Directory of Jewish Refugees
Object numberM2005/005
TitleDirectory of Jewish Refugees
DescriptionCertificate of identity with photograph from the Directory of Jewish Refugees, issued to Hermine Brandt in Shanghai by the Committee for the Assistance of European Jewish Refugees in Shanghai, 2 April 1940.
Hermine (Minnie) Levy (nee Brandt)
Hermine (born 1918, Berlin, died 2008 Sydney) was born into a loving, well-to-do, observant family. Her father was an accountant. When Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, they considered them “a bunch of hooligans.” Not to be taken seriously. From her apartment window she saw the Reichstag fire. She experienced the one-day boycott—1 April 1933 targeting Jewish businesses and professionals when she was returning home from school, she was barred from entering their apartment and was “forced to barge my way through.” The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service on 7 April 1933 that excluded non-Aryans from the legal profession, civil service and Government-regulated jobs forced her father to hand over the running of his practice to a colleague. He did the lion’s share of the work but received a pittance of what was billed. She also witnessed books being burnt in Berlin and the celebration that accompanied those books deemed, “Un-German in spirit.” After the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, she was no longer able to attend school and was enrolled in a private business college.
Kristallnacht [Night of Broken Glass]—9-10 November 1938 and the attendant fury it unleashed against the Jewish community and their places of worship convinced her father of the necessity of leaving Germany. Most countries had closed their doors to refugees by 1938, but Hermine’s father and brother were able to organise passage to Shanghai—known as ‘the port of last resort.’ Hermine and her mother followed. The family were reunited and they rented reasonable- sized rooms. By comparison to their apartment in Berlin “They were primitive.”
Hermine found intermittent work but spent most of her time caring for her sick mother. She married in late 1942. Shortly after the wedding her husband was interned for the duration of the war. They were forced to move into the Shanghai Ghetto early 1943. “Although there were no walls enclosing the ghetto and Jews were treated benignly relative to their European counterparts, there were deprivations” (Kessler, 2017). There was no heating. They had to wash in freezing water. Their only source of heat was burning coal dust that her brother was able to forage. They were forced to depend on the soup-kitchen run by the JOINT [American Jewish Distribution Committee] and were not too proud to queue for food. The Shanghai Ghetto was liberated in September 1945. She was reunited with her husband. They left Shanghai as soon as they were able and migrated to Sydney, Australia.
Hermine (Minnie) Levy (nee Brandt)
Hermine (born 1918, Berlin, died 2008 Sydney) was born into a loving, well-to-do, observant family. Her father was an accountant. When Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, they considered them “a bunch of hooligans.” Not to be taken seriously. From her apartment window she saw the Reichstag fire. She experienced the one-day boycott—1 April 1933 targeting Jewish businesses and professionals when she was returning home from school, she was barred from entering their apartment and was “forced to barge my way through.” The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service on 7 April 1933 that excluded non-Aryans from the legal profession, civil service and Government-regulated jobs forced her father to hand over the running of his practice to a colleague. He did the lion’s share of the work but received a pittance of what was billed. She also witnessed books being burnt in Berlin and the celebration that accompanied those books deemed, “Un-German in spirit.” After the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, she was no longer able to attend school and was enrolled in a private business college.
Kristallnacht [Night of Broken Glass]—9-10 November 1938 and the attendant fury it unleashed against the Jewish community and their places of worship convinced her father of the necessity of leaving Germany. Most countries had closed their doors to refugees by 1938, but Hermine’s father and brother were able to organise passage to Shanghai—known as ‘the port of last resort.’ Hermine and her mother followed. The family were reunited and they rented reasonable- sized rooms. By comparison to their apartment in Berlin “They were primitive.”
Hermine found intermittent work but spent most of her time caring for her sick mother. She married in late 1942. Shortly after the wedding her husband was interned for the duration of the war. They were forced to move into the Shanghai Ghetto early 1943. “Although there were no walls enclosing the ghetto and Jews were treated benignly relative to their European counterparts, there were deprivations” (Kessler, 2017). There was no heating. They had to wash in freezing water. Their only source of heat was burning coal dust that her brother was able to forage. They were forced to depend on the soup-kitchen run by the JOINT [American Jewish Distribution Committee] and were not too proud to queue for food. The Shanghai Ghetto was liberated in September 1945. She was reunited with her husband. They left Shanghai as soon as they were able and migrated to Sydney, Australia.
Production placeShanghai, China
Production date 1940-04-02
Object nameidentity cards
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 210.00 mm
height: 320.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mrs Hermine (Minnie) Levy