Reconstructing the Vanished Musical

Life of the Shanghai Jewish Diaspora:

A Report
Tang Yating
in association with Kay Dreyfus
In the 100/ years between 1840 and 1945, Shanghai was home to a number of Jewish
diaspora communities, not all of whom came, but all of whom left as refugees. Each of
these communities maintained its own traditions and practices; in modern Shanghai
only a few historic buildings and sites remain. In this report of my ethnomusicological
study at home, I use rare ephemera and other documents to reconstruct a now vanished
musical world, assembling evidence of actual musical events, their purposes, participants
and repertoire. I observe the many and varied ways in which music functioned as a
(subjective) marker of cultural identity within a self-enclosed cultural enclave that was
characterized more by its heterogeneity than by the commonality suggested by its
Jewishness.
Keywords: Twentieth-Century Shanghai; Jewish Diasporas; Refugee; Music-Making;
Secular; Liturgical; Hebrew; Yiddish; Oriental Sephardi; Ashkenazi
This article is a work in progress report on my research into the now lost musical
environment of the Jewish diaspora communities of Shanghai. It reviews an
important, but little known segment of Chinese/Jewish musical history. Using rare
ephemera and empirical documents from the wartime era, it focuses in particular on
the music of the Central European refugee community between c. 1938 and c. 1945.
The role of music in the 100-year history of Chinese/Jewish relations in Shanghai has
been discussed in passing in other places, but not in a sustained way. If we accept
Tang Yating is Professor of Ethnomusicology and Translation and Director of the Foreign Language Section of
the Social Science Department at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In addition to a large number of
translations in the fields of ethnomusicology and musicology, his publications are mainly articles on Jewish
music in China, especially that of the Kaifeng and Shanghai Jews. Correspondence to: 177-19-501 Che-zhan-bei
Rd., Shanghai 200434. Email: tangyt@public4.sta.net.cn
Ethnomusicology Forum
Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2004, pp. 101/118
ISSN 1741-1912 (print)/ISSN 1741-1920 (online) # 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/1741191042000215291
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Ristainos proposition that the preservation of its separate ethnic and cultural
identity, [is] one of the key priorities of the victim diaspora tradition (2001, 17),
then music, as a key expressive marker of cultural identity, should occupy a central
place in an investigation of how this was made possible within Shanghais Jewish
refugee community.
1
My interest in the topic arose out of my studies at the Shanghai Conservatory in
the early 1990s. Obliged to refine an area within the very broad study of the influence
of Western music on Shanghai between the 1840s and the 1940s, I chose the music of
the Jewish community for various reasons. First, the 1990s saw the publication of a
number of studies of this community in Chinese translation (e.g. Gu 1990; Pan and
Li 1995; Tang et al. 1992; Wang 1993). The best known was David Kranzlers 1976
study Japanese, Jews and Nazis (published in 1990 in a translation by Xu Buzeng),
which impressed me in that it devoted just three pages to the colourful Jewish
musical life of 1940s Shanghai. Second, the Jewish community itself was relatively
small, short-lived and self-contained, preserving its traditional cultures / which
included Baghdadi (sometimes called Oriental) Sephardi, Ashkenazi, Eastern
European Yiddish and even Jewish-European / relatively intact. In particular, the
experience of the refugee community / culturally intense, concentrated in time and,
in the period of the ghetto, physically segregated / offered me an excellent
opportunity for some micro-level ethnomusicological studies, allowing me to test
some theoretical ideas that have subsequently become central to my research on this
topic. Finally, and not least, the former Jewish ghetto is in the borough where I live
to this day, which offered an ideal opportunity for an ethnomusicological study at
home.
