1939 Reisepass to Shanghai

[huddyhuddy]

Hi,

Thought of sharing this one with you. A Reisepass issued to a Jew in Berlin who used it to go to Shanghai. No visas since Shanghai was one of the few places that did not require a visa. Stops in Colombo and Hong Kong. The holder was in the "Shanghai Ghetto" until he immigrated to Israel in 1950, as stamped inside: An Israeli border stamp in a Nazi Germany issued passport, very interesting.

Neil.

[big ned]

Hi Neil,

Agreed an interesting document! I understand that the third reich did more business with China than any other country in the world during WW2, with your local knowledge can you confirm or expand on this claim?

Regards, Ned.

[huddyhuddy]

Hi Ned,

Thanks for the reply. Well, not an expert but both Germany and China kept ties during the war, even had experts on both sides traveling to and from. Even though Japan and Germany had strong pacts, Germany did not cut them ties off completely. Here are scans of another passport, German business man in Shanghai with his visas issued both in Berlin and Moscow, Manchuria...Also, a scan of a German book from their consulate in China around 1941...

Neil.

[OKW]

Very lucky man to get an exit from the Germany at that time, or very rich. Ironically a German passport would have brought a measure of protection from the Japanese once Shanghi was occupied. I thought that the TR did a lot of business with both the Swiss and Swedes, both being closer to hand and neither adverse to making a buck.

[huddyhuddy]

Well, I thought he might have been representing a large German firm or bank in Shanghai, but how to find this out? very very difficult.

[OKW]

I don't think that by 1939 anyone with a large J stamped on their docs would have been representing any German firm, bank or otherwise. That was a major plank of Nazi Germanys policy to resolving the 'Jewish Problem'. There being quotas for visas to get residency in another country mean't that those who wanted to flee were prevented from doing so, Britain and the U.S were fore most in refusing visas, and the west European countries weren't much better. Those who did manage to flee no further than western europe, poland or the balkans found themselves back under nazi control once hostilities kicked off properly. The nazis themselves were less than amused to end up with a bigger ' Jewish Problem' than they had started out with, a short step from there to the gas chambers. Hence a visa for Shanghi mean't life.

[huddyhuddy]

Thanks for the reply.

If one looks carefully, there are 2 sets of passports: both dating from 1939 but one issued to a Jew and the other to a non-Jew, and I was implying to the latter, thinking he might have been working for a German firm or bank.

Neil.

[huddyhuddy]

Hi,

Well, finally I have an idea on what he was doing in Shanghai from 1924 to 1949:

Froessel, O. und Frau Friederike, Kaufmann, Deutsche Farben Handelsgesellschaft, Waibel & Co., 261 Szechuen Road, P.O. Box 1115, Shanghai (Broadway Mansions).
Ostensibly, anyway; he may well have had clandestine government connections. But probably not, as he would have been forcibly repatriated to Germany after the war, that is why he is registered with the German Affairs Commission in 1946 and not deported back. And as he was still there at least until 1949. In the 1941 telephone book he was living at Rte. Remi 201 (in the French Concession).

Neil.