With escalating pressure on the German Jewish community throughout the 1930s - deprivation of civil rights, boycotting of Jewish-owned businesses, and physical violence - many Jews opted to emigrate. However, the unwillingness of most countries to open their doors to Jewish refugees made it difficult for many to find sanctuary. The U.S. held fast to strict immigration quotas, and the European and British Commonwealth countries were reluctant to absorb more refugees. The crisis spurred Roosevelt to call for the Evian Conference in 1938; 32nations participated but no viable solution emerged. While immigration remained steady even after the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and their sequels, the crisis reached a head in November 1938 with the Kristallnacht pogrom: the burning of synagogues, the seizure of Jewish property, and physical violence toward Jews. In consequence, there would be a dramatic increase in the number of Jews seeking visas.
Increasing numbers of Jews found that Japanese-occupied Shanghai was an open port: no visas or passports were required to gain entry. Following Kristallnacht, an explosion in the number of German and Austrian Jews and their families came to Shanghai. Losing most of their assets to the Reich (the requirement to pay an escalating emigration tax, and restrictions on the amount of money that could be transferred from German banks) as stateless refugees in Japanese-occupied Shanghai they were compelled to live in the “Designated Area for Stateless Refugees,” a square mile in the Hongkew district, and a far cry from the life they had left behind. Most were unable to afford the more luxurious centers of Shanghai. Having arrived, the refugees had to learn how to manage a mélange of languages, ethnic traditions, as well as challenges in their own community of refugees: differences in levels of education, socioeconomic status, degrees of religious observance, or work and business opportunities. Some were able to open up small businesses or utilize trades or professions in which they had been previously employed: teaching, medicine, or architecture. Others were able to open or find employment in cafes or restaurants, bakeries, or other shops. Many had difficulty finding employment, and the Committee for Assistance of European Jewish Refugees turned to the Joint (AJDC) for help, but financial assistance was meager in light of the overwhelming numbers of refugees after 1939. Soup kitchens and group homes were created, many refugees forced to sleep in the same room. They were, however, able to receive some relief to pay for the cost of housing. After World War II most of the refugees were able to emigrate to the United States, Australia and Great Britain.
Please consult the following items for other examples of the experience of stateless Jewish refugees: 2022.1.37, 2022.1.38a-e, 2022.1.39, 2022.1.59, 2023.1.10.
Please consult the curated collection “Aid and Rescue: Righteous Diplomats and Others” for further examples.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Passport of Josef Heidenstein and the Polish Action
2022.1.59
Blue booklet with bird with crown in circle on cover, includes photograph on pages 3 and 9 of 40 pages, no stamps on pages 24-40.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Mr. Heidenstein’s German passport documents the events surrounding the Polenaktion. His passport was issued in Berlin in 1936. He was deported by the police to Poland on October 28, 1938 (p. 9). He would be in a refugee “camp” on the Polish and German border in Nowy Tomysi , a town just a few miles from the Grynszpans in Zbaszyn. Poles applied the Ministry of Interior stamp for the special committee for those deported from Germany (p. 7), as well as border stamps indicating his deportation.
Mr. Heidenstein survived, travelling in 1939 via Belgium and Holland for the U.K. His passport was extended in London in 1940.
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Postcard from Austrian Ship Redirected to German Refugee in Shanghai, China
2019.2.227
Postcard with one red stamp and one brown stamp in upper right corner, “17 July 1939” stamped inside box marked with large “R” in green ink, addressed “Lloyd Triestino für Passa.”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard sent from Vienna to Lloyd Triestino Shipping Line (cachet) for a Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi Germany on his way to the Shanghai Jewish Quarter in the Hongkew District aboard the S.S. Victoria. This cover was first posted to Port Said, and then redirected to Shanghai. On this voyage were 300 German Jews fleeing to China, among the almost 20,000 Jewish refugees who fled to Japanese controlled Shanghai from Europe. Shanghai was an open port, no visas or passports were required, and was one of the only places in the world where Jews could find refuge from the Nazis. Many refugees fled after Kristallnacht - more than 12,000 in 1939 alone - through the Lloyd Triestino Line.
