Abstract
This chapter examines the history of the German East Asiatic Society (OAG), which was established in 1873 in Tokyo and was the German answer to the foundation of the British-dominated Asiatic Society of Japan, created one year earlier. Studying local OAG activities offers new insights on the history of Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly given that Germans (combined with Austrians after the Anschluss of 1938) constituted one of the biggest groups within the expatriate community. The chapter provides an introduction to the German community and the different Jewish groups in Shanghai, as well as a summary of the history of the OAG and its interactions with the local Nazi institutions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The official name of the OAG (which is the abbreviation of the society’s sobriquet “Ostasiatische Gesellschaft”) can be translated as the German Society for East Asian Natural History and Ethnography. All German-English translations in this chapter are by the author.
- 2.
See OAG Jahresbericht [annual report] 1933 (1934), 4.
- 3.
Ulrich Goch, “Gesellschaft und Auslandswissenschaft am Beispiel der Deutschen Japanologiegeschichte,” Bochumer Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung 3 (1980), 98–129, asserted the importance of the OAG within German-Japan-related research. For a full evaluation of the history of the OAG, see the forthcoming book Christian W. Spang, Rolf-Harald Wippich, and Sven Saaler, Die Geschichte der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (OAG) von 1873 bis 1979 (Munich: Iudicium).
- 4.
See Douglas M. Kenrick, A Century of Western Studies in Japan. The First Hundred Years of the Asiatic Society of Japan 1872–1972 (Tokyo: Asiatic Society of Japan, 1978).
- 5.
See Christian W. Spang, “Die ersten Japaner in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (OAG),” Foreign Language Education 42 (2013): 81–107, for more details.
- 6.
For decades, the Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (MOAG, est. in 1873) featured the proceedings of the OAG meetings, but later, the MOAG was used to publish longer articles or even books. The Nachrichten der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (NOAG) started as a newsletter, but later issues had around 60 to 70 pages.
- 7.
David H. Kranzler, The Japanese, the Nazis and the Jews: The Jewish Refugee Community of Shanghai 1938-1945 (New York: Yeshiva University Press, 1976) mentions a few OAG members but not the local group. Barbara Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China 1920-1950 (Gossenberg: Ostasienverlag, 2012), briefly refers to the OAG on page 47. Shu Lü and Weijiang Wang, Kulturspuren der Deutschen in Shanghai (Shanghai: Shanghai Pictorial Publishing House, 2012), offer a whole section about “Organisationen der Shanghai-Deutschen” (43–57) without any reference to the OAG. For a short introduction to the OAG in English, see Christian W. Spang, “The German East Asiatic Society (OAG) during the Nazi Era,” in Transnational Encounters between Germany and Japan, Joanne. M. Cho, Lee M. Roberts, Christian W. Spang, eds. (London–New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 127–145.
- 8.
Irene Eber, Wartime Shanghai and the Jewish Refugees from Central Europe (Boston: de Gruyter, 2012), 28, mentions the following figures for the Japanese: 1920: 15,551, 1930: 24, 207, 1939: 54,308.
- 9.
Shu Lü and Weijiang Wang, Kulturspuren der Deutschen in Shanghai (Shanghai: Shanghai Pictorial Publishing House, 2012), 13–15.
- 10.
Astrid Freyeisen concludes that around 2000 Germans lived in Shanghai in 1937, while another 2500 lived in the rest of China. See Astrid Freyeisen, Shanghai und die Politik des Dritten Reiches (Würzburg: Königshausen und Neumann, 2000), 43. These figures differ from Kranzler, Japanese, 42–43.
- 11.
Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 146–147.
- 12.
Established in 1907, its location changed various times. See Rotraut Bieg-Brentzel, Die Tongji-Universität. Zur Geschichte deutscher Kulturarbeit in Shanghai (Frankfurt/Main: Haag & Herchen, 1984).
- 13.
The school had been established in 1895. See Freyeisen, Shanghai, 151–160, and Shu Lü and Weijiang Wang, Kulturspuren, 53–57.
- 14.
The German representative was excluded from most of the “consular body” meetings because—as the doyen of the local consular corps told Consul General Thiel in a letter dated January 13, 1922 “your presence would be an embarrassment to free discussion.” See Silvia Kettelhut, Geschäfte übernommen, Deutsches Konsulat Shanghai, Impressionen aus 150 Jahren (Shanghai: Shanghai Century Publishing Group, 2006), 126.
- 15.
