last 2 months ...

with me in my Viennese room.

Brother, how do you like it
on the other side?

Do you have a room with a desk ...

and a table lamp reserved for me?

La France

[big band music]

The British fleet
came into the harbor.

The American 7th Fleet came in,

bringing hundreds and hundreds of GIs in.

And the word came down,

that the armed services will
hire civilians for certain jobs.

The money was excellent.

We made as much as
170 US-Dollar a month,

which, when we exchanged it,
was buckets full of money.

And things just happened so quickly ...

that we spent the money
as fast and foolishly ...

as it came in.

I had suits made tailor-made,
shoes made custom,

shirts tailor made.

There was nothing that I
could not buy and did.

[big band music, sounds of people]

[Chinese-inflected big band music]

My dear friends,

In these times we went through
the hardest years of our lives,

which despite everything,
I would not have wanted to miss.

As international and interesting
as life has been in China,

it will be nowhere in
the world again.

Now the wildest inflation
in the country rules,

along with a certain hatred
for foreigners.

China is ready for Communism
and I fear very much ...

that they will win the upper hand.

The educated Chinese regret that
everything has come to this point.

The foreigners are, for the most
part, leaving their country ...

and the Chinese know
exactly how much ...

they need
them for business.

We thought when we came
to China that we could teach ...

business skills to the Chinese,

but in reality we have
learned from them.

Yours, Annie Witting

[Chinese-inflected big band music]

Unfortunately, in retrospect ...

the colonial life
had a lot of attractions.

But it wasn't to be that way,

because Mao Tse-tung came
and we had made up our minds ...

to go to the United States if we
could get our papers,

and the quota came through
and we got our papers,

and there was no question
that we would leave.

[melodic violin and cello]

Finally we got word that ...

we would be on a General Gordon,
American Troop Transport.

And word got around ...

very fast, not that Ernest and Illo ...

are going to America:

"Illo and Ernie are going home".

And that's the way we felt
about it. We are going home.

[melodic violin and cello]

Rumors came out
that the occupation forces ...

will soon be withdrawn ...

and I figured that it's time
to emigrate ...

and got a visa, and went
to the United States.

I grew up, so to speak,
in hard knocks,

was in no position to go
to school and catch up.

And the more I look at it
today,

the more I say to myself:
I would have possibly ...

been able to take much
much more.

The bad ...

is buried by the good.

I became a very
cosmopolitan person.

You were not
considered a Jew.

You were German,
French, Italian.

And they all did business
together, lived together.

It was hard to believe
that how we got there ...

and we, at the end of the world,

and to an area totally
unknown and foreign to us.

And Shanghai will never
cease to be a memory of

amazement that there
was such a place.

[melodic violin and cello, sounds of ships]

May 1947

All my dear friends,

Is this all a dream or
indeed reality?

It has been four days since we have been
underway and indeed on the high sea,

withdrawing more and more
from China,

for our new home,
Australia.

Around us the endless sea.

We see flying fish and sometimes
even sharks.

The sea is steel blue,

the top of the waves
shine brilliantly.

One comes to feel again
like a human being,

and no longer a refugee.

Yours, Annie Witting

[melodic violin and cello]

[Chinese 1930s pop song]

Untertitel: TITRA-Wien