Tauber Holocaust Library

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Biographical/Historical note

Scope and Contents note

Administrative Information

Related Materials

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Hans Arons Shanghai photographs

Hans Arons documents

Summary Information

Repository

Tauber Holocaust Library

Creator – Author

Arons, Hans J., 1914-1997

Title

Hans Arons papers

ID

1988.2035

Date

1939-1949

Extent

0.1 Linear feet

Language

Multiple languages

Mixed materials [Folder]

Archives Box 18

Abstract

The Hans Arons collection is comprised of photographs depiciting his life and activities in the Jewish ghetto in Shanghai, China from 1939-1945, as well his refugee and identification documents from Shanghai.

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Biographical/Historical note

Hans Arons was born in 1914 in Hanover (Hannover), Germany. He was an only child. In 1918, his mother died, and he went to live with his paternal grandparents in northern Germany. Mr. Arons was schooled in horticulture, in Hanover, and graduated in 1934 as a gardener.

Because of prohibitions against Jews in Germany, it became increasingly difficult for Mr. Arons to find work. He was employed on a farm near Berlin, where the landowner, a Catholic, was sympathetic to Jews. In December 1936, all Jews were ordered off the farm. Mr. Arons was transported to Buchenwald and later to Sachsenhausen. In December 1938, he was released from Sachsenhausen and returned to Berlin. His stepmother had successfully negotiated with the Gestapo office in Berlin for his release and had obtained boat tickets for Mr. Arons to go to Shanghai, China, where he arrived in January 1939. For the next eight years, he lived in the Ward Road Camp for stateless refugees.

In November 1947, Mr. Arons immigrated to San Francisco. He moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico for work, where, in 1948, he joined the US Army. After basic training, he was stationed in Korea, Hawaii, and the Presidio in San Francisco. In San Francisco, he met and married his wife, also a former Berliner. He was discharged from the military in the early 1950’s, and settled in San Francisco. Mr. Arons died in 1997.

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Scope and Contents note

The collection documents the experiences of a German Jewish man, Hans Arons, who fled Berlin for the safety of Shanghai, China in 1939. Shanghai was one of the few places in the world at that time that did not require visas, and thousands of German and Austrian Jews spent the war years in the ghetto of Hong Kew in Shanghai.

The collection comprises photographs and documents. Photographs depict individuals and gatherings in Shanghai, China and provide insight into social and cultural conditions there. The documents include refugee and identification cards.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Tauber Holocaust Library

Conditions Governing Access note

There are no restrictions to access for this collection.

Conditions Governing Use note

There are no restrictions to use for this collection.

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Related Materials

Related Archival Materials note

See also Hans Arons oral history interviews – OHP.5160.

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Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

• Buchenwald (Concentration camp).
• Sachsenhausen (Concentration Camp).

Genre(s)

• Immigration records — China — Shanghai
• Photographs — China — Shanghai

Geographic Name(s)

• Shanghai (China) — Social conditions — 20th century — Photographs

Personal Name(s)

• Arons, Hans J., 1914-1997

Subject(s)

• Holocaust survivors — United States
• Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) — Personal narratives
• Jewish ghettos — China — Shanghai — Photographs
• Jewish refugees — China — Shanghai
• Jews — China — Shanghai — Photographs
• World War, 1939-1945 — China — Shanghai

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Collection Inventory

Hans Arons Shanghai photographs 1939-1949				Box Archives Box 18
1. Unidentified group of 7 people, undated
2. Unidentified group of young men, undated
3. Four men in bunk beds, undated
4. Two story building in Shanghai, undated
5. Group of men with flags, standing behind Hebrew banner, 1945 January 14 General note Handwritten list of names of individuals in the photograph and marked as “Shanghai 14 I 1945.”
6. Group of men and women seated in meeting place with Jewish star on wall undated
7. Religious services, Shanghai undated General note Rear of photograph states: “Hospital room for the high holidays with Cantor Florsheim and male nurses.”
8. Group of men and women eating, seated outdoors undated
9. Men and women in dining hall undated
10. Unidentified man at dais with Israeli flags behind him undated General note A handwritten note in German, partially illegible, appears on the back of the photograph, with a signature Leo Gruenfeld.
11. Meeting of the zionist organization “B’rith Noir Zion” in Shanghai 1946-1947 General note List on rear of photograph of handwritten names of individuals in the photograph, with a “1946-1947, Shanghai.” Also a note that reads: “Zionist organization “B’rith Noir Zioni” Habonim – 1940-1947. “Poale Zion” Jewish Labor Party, 269 Kwenmind Road, 4710 Wayside, Hong Kew
12. Group of men and women in aprons undated General note Handwritten list on back of photograph with names of individuals in the photograph.
13. Group of men standing and seated undated
14. Building with smoke stacks, Shanghai undated
15. Several men in room with bunk beds undated
16. Camp and Kitchen Hospital, Shanghai undated General note The following note appears on the back of the photograph: “Shanghai 1939-1949, 138 Ward road, Camp & Kitchen, Hospital S.R., Hong Kew
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Hans Arons documents 1939-1949				Box Archives Box 18
Refugee identification card issued by the International Committee for Granting Relief to European Refugees, Shanghai, undated
Identification card, Shanghai undated
Jewish Refugee Centre identification card, Shanghai undated
Membership card, Judische Gemeinde Shanghai undated ]
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