The Handelssachverständige Sigmund R. von Winterfeldt (Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 151/note 57) would later become the chairman of the local OAG group. Along with Winterfeldt, press attaché Fritz Cordt was among the longest-serving representatives of Nazi Germany in Shanghai. Cordt joined the OAG in 1943. Information about all German diplomats mentioned in this chapter can be found in Biographisches Handbuch des deutschen Auswärtigen Dienstes, 1871-1945, ed. Auswärtiges Amt, 5 Volumes (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöning, 2009-2014). See Freyeisen, Shanghai, 225, for information about the Dienststelle. On pages 270-286, she deals with the Informationsstelle, while pages 351–353, are devoted to the Abhörstelle.
- 16.
See Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 294, 305, Kranzler, Japanese, 85–91, and Eber, Wartime Shanghai, 71–87, who describes the common land- and sea-routes to Shanghai. Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 304–305, mentions the experience of a certain Herr Braun, who recalled in a post-war interview that his mother had bought the ticket worth 800 Mark for a stunning 4500 Mark, which saved his life.
- 17.
The term “German invasion” is a quote from a newspaper article by John Ahlers with the title “Economic Threat Caused by Jewish Refugees.” Cf. Kranzler, Japanese, 154, where no further bibliographic details of the article are provided. On page 592, Kranzler also mentions Eduard Kann, one of the founding members of the OAG in Shanghai (NOAG 24 [1931], 4, misspelled as “Hann”). Kann, who had spoken once at the OAG in Shanghai on January 15, 1932, supported European immigrants in 1938/1939 but later argued that the rising number of refugees would endanger the social peace within the city (Kranzler, Japanese, 157, 273–274).
- 18.
Kranzler, Japanese, 271–274. Immigrants already living in the Japanese-controlled areas were now required to register with the authorities.
- 19.
See, for example, Hugo Burkhard, Tanz mal, Jude! Von Dachau bis Shanghai (Nuremberg: Reichenbach, 1967), 7, and 145–146.
- 20.
On pages 298–299 of his memoirs, Mut und Übermut (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1991), Erwin Wickert mentions seeing many Jewish refugees on his rail trip to Shanghai in the summer of 1940. Furthermore, many refugees were afraid of the Communist regime and feared ending up in a gulag in Siberia.
- 21.
See the letter by the Consulate General to the German Foreign Office, dated December 20, 1938. Cf. Kettelhut, Deutsches Konsulat Shanghai, 181.
- 22.
See, for example, the March 20, 1939, report by Consul General Bracklo, reprinted in Mechthild Leutner, ed., Deutschland und China 1937–1945 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1998), 415–417.
- 23.
See the eleventh amendment of the Reichsbürgergesetz, the citizenship law of Nazi Germany. Editor’s Note: The eleventh amendment of the Reichsbürgergesetz was issued on November 25, 1941. It was publicized in other countries on November 29, 1941. It went into effect on January 1, 1942.
- 24.
The results of the 1936 census are mentioned in Kranzler, Japanese, 42-43. See also ibid., 69.
- 25.
See Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 291–293, for more information about the two groups and their influence in Shanghai. Kranzler, Japanese, 47, speaks of around 700 Sephardic Jews in Shanghai and suggests on page 57 that by the late 1930s, around 4000 established Ashkenazic Jews lived in the city.
- 26.
Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 305–306.
- 27.
Eber, Wartime Shanghai, 146.
- 28.
Kranzler, Japanese, 116, mentions that rent in Hongkew was only about 25% of that elsewhere.
- 29.
For May 1941, Kranzler, Japanese, 612/613, mentions “Heime” in Alcock Road, Chafflong Road, East Seward Road, Ward Road, and Wayside Road; for April 1946, Kranzler (ibid.) adds the following names: Chusan, and Muir-Head. On 131, he mentions “Kinchow Road” as the location of another Heim. On page 141, a “Pingliang Road property” is mentioned, which was turned “into a reasonably livable Heim” as well. Eber, Wartime Shanghai, 123, mentions about 2200 people living in the Heime in late 1940, while up to 9000 refugees ate at the various kitchens.
- 30.
Burkhard, Tanz mal, Jude!, 181. Kranzler, Japanese, 606, presents “statistics of the Emigrant Residents Union” of November 1944. Out of a total of 14,425 people, there were 8114 Germans (57%), 3942 Austrians (27.7%), 1248 Polish (8.7%) and 236 Czechoslovakians (1.7%). Here, the percentage of Germans is significantly higher than in the statistics quoted by Burkhard for March 1946.
- 31.