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Rare Late-Issue "Nansen" Passport with Visa Signed by Aristides de Sousa Mendes for Woman Fleeing France for Safety
2023.1.10
‘FRANCE PASSEPORT NANSEN’ on cover; orange with green stripes at top left and lower right of cover; photograph on page 3; pages 16-17 blank; accordion fold
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Valentine Kurow was a 34-year-old Jewish woman originally from the seaport town of Odessa in Russia. She had fled Russia with her mother just after the Revolution in 1917 and the ensuing civil war. She was apparently an opera singer from information obtained on a Brussels, Belgium work permit she had completed in 1939. She cited impresario Jean van Glabbeke of the Théatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels where in 1939 she may have sung in the opera Carmen. In any case, she found herself in Bordeaux, France just ahead of the German invasion on May 10, 1940, a stateless immigrant along with thousands of Jews fleeing south attempting to escape the advancing Nazi juggernaut. On June 5, 1940, diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Consul General in the Portuguese Legation in France, signed a Portuguese visa for her, and Valentine was able to cross into Portugal and sail from Lisbon to the United States on the Exeter on July 18, 1940.
This story is all the more remarkable because de Sousa Mendes himself was at this time undergoing a crisis of conscience. Rabbi Chaim Kruger, a Belgian refugee, had prevailed upon de Sousa Mendes, a devout Catholic, to issue visas for all Jewish refugees. After an initial demurral, and a firm refusal on the part of the Rabbi to accept visas for his own family unless all Jews were served, de Sousa Mendes capitulated and, “standing with God against man,” defied Salazar and the notorious “Circular 14” and began issuing lifesaving visas to all refugees. For his sustained defiance of his orders and his actions on behalf of the beleaguered Jews, de Sousa Mendes would be dismissed from service by Salazar and denied retirement benefits for his large family. (See 2022.1.19ab)
The passport itself is a French “Nansen” passport, issued to Ms. Kurow in Paris, France on August 22, 1939, and numbered 27.699. Her photograph is on page 3. Nansen passports were first issued in 1922 by the League of Nations to manage the staggering refugee crisis after World War I. In the wake of that war, governments were upended, national boundaries redrawn with some nations absorbed by other nations, thus creating enormous chaos for stateless refugees trapped in the untenable situation of trying to find sanctuary in countries where they did not fear persecution but lacked the requisite identity documents and proof of nationality to cross borders legally. Many no longer had passports, making international travel virtually impossible. The first Nansen passport was a recognition of the need on the part of both the International Red Cross and the League of Nations to create identity certificates for refugees from the civil war following the Russian Revolution, with the new government of the Soviet Union revoking the citizenship of Russians living abroad, and with the refusal of many former citizens to return. Fridtjof Nansen convened the first conference on this crisis to provide stateless refugees with international protection by way of a travel and identity instrument that gave them an identity and legitimacy. The so-called Nansen passport would in time be recognized by fifty governments.
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From Adolf Israel Weisz to Hans Weisz in Shanghai
2014.1.83
Front: An envelope with a typewritten address to Hans Weisz with blue postage stamp, and red censor markings. Back: Typewritten return address with Nazi censor tape and hand stamp. Further information: This envelope contained information on the Nuremburg Laws to be sent from Adolf "Israel" Weizs in Vienna to Hand Weisz in Shanghai's Jewish Ghetto.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
German antisemitic Nuremberg laws cover sent by Adolf "Israel" Weisz in Vienna to Hans Weisz in the Jewish ghetto in Shanghai, China December 3, 1940 via Moscow. Censored with B-20 and B-54 Japanese censor.
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Postcard from Arthur Cohn in Shanghai to Dr. Siegfried Walter in Gleiwitz, Germany
2015.2.2
Front: Typewritten message. Back: 'Carte Postale - Chine.' Includes orange Chinese characters, and a printed stamp in orange on upper right corner showing a man with a black circular Shanghai handstamp over it. In upper left are two pasted stamps: one blue, and one green, each depicting a man with Chinese characters in the upper corners. Another black circular Shanghai handstamp over them. Beneath is a typewritten message. Below the message is a pencil signature. Return address typed horizontally in middle, with red Nazi eagle stamp over it.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
“Dear Doctor, A few days ago, I received your letter of February 1st of this year, which I have already confirmed to my brother-in-law in Beuthen these days. After several days of effort, I am now able to see your file at Hicem here. The last one available is a letter from Hicem to the Reich Association dated December 11, 1939. (Case 1154/4523) telling you that they can't do anything for you and that you should contact friends about work permits. I assume that this prompted your letter of 2/1/40. I am now trying to use my connections here to get you an employment contract, but unfortunately, I must tell you right now that this is very difficult…”
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Immigration Record for Hinde Gottesfeld, a Jewish Refugee in Shanghai, China
2014.1.445
Tan document titled, "Directory of Jewish Refugees." Includes writing in Chinese and English and a pasted black and white photograph of a woman.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A page from the Directory of Jewish Refugees, stamped by the local Committee for the Assistance of European Jewish Refugees in Shanghai, formed in 1938 by prominent local Jews with some assistance from the "Joint" in New York. Hinde Gottesfeld, a forty-nine-year-old German housekeeper of German nationality, left for Shanghai in 1938 from Vienna. Nazi policy encouraged Jewish emigration from Germany, but other countries were either limiting or denying entry to Jews.