However, on searching for materials in the Shanghai Library and the Shanghai
Archives, I discovered that very little paper memorabilia remained to document this
era of Shanghais history. In the Modern Literature Department of Shanghai Library, I
found the Shanghai Jewish Chronicle (1943/4), the only Jewish newspaper now
available in the city. Otherwise, the refugees took nearly everything away with them
when they left for America, Israel and Australia. Thus, my first challenge was to
reconstruct the musical/cultural life of a community that lived in my town for a
century and then, it would seem, vanished without a trace. Anecdotal evidence attests
to its vibrancy, variety and physical impact on parts of the city, but all that was left of
it in 1990s Shanghai was a few historic buildings or sites.
2
My research did not progress much until I came to the UK with a government
fellowship for advanced studies of ethnomusicology. There I found quite a few things
and, more importantly, some source references, especially Kranzlers bibliography,
which is omitted in the Chinese translation. I contacted Dr Kranzler, and he kindly
sent me most of the materials he possesses that were relevant to my study, including
programmes, flyers, tickets, letters, minutes of meetings, internal memos or similar
records / fragments of information, which provided the basis of the second part of
this report. I discovered more newspaper clippings during my visit to the States on a
fellowship from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture in April 2000. These
102 Tang Yating
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sources will come into my later writings on this topic, planned to include a brief
history of Shanghai Jewish musical life.
The report aims to explore the nexus between the historical situation of the Jews
of Shanghai, the social structures they developed to support and sustain their
cultural life and their experience of music in both sacred and secular contexts.
Shanghai in the late 1930s and early 1940s was a complex environment, presenting
itself on three levels: Shanghai as a whole, the foreign settlements and concessions
and Shanghai Jewry. It was a city tolerant of pluralism, inhabited by a great mix of
nationalities, governed by foreign interests among which no one nation exercised
clear control. The greatest number of refugees, however, arrived at a time of
transition, as the Japanese military authority gradually took over the city and once-
dominant Western influence was displaced. The arrival of the refugees also coincided
with a downturn in the citys economic fortunes as a consequence of the Japanese
occupation in 1937 (Rutland 1987, 409); in the ensuing years Shanghai itself was
increasingly under duress. The historical circumstances of Shanghai at this time thus
definitively shaped the Jewish refugee experience, as may be seen, for example,
through a comparison with Adelaida Reyes (1999) study of the Vietnamese refugee
experience in the United States, which introduced the idea of involuntary forced
migration as a determining cultural factor in ethnomusicological migration studies.
Although Reyes emphasizes dislocation and loss as part of the Vietnamese refugee
experience, it is an experience confined to the refugees; stability and benevolence is
presupposed in the host environment, into which it is assumed the refugees will
eventually be assimilated.
The Shanghai Jewish refugees were a heterogeneous group: in many cases all
they had in common was the fact that they were Jewish and their refugee status
(Strauss 1983, 46). The journey into common exile did not overcome their mutual
distrust, and traditional tensions and historical antagonisms persisted, producing
intense divisions and rivalries (Ristaino 2001, 144/5; Kranzler 1971, 122/4).
Although perhaps distinguished by a common ability to connect to their Jewish
tradition, the variety and contrasts of their cultural life make manifest the many ways
in which that Jewish tradition could be defined. The fragmentary nature of the
information is itself a representation of cultural life in which, as Reyes observes in
another context, coherence is less an innate intactness as a piecing together
of fragments collected as music-bearing migrants move through time and space
(1999, 17).
The Physical Evidence
It is possible to trace the layers of Jewish migration to Shanghai through the buildings
that are left and the vestigial evidence of the practices of worship that took place in
them.
Ethnomusicology Forum 103
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The Baghdadi Jewish Merchants
Some two centuries after the decline of the ancient Jewish community in Kaifeng, a
new one came into being in Shanghai. Elias David Sassoon, an Iraqi-Jewish merchant
who later acquired British citizenship, came to Shanghai in 1845 to set up a branch of
his familys Bombay-based business as the British opened up the port following
Chinas defeat in the Sino-British Opium War. Shanghai, like some other Chinese
cities, became a concession to foreign powers. In Shanghai, growing out of the
combination of the British, the American and the Japanese settlements, the
International Settlement developed into an urban centre and became the very centre
of the city. Another area in the south-west part of the city took shape as the French
Concession, otherwise called French Town. The remaining part in the south east was
called Nanshi (literally Southern City) by the local people, and is the oldest part of
Shanghai.