The statistics are presented by Kranzler, Japanese, between pages 612 and 613. On page 606, Kranzler refers to post-war UNRRA statistics that listed 15,511 European refugees. Of these, 13,496 (87%) were Jewish.
- 32.
Kranzler, Japanese, 282–287.
- 33.
Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 299-300. Breitkreutz never joined the Nazi party and became an OAG member as late as 1944 (NOAG 68 [1944], 48), two signs that he tried to stay away from the German community as much as possible. Some Jewish physicians had already left Germany in 1933/34. Cf. ibid., 565.
- 34.
The report sent from the Beijing office of the German embassy is reprinted in Leutner, Deutschland und China, 427–428.
- 35.
Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 243, mentions that Gestapo surveillance intensified around 1942.
- 36.
Hannig had to step down as Ortsgruppenleiter in 1938 because his wife had been shopping at Jewish shops. Freyeisen, Shanghai, 96.
- 37.
See Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 200. Freyeisen, Shanghai, 92–95, provides details about Lahrmann’s background and role within the local NSDAP.
- 38.
Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 228.
- 39.
Gérard Kohbieter in Steve Hochstadt, Exodus to Shanghai. Stories of Escape from the Third Reich (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 142. H. W. Siegel said in an interview that his employer (Kunst & Albers) allowed Jewish traders to come to their office to sell goods. See Freyeisen, Shanghai, 434.
- 40.
Freyeisen, Shanghai, 324–235. Glimpf had joined the OAG soon after his arrival in Shanghai in 1934. His subordinate Karl Laverentz did so in 1943.
- 41.
Ernest Colland in Hochstadt, Exodus, 120–121.
- 42.
See Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 242–243. E. Betz was born in 1907 as the son of Heinrich Betz, who—between 1897 and 1921–spent many years at different diplomatic posts in China. Betz jun. worked at the German Consulate General in Shanghai from 1940 to 1945.
- 43.
Wickert, Mut und Übermut, 314, 341–345.
- 44.
A case-in-point was the arrival and the behavior of Christian Zinsser. See Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 196–197.
- 45.
See Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 243–244, and Freyeisen, Shanghai, 356–367. According to Hochstadt, Exodus, 89, some German customers continued patronizing Jewish bars and restaurants.
- 46.
See Freyeisen, Shanghai, 462–475, 512. A slightly different view is presented by Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 246, 257–259.
- 47.
This evaluation is what Japanese liaison officer Takashima told German vice-consul Eugen Betz in Shanghai, quoted in Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 223.
- 48.
Kranzler, Japanese, 478–479 (and 485–488).
- 49.
“Aryan” spouses of Jews had to accompany their partners to Hongkew. If they divorced, Germany would provide support for them. An estimated 150 such divorces occurred. Many of these divorcees continued to support their relatives in the ghetto. See Kranzler, Japanese, 494–496. Ruth Nathanson describes this procedure in her autobiography Zwischstation Überleben in Shanghai 1939-1947 (Bühl: Seitenweise, 2016) on page 55 and thereafter.
- 50.
Burkhard, Tanz mal, Jude!, 156–167, describes the process and shows some pictures of the document. See Kranzler, Japanese, 503, for further details.
- 51.
See Kranzler, Japanese, 211. Ibid., 234, Kranzler quotes the spring 1939 declaration of Foreign Minister Arita, who announced that Japan did not intend to discriminate against the Jews.
- 52.
See MOAG, 1(2): 1. The first OAG member with an address in Shanghai had been a certain “Herr Lueder,” who joined in July 1873.
- 53.
See Christian W. Spang, “Die Expansion der OAG in Asien (1930-45),” OAG Notizen 9/2005: 35–44.
- 54.
See NOAG 23 (1930), 7: “The establishment of the local group Shanghai provides our society the opportunity to become—true to its name—a society for [the study of] nature and ethnology of East Asia.”
- 55.
Jubiläumsband der deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, 2 volumes (Tokyo: OAG, 1933). See MOAG 26F (1934), 43, for the complete list of contributors. The following five authors were Shanghai-based: F. X. Biallas, Li Hau Min, W. Othmer, H. Stuebel and W. Vogel.
- 56.
The OAG celebrations in March 1933 are described in detail in MOAG 26F (1934).
- 57.
For an account of Nazi structures in Japan, see Ayano Nakamura, “The Nazi Party and German Colonies in East Asia—Gleichschaltung and Localities,” in Japan and Germany. Two Latecomers to the World Stage, 1890-1945, Akira Kudō, Nobuo Tajima and Erich Pauer, eds. (Folkestone: Global Oriental, 2009), 431–465.