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Postcard from Father in Shanghai to Son in Bridgeport, Connecticut
2020.1.11
Postcard with red printed text in French and Chinese at top alongside two red stamps. American address handwritten in blue ink. Message handwritten on opposite side in blue ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
One of the few places in the world where Jews could seek refuge from the Nazi onslaught was Shanghai, China. Shanghai was an open port, and no visas or passports were required. Mr. Ehrenberg was one of almost 20,000 Jews who lived in the Shanghai ghetto. A mass exodus occurred after Kristallnacht in 1938: more than 12,000 Jewish refugees fled Germany and Austria.
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Postcard from Hermann Schaffraiuski in Shanghai Ghetto to Atuleh, Palestine
2014.1.153
Front: 'Cart Postale - Chine.' Includes several censorship markings, mailing and return addresses, and hand stamps, as well as an orange postal stamp in the upper-right corner. Back: A letter written in ink, which fills the entirety of the page.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Cover with additional postage that has fallen off from the Jewish ghetto in Shanghai, China to Atuleh, Palestine. With censorship markings. Postmarked 1941. Sender is Hermann Schaffraiuski. Before and during WWII many Jews fleeing Nazi persecution took refuge in Shanghai, forming a ghetto.
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"Israel" Envelope to Shanghai
2012.1.286a
Green envelope with handwritten address to Hugo Caspary and four stamps. Includes a handwritten return address on back flap.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A law enacted August 17, 1938 required Jews with non-Jewish forenames to assume the name "Sara" if a woman and "Israel" if a man. This law became effective January 1, 1939. These names were to be used on all correspondence -- private or official -- including return addresses on mail. This is an "Israel" envelope with Berlin censor tape, addressed to Shanghai, China.
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“Israel” Envelope to Shanghai from Vienna via Siberia
2012.1.301
Tan postcard with red printed postcard lines. Handwritten address to Robert Lederer and return address from Max Israel Tausky. Includes handwritten message in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A law enacted August 17, 1938 required Jews with non-Jewish forenames to assume the name "Sara" if a woman and "Israel" if a man. This law became effective January 1, 1939. These names were to be used on all correspondence -- private or official -- including return addresses on mail. This is an "Israel" postcard sent from Max "Israel" Tausky in Vienna to Robert Lederer in the Hongkew district of the Shanghai Ghetto via Siberia. Note the AB censor marker.
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Safe-Conduct Pass for Jewish Mother and Child Caught in Vichy, France
2022.1.39
Form bordered in red with two diagonal red stripes through page; two photographs and multiple stamps on front and back
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Vichy France travel document for Ryfka and Emile Spira, a Jewish mother and her 11-year-old son, both of Polish origin who found themselves in Vichy, France, during the occupation, thankfully avoiding the infamous January 1943 systematic roundup of 2,000 Jews of Marseilles by the Germans in concert with the French Gendarmes, orchestrated by the collaborationist Vichy regime and Pierre Laval. The Jews in this roundup were sent to the internment camp at Drancy and from there deported to Auschwitz. The Spiras were given a Cuban visa at Marseilles by Marino Estrada, Consul of Cuba in Marseilles (at the same time Hiram Bingham IV was Vice-Consul of the United States in Marseilles). They traveled to Seville, Spain and boarded a ship for Cuba where they were able to obtain an entry visa issued by George R. Hukill to reach New York.
