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Vogelweid (Hanni Sondheimer) Collection
OCH.HLS
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Hanni Sondheimer Vogelweid Collection
Creator:
Vogelweid, Hanni Sondheimer, 1923-2006
Identifier/Call Number: OCH.HLS
Extent:
0.21 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1941-2003
Date (bulk): 1941-1946
Abstract: Hanni Sondheimer Vogelweid was born on
October 5, 1923, in Berlin, Germany. Her family was living in Lithuania when World War II
began, and fled to Japan in an attempt to emigrate to America where they had relatives. This
did not work out, and the family was forced to move to Shanghai, as they had become
officially stateless upon leaving Lithuania. Vogelweid lived in Shanghai from 1941 to 1946,
and during the war was forced to live in the Hongkew ghetto with other Jewish refugees. The
collection consists of personal documents Vogelweid used when she lived in Shanghai,
including correspondence, vital records, personal identification documents, and some
publications.
Language of Material: English,
Chinese,
German
Hanni Sondheimer Vogelweid was born on October 5, 1923, in Berlin, Germany, to Moritz and
Setty Sondheimer. The family moved from Germany to Estonia to do business, and later settled
in Kaunas, Lithuania. At the start of World War II, the family, who was Jewish, began to
look for a way out of Lithuania, as anti-semitism was rising in Eastern Europe. They were
issued a visa to Japan by Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese vice consul in Lithuania credited
with saving thousands of Jews by providing transit visas, and left Lithuania in February of
1941 with money sent from American relatives.
They traveled to Yokohama, Japan, where they stayed for six months waiting for their
American visa paperwork. At that point their transit visas had expired, and they were forced
to leave Japan for Shanghai, which did not require any paperwork. The Sondheimers, who were
now considered stateless, were able to acquire a room in Shanghai with the money they had
left over from the planned move to America, and they stayed until 1943. They were then
forced to move into the Hongkew ghetto, formally known as the Restricted Sector for
Stateless Refugees, where the Japanese forced 20,000 Jewish and other refugees during the
war. As the war went on and the family needed money, Vogelweid and her younger brother got
jobs working in a Chinese weaving factory.
After the war, Vogelweid worked for the US Army as a waitress and a switchboard operator.
She then emigrated to the United States in 1946, after marrying Alfred Marion Gade, a First
Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. They had one daughter, but the marriage ended soon after, and
she later married Lloyd Vogelweid.
The
Hanni Sondheimer Vogelweid Collection primarily consists
of Vogelweid's personal documents dated between 1941 and 1946, when she lived in Shanghai.
It includes personal correspondence, identification documents, her immunization certificate,
marriage certificates, passport affidavits, and a visa. The collection also contains
publications related to the Old China Hand experience, including
Jewish World Review, The Rickshaw Express, and the
Shanghai
Herald.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Related Material
The collection is open for research 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
Lloyd Vogelweid, 03/18/2010
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Tim Kaufler, 2012
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Documents