- 58.
The local Hitler Youth accepted half-Japanese children and called itself “Deutsche Jugend Japan” (DJJ). The Shanghai equivalent was called “Deutsche Shanghai Jugend.” See NOAG 50 (1939): 3.
- 59.
See Nakamura, “The Nazi Party,” and Freyeisen, Shanghai, 154–156.
- 60.
See Christian W. Spang, “Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (OAG) zwischen den Weltkriegen,” in Flucht und Rettung. Exil im japanischen Herrschaftsbereich (1933-1945) ed. Thomas Pekar, 73–81 (esp. 77 and 80) (Berlin: Metropol, 2011).
- 61.
Meissner had joined the NSDAP in January 1934, Barth and Weegmann followed a few months later. See German Federal Archive Berlin, NS 9/ 407.
- 62.
Annette Hack, “Das Japanisch-Deutsche Kulturinstitut Tokyo in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus,” NOAG 157/158 (1995): 77–100, provides further details on Donat, who was a board member of the OAG from 1936 to 1941, when the German attack on the USSR surprised him on leave in Germany. See also the article mentioned in the following note.
- 63.
Herbert Worm, “Japanologie im Nationalsozialismus. Ein Zwischenbericht,” in Formierung und Fall der Achse Berlin-Tokyo, Gerhard Krebs and Bernd Martin, eds. (Munich: Iudicium, 1994), 181, speaks of “vorauseilende Selbstgleichschaltung.”
- 64.
See Spang, “Die OAG zwischen den Weltkriegen,” 81–86, and Spang, “Die ersten Japaner,” 97–98.
- 65.
NOAG 32 (1933), 3; 34 (1934), 3, and 35 (1934), 2. Among the departees, there were no less than 14 Japanese, who were most likely shocked by the aggressiveness of Nazi politics.
- 66.
NOAG 34 (1934): 5. See Detlev Schauwecker, “Bruno Petzold (1873-1949),” OAG Notizen 12/2009, 10-41 (esp. 13–14). See also Schauwecker, ibid. 11/2008, 10–32, and 3/2009, 11–32, for further details about Petzold.
- 67.
The name “Deutsche Gemeinde Tokyo-Yokohama” was changed in 1943 into “Reichdeutsche Gemeinschaft Tokyo-Yokohama.” See Spang, Wippich, Saaler, Die OAG, chapter IV, 7c.
- 68.
Ibid.
- 69.
After the monthly OAG lectures, Parteigenossen were allowed to use the salon; others were limited to a drink at the bar. See Heinrich Menkhaus, “In memoriam,” OAG Notizen 5/2009, 61.
- 70.
Nakamura, “The Nazi Party,” 448/note 66, mentions a 1936 report, which shows the Japanese police’s view very clearly: “The German East Asiatic Society (OAG) […] hold[s] various seminars, lectures and film showings to coordinate all political and other activities by the National Socialist regime.” The original is taken from Naimushō Keihōkyoku, ed., Gaiji Keisatsu Gaikyō, vol. 2, (Tokyo: Fuji Shuppan, 1994), 370.
- 71.
OAG Jahresbericht 1940, 1.
- 72.
See Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 196–197, 202, and 207, for the Gemeinde’s efforts to uphold its independence, which ended in December 1941 due to the intervention of Consul Christian Zinsser. The Deutsche Gemeinde Shanghai celebrated its 25th anniversary in May 1939. See NOAG 51 (1939): 5–7. The most obvious link between the Gemeinde and the OAG was Alfred Glathe, who shortly headed the OAG and led the Gemeinde from 1936 to 1945.
- 73.
See the annual OAG reports for details.
- 74.
For a first-hand description of events in Shanghai in spring 1932, see NOAG 28 (1932): 10–11. For the problems in autumn 1937, see OAG Jahresbericht 1937, 4.
- 75.
See NOAG 64 (1943): 41, and 69 (1944): 44.
- 76.
Forty-two (30%) of these 136 party members joined the OAG only in 1943/44 when the appeal of the Nazi movement was at a low. According to report 3311 by Landesgruppenleiter Lahrmann (German Federal Archive, R9208, partly quoted in Leutner, Deutschland und China, 373/ note 13), there were 286 party comrades (15.3%) among 1864 registered Germans in spring 1944. Adding the 49 Germans who had applied for membership (Anwärter), means that 18% (335) of the established Germans in Shanghai had registered with the Nazi party. Freyeisen, Shanghai, 102, provides different numbers based on a 1943 Gestapo list (National Archives, Washington, RG 226, Entry 182, Box 24, Folders 132/133), which mentions 316 Parteigenossen in Shanghai. If we take this number, the percentage would be 17%, but Freyeisen assumes a German population of 2400 in Shanghai and thus calculates with just over 13% of party comrades in the city.
