Ticket to Shanghai
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The Long Journey to Shanghai
Our family went all together to Shanghai. On the boat was my immediate
family and also my grandfather, Solomon Gotfried, and his wife Sala.
On the boat with us was my mother’s sister with her husband,
the Fensters, my Dad’s sister, Frieda Feiger, and her husband,
Leo Feiger, and their children Fred (Fritz), and Max, as well as
my Dad’s other sister, Sabine Weiss, and her husband Norbert
from Vienna, and their two children, Lizzy Weiss and Kurt. There
were even some distant relatives that I met for the first time.
We all made the passage together.
There were some relatives left behind in Vienna, but they weren’t
close relations. All of our close relatives came to Shanghai. The
others held on to their possessions. They didn’t think anything
would happen. Everything was taken away from them and they all perished.
We went first to Italy by train, and then to the boat. I remember
the train ride, and also all the other people who were going to
Shanghai. The mood was unhappy but relieved that we were leaving.
The real sigh of relief came when we crossed the border from Austria
into Italy.
My husband’s family, the Krauses, came to Shanghai in 1939
as well, but we didn’t meet until later in Shanghai. He was
in engineering school in Austria, but hadn’t finished his
studies yet. He came to Shanghai with his brother and sister-in-law,
both of whom were doctors. His father had passed away years before
but his mother came with them to Shanghai as well.
Our boat was full of Jewish people, mostly from Austria and a few
from Germany. We made music and sang on the ship and there were
social activities. We were seventy days on the boat, which became
like a home to us. We arrived in Shanghai on February 2, 1939.
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