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Affidavit for Stateless Refugee Adele Bertha Levy
2022.1.37
‘THE UNITED STATES HIGH COMMISSIONER’ is typewritten at the top center of the document, photograph is stapled at bottom left quadrant with signature spanning from paper to photo to paper.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Throughout the 1930s and World War II, the United States government under the Roosevelt Administration and other Western Nations closed their doors to Jewish refugees fleeing Europe. Jewish flight to Shanghai is well-known, a city which did not require entry visas until 1939. Less familiar is the asylum provided by the government of the Philippines to more than 1,300 Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, and the support offered by its president Manuel Quezon, who asked all Filipinos to welcome them and help with assistance. A refugee committee was established and American Jewish organizations such as the Joint Distribution Committee helped with funding. Contributions were also received from relatives of the refugees to increase the prospect of refugees being admitted. Indeed, the process of admission was selective and certain criteria had to be met in terms of desirable professions that would benefit Filipinos. The process of admission was selective. By the end of the war many surviving refugees would migrate to the U.S.
Adele Bertha Levy was a 55-year-old German Jewish woman, widowed, from Hanover who fled Nazi Germany and found refuge in the Philippines. She was a resident of Manila.
She was seeking to go to the United States to be with her children in California. Stateless and without a passport, she received in Manila an “Affidavit in Lieu of a Passport '' on October 27, 1941 by a passport agent in Manila. Her photograph is on the Affidavit along with personal characteristics. The visa (verso) - No.1150 - was issued on November 10, 1941, under a statute related to quotas on immigrants. She was able to leave Manila November 25, on the SS President Coolidge with a brief stop in Hawaii on the 17th of December - just 10 days after Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. The Japanese invaded the Philippines on December 8th. She reached the US (San Francisco) on December 30, 1941.
[Related item: 2022.1.38a-e]
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Envelope from Jewish Refugee in Shanghai, China to Haifa, Palestine
2014.1.49
White envelope with red/white/blue borders. "AIR-MAIL" stamp, address, stamps. Back: Handwritten information, Chinese stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: From refugee community of Jews living in Shanghai.
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Third Reich Cover to Dr. Pappenheimer in Shanghai from Isaak Gottleib
2012.1.299
Tan envelope with typewritten address to Mr. & Mrs. D. Pappenheimer. Includes handwritten address on back flap from Mr. Isaak Gottlieb.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: This envelope to Dr. Pappenheimer traveled through Siberia to reach its destination in Shanghai where Jews were given safe haven. Nazi censor markings.
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Documents Related to Stateless Refugee Adele Bertha Levy
2022.1.38a-e
A: Typewritten letter from Donal R. Perry at Immigration and Naturalization Service dated August 12, 1942; B: card from SS President Coolidge; C: Card from American President Lines with blue Honolulu and San Francisco handstamps; D: envelope from American President Lines with “ROUND-WORLD SERVICE” in red text near top center; E: Alien Tax Receipt, pink, from American PResident Lines
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Throughout the 1930s and World War II, the United States government under the Roosevelt Administration and other Western Nations closed their doors to Jewish refugees fleeing Europe. Jewish flight to Shanghai is well-known, a city which did not require entry visas until 1939. Less familiar is the asylum provided by the government of the Philippines to more than 1,300 Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, and the support offered by its president Manuel Quezon, who asked all Filipinos to welcome them and help with assistance. A refugee committee was established and American Jewish organizations such as the Joint Distribution Committee helped with funding. Contributions were also received from relatives of the refugees to increase the prospect of refugees being admitted. Indeed, the process of admission was selective and certain criteria had to be met in terms of desirable professions that would benefit Filipinos. The process of admission was selective. By the end of the war many surviving refugees would migrate to the U.S.
Adele Bertha Levy was a 55-year-old German Jewish woman, widowed, from Hanover who fled Nazi Germany and found refuge in the Philippines. She was a resident of Manila.
She was seeking to go to the United States to be with her children in California. Stateless and without a passport, she received in Manila an “Affidavit in Lieu of a Passport '' on October 27, 1941 by a passport agent in Manila. Her photograph is on the Affidavit along with personal characteristics. The visa (verso) - No.1150 - was issued on November 10, 1941, under a statute related to quotas on immigrants. She was able to leave Manila November 25, on the SS President Coolidge with a brief stop in Hawaii on the 17th of December - just 10 days after Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. The Japanese invaded the Philippines on December 8th. She reached the US (San Francisco) on December 30, 1941.
[Related item: 2022.1.37]