- 77.
Hasenöhrl had fought in the First World War as an officer of the Hapsburg Empire. In October 1934, he became the head of the new Auslandsabteilung (Foreign Affairs Department) within the Propaganda Ministry.
- 78.
For Hannig, see note 36 above.
- 79.
Zinsser was in Shanghai from June 1941 to November 1943. See Freyeisen, Shanghai, 220–224. Despite his golden party badge, he was recalled to the West-German Foreign Office in 1958.
- 80.
Kriebel was an early acquaintance of Hitler. While in Shanghai, he quickly developed a pro-Chinese attitude.
- 81.
These Nazi leaders might have delivered some greetings at some event co-sponsored by the OAG. Yet, none of them was either the main speaker or the guide at one of the local OAG excursions.
- 82.
See Wilhelm Matzat, “Othmer, Dr. phil. Wilhelm (1882–1934), Oberlehrer an DCH,” Tsingtau.org. https://www.tsingtau.org/othmer-dr-phil-wilhelm-1882-1934-oberlehrer-an-dch/. Accessed July 7, 2019.
- 83.
See Ku Teng, ed., Outeman Jiao Shou Ai Si Lu (Gedenkschriften an Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Othmer) (Nanking: Guo Hua Yin Shu Guan, 1934), which consists of various obituaries and remembrances by former colleagues and students. Among them, Sun Fo, the son of Sun Yat-sen and Cai Yuanpei, President of the University of Beijing, 1917–1922.
- 84.
OAG Jahresbericht 1934, 3. See also NOAG 36 (1934): 7, and 34 (1934): 1–2, 11–17.
- 85.
Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 196, quotes Nazi critic Halper-Szigeth, who said he never thought of Glathe as a Nazi. See also ibid., 258.
- 86.
See Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 155–156. It is unclear when exactly the climax of the conflict between Lahrmann and Krüger happened. As Kriebel was involved, it must have been between June 1934 and March 1937 (i.e., most likely during Krüger’s time at the helm of the OAG).
- 87.
NOAG 43 (1937): 8.
- 88.
NOAG 44 (1937): 4. Krüger’s OAG colleagues might have asked him to step down to save the OAG from Nazi pressure.
- 89.
NOAG 44 (1937): 4.
- 90.
For Krüger’s activities as a part-time librarian until his return to Germany in 1939, see OAG Jahresbericht 1935, 8; 1937, 14, and NOAG 39 (1935): 7; 47 (1938): 9, and 51 (1939): 26.
- 91.
Traut had studied Chinese and Law, got his Chinese diploma in 1909, and received his PhD in law in 1911.
- 92.
Reelections can be confirmed in NOAG 47 (1938): 9; 51 (1939): 27; 55 (1940): 16; 57 (1941): 27.
- 93.
According to two emails by a G. Keiper of the Archive of the German Foreign Office from July 15, 2019, the question had been whether Traut’s grandfather Ferdinand David had been baptized right after his birth or much later.
- 94.
NOAG 59 (1941): 23.
- 95.
The “Nazi Party Membership Records China” (German Federal Archive Berlin, NS 9 /383) mentions that a “Winterfeldt, Rudolf P. von,” born in 1897, had entered the NSDAP in 1936. His entry to the OAG is mentioned in NOAG 47 (1938): 8.
- 96.
See NOAG 62 (1942): 30, and 64 (1943): 43.
- 97.
A detailed list of talks will be provided in Spang, Wippich, Saaler, Die OAG, chapter IV, 9a.
- 98.
See NOAG 31 (1932): 13–14, and NOAG 62 (1942): 27.
- 99.
These numbers result from analyzing OAG annual reports, membership lists, and the ongoing reports about events in Shanghai, printed in the NOAG.
- 100.
For more details, see Freyeisen, Shanghai, 87–90.
- 101.
See NOAG 34 (1933): 17.
- 102.
OAG Jahresbericht 1933, 18. Fuchs stayed in Shanghai and later worked as a lawyer in the city.
- 103.