3
With the arrival of other Jews, mainly from India and the Middle East, it was not
long before a small but influential Sephardi community was established in Shanghai.
Its population, mostly consisting of rich businessmen who were to dominate the citys
economy, numbered 500 in the early days of the 20th century, and rose to 700 in its
heyday in the 1930s. The names of Sassoon, Hardoon and Kadoorie were prominent.
As in other Asian cities where they settled, the mostly orthodox Sephardi Jews
addressed their communal religious needs by securing venues for synagogues.
Cemeteries were established (first in 1862 on Mohawk Road, then at Baikal Road,
Columbia Road and Point Road); all have now been demolished. By 1887, a generous
donation had made possible the establishment of the first synagogue in the city, Beth-
El in Peking Road, within the then-growing British Settlement. The building of other
synagogues followed. Shearith Israel, with its associated Talmud Torah school, was
founded in 1898 in Seward Road, Hongkew (at that time the American Settlement),
the result of the separation of the orthodox element from Beth-El. Ohel Rachel, a
replacement of Beth-El, followed in the 1920s at No. 500 Seymour Road (now North
Shaanxi Road in the city centre), where the building still stands.
4
Beth Aharon was
established with money donated by Silas Hardoon in 1927 in Museum Road, near the
Bund in the British Settlement, as a successor to Shearith Israel, but did not attract a
big congregation until the end of the 1930s, when refugees flocked in from Europe.
Shanghai Sephardim also set up, in the early 20th century, the first Shanghai Jewish
School, the Jewish Club Ahduth and the English-language weekly periodical Israels
Messenger, all of which were to play important roles in the Shanghai Jews cultural
life.
The Sephardi community, though not well knit, adhered to the traditional
practices of their faith, observing the Sabbath and all Jewish festivals and giving tithes,
with instructions on religious observance coming directly from Baghdad due to a lack
of rabbis after Rabbi W. Hirschs departure in 1923. In addition to their traditional
responsorial chants, the elaborate services at Ohel Rachel included choral singing and
even an organ (Ristaino 2001, 25).
104 Tang Yating
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Some rare individual Jews were assimilated into the culture in which they lived.
Silas A. Hardoon, for example, was a Sephardi tycoon who married a Chinese-Irish
woman, a Buddhist. His funeral in 1931 was a reflection of his multi-cultural
surroundings: first, Buddhist prayers were offered, then a procession with a
traditional Chinese music ensemble and a Western band took place and, last, the
Kaddish / the Judaic prayer for the dead / was recited (Krasno 1992, 129/30).
5
In
general, however, the geography of the city and its division into concessions, kept
Jewish refugees far from Chinese life (Schwarcz 1998, 293).
The Russian Jewish E

migres
A small Ashkenazi community, mainly comprising Jews from Russia, was also
established in Shanghai by the early 1900s. The Russian immigrants, some of whom
came to Shanghai via the north-east Chinese city of Harbin, were joined later by non-
Jewish and Jewish White Russians fleeing the 1917 Revolution and formed the second
Shanghai Jewish Community. On arrival, the Russian Ashkenazi attended the
Sephardi Ohel Rachel Synagogue. By 1906, the first 75 Russian families had built
their own synagogue, Ohel Moishe, in Seward Road, Hongkew. By 1928, they had
opened a new Ohel Moishe synagogue on Ward Road (now 62 Changyang Road and
the site of the projected Jewish Refugee Historical Museum of Shanghai, still in
preparation) (see also Ristaino 2001, 290 n.15). The synagogue was named in honour
of their first leader Moishe Greenberg. In 1941, to cope with the influx of Russian
Jews who moved from run-down Hongkew to French Town, a large synagogue with
1,000 seats, the New Synagogue, rose up in the Rue Tenant de la Tour.
