Guide to the Bodo Zimmermann Papers
Special Collections & Archives
University Library
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330-8326
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Bodo Zimmermann Papers
Creator:
Zimmermann, Bodo, 1928-2007
Identifier/Call Number: OCH.BZ
Extent:
0.21 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1996-2003
Abstract: Bodo Zimmermann was born in 1928 in
Berlin, Germany, and moved to Shanghai with his family in 1940 after their home and business
were confiscated by Nazi officials. The family was left destitute after the move, so at age
13 Zimmermann dropped out of school began an apprenticeship in a bakery in Shanghai. From
1942 to 1945, the family was interned by the Japanese at the Ward Road Camp. After their
release, in 1946, Zimmermann found a job as a baker working on the USS LCI 220, which was
tasked with delivering medical supplies in China. The collection consists of unpublished
memoirs, letters written by Zimmermann to friends regarding his time in China and life on
the USS LCI 220, a translation done by Zimmermann of a letter written by a family friend
regarding the Siberian Express railway in 1940, and drawings, cards, and news articles
collected or made by Zimmermann related to China.
Language of Material: English,
German
Biographical Information:
Bodo Zimmermann was born in Berlin, Germany, on March 20
th,
1928. His parents owned a successful department store, but in 1939 the store and their home
were confiscated by Nazi officials. The family planned to open a new store in China, but
after relocating to Shanghai in June of 1940 learned that the merchandise purchased with the
last of their money had also been confiscated.
Zimmermann dropped out of school at 13 to become an apprentice at a pastry shop. He and
his family were interned by the Japanese at Ward Road Camp in Shanghai from 1942 to 1945. At
age 17, Zimmermann got a job as a baker on the American ship USS LCI 220 from February to
April 1946 shipping hospital supplies up the Yangtze River from Shanghai to Chungking. He
then worked as a baker on multiple ships and at bakeries before permanently settling down in
the United States in 1949.
Zimmermann served in the US military in Germany during the 1950s, and then as a government
employee of the military operating all of the commissary bakeries in Japan and Korea. In
1968 he began work as a salesman for a low-moisture food company, Vacu-Dry, where he retired
as vice president of sales in 1990. Zimmermann married his wife Helen Gohstand in the early
1950s, and they had two children, Allen and Audrey.
Scope and Contents
The
Bodo Zimmermann Papers consist of letters and original
drawings by Zimmermann as well as items he collected related to his experiences in China
during the 1940s and afterwards. The collection is arranged in three series:
Memoirs (1998),
Correspondence and
Drawings
(1996-2003), and
China Materials.
Series I,
Memoirs, consists of two unpublished memoirs written
by Zimmermann about his journey to China by train as a young boy, and his subsequent life in
China as a teenager.
Series II,
Correspondence and Drawings, contains letters and
drawings composed by Zimmermann to friends remembering life in China during the 1940s and
after, as well as a translation done by Zimmermann of a family friend's letter about taking
the Shanghai Express to China from Germany in 1940. The series is arranged
chronologically.
Series III,
China Materials, consists of a card and newspaper
article collected by Zimmermann that relate to China.
Arrangement of Materials:
Series I: Memoirs, 1998
Series II: Correspondence and Drawings, 1996-2003
Series III: China Materials, 2009
Related Material
Conditions Governing Access:
The collection is open for research use.
Conditions Governing Use:
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Bodo Zimmermann, 07/1998
Preferred Citation:
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Processing Information:
Jessica Geiser, 2013
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Documents
Box 1, Folder 1
"The Siberian Express: Recollections of a 12 Year Old Boy's Train Ride From
Germany Through Russia, Mongolia, Manchuria to China,"
1998 May 29
Box 1, Folder 2
"East of the Soochow Creek,"
1998 July 10
Series II: Correspondence and Drawings, 1996-2003
Box 1, Folder 3
Letters to Peter O'Flaherty about Zimmerman's Life and the USS LCI
220,
1996
Box 1, Folder 4
Drawing of the Living Quarters at Ward Road Internment Camp,
August 1996
Box 1, Folder 5
The Siberian Express Letter - Translated by Zimmerman,
1998
Box 1, Folder 6
Drawing of Toilets in Hongkew Ghetto,
2001 August 10
Box 1, Folder 7
Letter to Robert Gohstand with Chinese Currency,
2003 August 3
Series III: China Materials, 2009
Box 1, Folder 8
Christmas Card from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation
Box 1, Folder 9
"Shanghai's Jewish Transplants" - Article from Jewish Bulletin of Northern
California,
2000 June 9