Meissner’s talk in Shanghai was on November 23, 1934. See OAG Jahresbericht 1934, 3, for a hint at Weegmann’s stopover in Shanghai. Meissner was also involved with the removal of two Jewish representatives of the OAG in Germany, Dr Anna and Prof. Dr Siegfried Berliner, a case that cannot be discussed here because it has no relation to Shanghai. See Hans. K. Rode and Christian W. Spang, “Anna and Siegfried Berliner: Two academic bridge-builders between Germany and Japan,” in Transnational Encounters between Germany and Japan, Joanne Miyang Cho, Lee M. Roberts, and Christian W. Spang, eds. (London–New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 107–126.
- 104.
Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 153–155.
- 105.
For Korff jun., see Freyeisen, Shanghai, 200–201, for Röhreke, ibid., 173, and 187; for Siemssen, ibid., 198 and 363. Regarding Glathe, refer to Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 196 and 258.
- 106.
Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 553, refers to Siemssen. Freyeisen, Shanghai, 220, 257–258, and 436–437, mentions the same for Glathe. Ibid. 364–365, Freyeisen writes that the “taipan” seemed largely untouchable for the Gestapo in Shanghai.
- 107.
Leutner, Deutschland und China, 526.
- 108.
See Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 7–8, 10–11, 270, 553, and Freyeisen, Shanghai, 82–84. Fischer had joined the NSDAP in August 1935.
- 109.
Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 217–218, 281.
- 110.
Michelsen had been stationed in Tokyo 1920–1926. From 1939 onward he lived in China (Kunming). The 1922 OAG membership list mentions Michelsen on page 1 as Beisitzer of the OAG board in Tokyo. The OAG Jahresbericht 1924, p. 9, mentions Michelsen in the same position. The Jahresbericht 1925 is missing. One year later, he was no longer Beisitzer. For more details about Michelsen’s life, see Mechthild Leutner, “Deutscher Dolmetscher in Kiautschou, jüdischer Exilant in Kunming: Erich Michelsens Leben als Kapitel deutsch-chinesischer Beziehungen,” Berliner Chinahefte 50 (2018): 51–86.
- 111.
The lecture title (“Der Einfluß des Ariertums auf die israelitisch-jüdische Kultur”) had already been announced in NOAG 34 (1933): 17, and 36 (1934): 27.
- 112.
Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 229. Consul General Kriebel took a rather moderate approach, telling Krüger to be more discreet about his efforts to help the emigrants.
- 113.
See Freyeisen, Shanghai, 176–178. Krüger’s loyalism was most likely due to his participation in the First World War and his rejection of the Versailles Treaty, which formed a common basis of conservatives and Nazis.
- 114.
Maas published various articles in his church journal that were not in line with Nazi views. See Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 234–236. Furthermore, he had vehemently opposed the Nazi attempts to bring the Deutsche Gemeinde Shanghai in line with the Nazi movement, leading to him being summoned to the Consulate General, where consul Zinsser told him about the Führerprinzip. Ibid., 197.
- 115.
Freyeisen, Shanghai, 275.
- 116.
The “Liste nicht-arischer Ärzte und anderer Emigranten” is reprinted in Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 565. Two of the thirty physicians were women. Behrend joined the NSDAP in April 1940. See ibid., 157–158, for some hints regarding his early skepticism vis-à-vis Nazi propaganda in Shanghai.
- 117.
See NOAG 35 (1934): 10.
- 118.
See Max Mohr, Briefe aus Shanghai / Das Einhorn, audiobook (Munich: Winter & Winter, 2007). Mohr mentions these figures in a letter to his wife, dated March 8, 1936.
- 119.
Mohr mentions his correspondence with Mann in letters to his wife, dated March 21 and September 13, 1936 (ibid.). Mohr had been a friend of D. H. Lawrence in the final years of Lawrence’s life.
- 120.
See Ralf Beer and Florian Steger, “Max Mohr (1891-1937),” Sudhoffs Archiv 94-2 (2010): 207–209. Vogel was a family friend of Mohr’s wife and never joined the NSDAP. Mohr arrived in Shanghai in December 1934 and rented an apartment in Bubbling Well Road 807 in the International Settlement for $160 in late February 1935.
- 121.
Mohr, Briefe. In a letter to his wife dated October 9, 1935, Mohr mentions spending time with Vogel.
- 122.
While the overworked Mohr died of a heart attack on November 13, 1937, in Shanghai, Vogel died of scarlet fever (on August 17, 1936) in a Budapest hospital. See NOAG 41 (1936): 2, and https://www.lahrvonleitisacademy.eu/archive_werner_vogel.html. Accessed 4 Aug 2021.
- 123.