6
The
congregation increased to 4,000 through the 1940s, constituting the largest Russian
Jewish community in the Far East during that period.
The Russian Jews set up other institutions, such as a funeral organization Chevra
Kadisha, the Ashkenazi Zionist Organization (Kadimah), the Shanghai Ashkenazi
Jewish Communal Association and the Russian Shanghai Jewish Club, a venue for
various artistic events. The community published its own newspaper Unser Leben
(Our Life), a trilingual paper in Russian, Yiddish and English, support for which was
to be strengthened by the arrival of orthodox Eastern European Jews in the early
1940s.
Jewish Refugees from Germany and Austria
A third wave of Jewish migrants into Shanghai, most arriving in the very short space
of time between the end of 1938 (following the Kristallnacht pogroms of 9/10
November) and August 1941 (when immigration was restricted), comprised nearly
18,000 central European refugees. For most of these refugees, Shanghai was a
destination of necessity, not of choice, seen as a waiting room on the way to a more
desirable place (Rutland 1987, 407/9). The refugees shock on arrival in Shanghai is
Ethnomusicology Forum 105
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well documented. Nonetheless, as the possibility of relocation faded, Shanghai
became synonymous with refugee life in China (Berg-Pan 1983, 283).
In the winter of 1938/9, these German and Austrian Ashkenazi newcomers
attended the Sephardi services at the Beth Aharon and the Ohel Rachel Synagogue, as
well as the Ashkenazi services at the Ohel Moishe Synagogue. But some of the
German Jews brought with them the practices of 19th-century Reform Judaism in
worship and service and soon sought independence by conducting their own services
at the Broadway Theatre, Hongkew. That was closely succeeded by another breakaway
when the majority Liberals, led by Rabbi Dr E. Silberstein, created a congregation at
Eastern Theatre, neighbouring the Broadway (Kranzler 1990, 268).
Music for the Reform services featured the organ (in Shanghai, a harmonium was
used instead) and a male voice choir, thus partly persisting in the orthodox Jewish
tradition which proscribes women singing in front of men, though breaking with
responsorial singing. The male choir Hasmir of the German Liberal service,
conducted by Heinrich Markt and Martin Epstein, was said to be the best in
Shanghai at that time (Hausdorff 1939, 16).
A poster published in the 8-Uhr Abendblatt (8-Oclock Evening Paper) shows
that a harmonium and a large mixed choir were used in the Liberal service held at the
Eastern Theatre to celebrate the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) on 2 and 3
October 1940. The inclusion of a female soloist (Seywald 1987) was remarkably alien
to the orthodox Judaic tradition. This was perhaps the outcome of a struggle between
the Beth-Din (the Jewish religious court in Shanghai) and the Judische Gemeinde (the
Jewish Community of Central European Jews, i.e. the executive authorities of the
Austro-German refugees). The latter insisted on the needs of most Austro-German
Jewish refugees secular taste for a service with musical accompaniment and female
voices, even a female choir (Gelbe Post , 5 July 1940, 4), which came into being as the
paraliturgical Klemann Womens Choir.
The German and Austrian Jews established their own organization, the Jewish
Cultural Association (later renamed the Jewish Community of Central European
Jews), which carried out the communitys administrative functions. The German-
speaking refugees had more journals than any of the other communities. Among the
most important were Shanghai Woche (Shanghai Weekly), Gelbe Post (Yellow Post),
8-Uhr Abendblatt (8-Oclock Evening Paper) and the Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, of
which the last was the only one permitted by the Japanese during the Hongkew ghetto
period (1943/5) and an important source for my research (Tang et al. 1992, 202/3).
