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Seeking Ex-Shanghailanders
by Walter Silberstein
- As one of more than 20,000 European Jews who survived the Holocaust by making our way to Shanghai, China, thanks to our parents foresight, between1935 and 1939, I am deeply involved in trying to maintain this small part of our heritage through organizing reunions and finding ways to safe guard documents and other materials that may be useful to future researchers.
As soon as the war was over we again moved, scattering throughout the world, but primarily to the USA, Israel, Canada and Australia.
During the next 40 years most of us were far to busy getting educations, making a living and raising our own families to worry about the past. Then a number of us started to wonder what ever happened to some of the kids we went to school and played with while we were in Shanghai. The result of these musings were a number of successful reunions.
To each successive reunion people showed up we had not heard from before, giving a growing data base of ex-Shanghailanders. My data base now contains nearly 700 names, but there are many more times that number out there that Ido not have. Since my word of mouth system seems to have reached its end, I am trying to utilized the Internet communications system contacting any organization that might have some contact with individuals I am trying to find, to see if I can expand it beyond its present number. I am also tryingto find how many of us have e-mail addresses with the possibility of establishing at Shanghai network or Web page.
I therefore asked for your help in hopes that somebody in your organization knows of someone who spent any of the 1935-1948 years in Shanghai, or knows of anyone who fits that category, to contact me at my e-mail address:whs@mail.med.upenn.edu or writing to me at:
826A Lombard Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147.Any assistance would greatly appreciated.
Walter H. Silberstein
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