See Ito Kasuke, “Frederick Reiss, 1891-1981,” Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 61-4 (1985): 378-84. See Eber, Wartime Shanghai, 329–338, for Reiss’ activities for the medical support of the immigrants in Shanghai. Reiss’ entry into the OAG can be proved by looking at NOAG 26 (1931): 7.
- 124.
OAG Jahresbericht 1931, 5.
- 125.
Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 527. Plaut stayed in China until 1954. A recent PhD thesis by Sabine Richter, 2015, mentions Plaut various times, but there are numerous mistakes and contradictions. The thesis is online: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/files/6844/SabineRichterDissertation.pdf. Accessed October 14, 2018.
- 126.
Ernest. G. Heppner, Shanghai Refuge: A Memoir of the World War II Jewish Ghetto (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1995), 71, mentions that German diplomats came there frequently. See also Wickert, Mut und Übermut, 314–315. Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 218, mentions close contacts between Heinemann and Wilhelm Haas.
- 127.
Jürgen Lehmann, Rudolph Sommer (1904–1999) (Mariazell: self-published, 2012), offers many details. On pp. 32–35, Lehmann downplays Sommer’s work for the Nazis in New York and Shanghai. Freyeisen, Shanghai, 270–286, presents many details about the Informationsstelle and mentions Sommer as well.
- 128.
Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933-1945, ed. by Institut für Zeitgeschichte / Research Foundation for Jewish Immigration, New York (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1980-1983), Vol. II.1, 570.
- 129.
During his stay in Shanghai, Hirschfeld met the young Dr Li Shiu Tong, who became his last gay friend.
- 130.
See Schmitt-Englert, Deutsche in China, 260–262.
- 131.
The above-mentioned Wilhelm Haas had been released from his position at the German embassy in Tokyo because he was married to Ursula (née Corwegh), who was Jewish. See note 109 above.
- 132.
See Juliet Peers, “Wentcher, Tina (1887–1974),” Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wentcher-tina-11998/text21515. Accessed August 6 2021. A similar case is that of Kurt Singer, who taught in Tokyo and Sendai, Japan, before being interned as an “enemy alien” in Australia.
- 133.
When the OAG was re-established in Japan in the early 1950s, former Parteigenosse Carl von Weegmann cooperated closely with Robert Schinzinger and Albert Netke, who had both been “jüdisch versippt.” See Spang, Wippich, Saaler, Die OAG, chapter IV, 17 and chapter V, 1, and 2.
- 134.
Kranzler, Japanese, 531.
- 135.
The book was first published in German in 1941 in London (Hamish Hamilton) and Stockholm (Bermann-Fischer) as Stefan Zweig, Die Welt von gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers before Cassel and Company (London) published the English translation as The World of Yesterday. An Autobiography in 1943.
References
Beer, Ralf and Florian Steger. 2010. Max Mohr (1891–1937). Sudhoffs Archiv 94–2: 201–213.
Bieg-Brentzel, Rotraut. 1984. Die Tongji-Universität. Zur Geschichte deutscher Kulturarbeit in Shanghai. Frankfurt/Main: Haag & Herchen.
Burkhard, Hugo. 1967. Tanz mal, Jude! Von Dachau bis Shanghai. Nuremberg: Reichenbach.
Eber, Irene. 2012. Wartime Shanghai and the Jewish Refugees from Central Europe. Boston: de Gruyter.
Freyeisen, Astrid. 2000. Shanghai und die Politik des Dritten Reiches. Würzburg: Königshausen und Neumann.
Goch, Ulrich. 1980. Gesellschaft und Auslandswissenschaft am Beispiel der Deutschen Japanologiegeschichte. Bochumer Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung 3: 98–129.
Hack, Annette. 1995. Das Japanisch-Deutsche Kulturinstitut Tokyo in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. NOAG 157/158: 77–100.
Heppner, Ernest G. 1995. Shanghai Refuge: A Memoir of the World War II Jewish Ghetto. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Hochstadt, Steve. 2012. Exodus to Shanghai. Stories of Escape from the Third Reich. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kasuke, Ito. 1985. Frederick Reiss, 1891–1981. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 61–4: 378–384.
Keihōkyoku, Naimushō, ed. 1994. Gaiji Keisatsu Gaikyō, vol. 2. Tokyo: Fuji Shuppan.
Kenrick, Douglas M. 1978. A Century of Western Studies in Japan. The First Hundred Years of the Asiatic Society of Japan 1872–1972. Tokyo: Asiatic Society of Japan.
Kettelhut, Silvia. 2006. Geschäfte übernommen, Deutsches Konsulat Shanghai, Impressionen aus 150 Jahren. Shanghai: Shanghai Century Publishing Group.
Kranzler, David H. 1976. The Japanese, the Nazis and the Jews: The Jewish Refugee Community of Shanghai 1938–1945. New York: Yeshiva University Press.
Ku, Teng, ed. 1934. Outeman Jiao Shou Ai Si Lu (Gedenkschriften an Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Othmer). Nanking: Guo Hua Yin Shu Guan.
Lehmann, Jürgen. 2012. Rudolph Sommer (1904–1999). Mariazell: self-published.
Leutner, Mechthild, ed. 1998. Deutschland und China 1937–1945. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Leutner, Mechthild. 2018. Deutscher Dolmetscher in Kiautschou, jüdischer Exilant in Kunming: Erich Michelsens Leben als Kapitel deutsch-chinesischer Beziehungen. Berliner Chinahefte 50: 51–86.
Matzat, Wilhelm. Othmer, Dr. phil. Wilhelm (1882–1934), Oberlehrer an DCH. Tsingtau.org. https://www.tsingtau.org/othmer-dr-phil-wilhelm-1882-1934-oberlehrer-an-dch/. Accessed 7 Jul 2019.
Menkhaus, Heinrich. 2009. In memoriam. OAG Notizen 5: 61–64.
Mohr, Max. 2007. Briefe aus Shanghai / Das Einhorn, audiobook. Munich: Winter & Winter.
Nakamura, Ayano. 2009. The Nazi Party and German Colonies in East Asia—Gleichschaltung and Localities. In Japan and Germany. Two Latecomers to the World Stage, 1890–1945, eds. Akira Kudō, Nobuo Tajima and Erich Pauer, 431–465. Folkestone: Global Oriental.
Nathanson, Ruth. 2016. Zwischstation Überleben in Shanghai 1939–1947. Bühl: Seitenweise.
Peers, Juliet, Wentcher, Tina (1887–1974). Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wentcher-tina-11998/text21515. Accessed 6 Aug 2021.
Richter, Sabine. 2015. Einblick in ein kunstpädagogisches Skizzenbuch. Leben und Werk von Eva Eyquem. Ph.D. Dissertation. Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/files/6844/SabineRichterDissertation.pdf. Accessed 14 Oct 2018.
Rode, Hans K. and Christian W. Spang. 2016. Anna and Siegfried Berliner: Two academic bridge-builders between Germany and Japan. In Transnational Encounters between Germany and Japan, eds. Joanne Miyang Cho, Lee M. Roberts, and Christian W. Spang, 107–126. London–New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schauwecker, Detlev. 2009. Bruno Petzold (1873–1949). OAG Notizen 12: 10–41.
Schmitt-Englert, Barbara. 2012. Deutsche in China 1920–1950. Gossenberg: Ostasienverlag.
Shu, Lü and Weijiang Wang. 2012. Kulturspuren der Deutschen in Shanghai. Shanghai: Shanghai Pictorial Publishing House.
Spang, Christian W. 2005. Die Expansion der OAG in Asien (1930–1945). OAG Notizen 9: 35–44.
Spang, Chrisitian W. 2011. Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (OAG) zwischen den Weltkriegen. In Flucht und Rettung. Exil im japanischen Herrschaftsbereich (1933–1945), ed. Thomas Pekar, 73–81. Berlin: Metropol.
Spang, Chrisian W. 2013. Die ersten Japaner in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (OAG). Foreign Language Education 42: 81–107.
Spang, Christian W. 2016. The German East Asiatic Society (OAG) during the Nazi Era. In Transnational Encounters between Germany and Japan, eds. Joanne M. Cho, Lee M. Roberts, and Christian W. Spang, 127–145. London–New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Spang, Christian W., Rolf-Harald Wippich, and Sven Saaler. Forthcoming. Die Geschichte der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (OAG) von 1873 bis 1979 (Munich: Iudicium).
Wickert, Erwin. 1991. Mut und Übermut. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt.
Worm, Herbert. 1994. Japanologie im Nationalsozialismus. Ein Zwischenbericht. In Formierung und Fall der Achse Berlin-Tokyo, eds. Gerhard Krebs and Bernd Martin, 153–186. Munich: Iudicium.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Spang, C.W. (2022). The German East Asiatic Society (OAG) in Shanghai, 1931–1945. In: Ostoyich, K., Xia, Y. (eds) The History of the Shanghai Jews. Palgrave Series in Asian German Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13761-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13761-7_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-13760-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-13761-7
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)