The Polish Refugees
The fourth of Shanghais Jewish communities comprised over 1,000 Polish and
Lithuanian refugees repatriated from Kobe, Japan, in the autumn of 1941. Over half
were Orthodox and Chassidic Jews, including an entire Talmud school (the Mir
yeshiva) consisting of 400 students, teachers and rabbis. The latter group of religious
intelligentsia adhered strictly to Jewish traditional practice, either attaching
106 Tang Yating
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themselves to the Russian Ashkenazi services or holding their own in some shtiblach
(informal one-room synagogues). They even opened a new mikveh (ritual bathing
place) in Hongkew since none existed in the Russian New Synagogue. Later this
orthodox element completely took over the study hall of the Sephardi Beth Aharon
(Kranzler 1990, 286, 289).
One Polish refugee recalled his experience of a New Year service in the Russian
Ohel Moishe:
Among the Polish refugees was the cantor of the Bialystock Choral Synagogue, Mr
Podrabinek, who was engaged by the Russian jewish community to lead prayers
that year. . . . I particularly recall Kol Nidrei night of that year [1943]. The
synagogue was packed; Cantor Podrabineks magnificent voice and masterly
renditions of the prayers thrilled the congregation, some of whom had never had
the opportunity to savour such an experience. At the end of the service, the peoples
excitement was unmistakable. One woman likened the cantors performance to
opera rather than to a religious service, so strong was the impact made on her. For
me, too, it was a far cry from the kind of service with which I had been familiar
back home. (Kipen 1989, 134)
The main contribution of the Polish Orthodox to the Shanghai Jews religious life
was the maintenance of the tradition of advanced Talmudic studies (Ristaino 2001,
144) in traditional religious schools, such as the Far Eastern Rabbinical College
(Yeshiva Ketanah) (Kranzler 1990, 281/2). It was said that this community was the
most closely knit group among Shanghai Jews (Kranzler 1971, 193). Having little
interest in secular studies or activities, it maintained its cultural and religious
aloofness, particularly from the German-speaking European Jews.
Religious buildings were not the only sign of the refugees physical impact on the
city. Many of the central European refugees settled in Hongkew, where they
disembarked. Hongkew was the Japanese part of the International Settlement and
the poorest, where cheap housing was available and the refugee camps (Heime) and
communal kitchens were located. The only bustling place in Hongkew then was the
Broadway (now Da-ming Road around the Ti-lan-qiao area). As the Central
European refugees moved in after 1939, shops, night clubs, cafes and pubs in
European style started to appear in some streets, which brought booming business
and night life to the area. A refugees recollection gives us a vivid picture:
Whole streets took on a European appearance and Little Tokyo was replaced by
Little Vienna. In the Wayside district and along the Chusan Road they opened
shops, restaurants, open-air cafes selling milk shakes and ice creams. Nightclubs
like the Roof Garden and the White Horse Inn offered music and comic routines as
well as a Miss Shanghai contest. They put on Yiddish plays and published Yiddish
newspapers. (Sergeant 1990, 320)
The Paper Trail: Hebrew-Yiddish Musical Life of Shanghai Jewish Communities
In this section I focus mainly on the role of two social institutions in sustaining
Jewish religious and secular (folk) musical life in the Hebrew-Yiddish tradition: the
Ethnomusicology Forum 107
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Gemeinschaft Judischer Kantoren Shanghai (the Association of Shanghai Jewish
Precentors) and the Russian Shanghai Jewish Club.
7
The Association of Shanghai Jewish Precentors (or cantors) was established in 1940
for the purpose of sustaining and developing the social, cultural and financial
interests of its (fewer than 20) members. Documents in the possession of the writer
(notices, minutes of meetings, letters and so on), allow us to discover something
about its operation. As their major task, the cantors performed in various
synagogues. However, the Association also held events such as festival dinners,
birthday celebrations for members, gatherings for significant occasions, benefits for
the Associations anniversary and to mark the election of the honourable senior
master. The members held general discussions about their work, finance and
personnel matters, made proposals for the rostering of funerals and weddings,
debated the different functions of rabbis and cantors, and criticized the communitys
administration. Miserable as their incomes were (most cantors held a second part-
time job as teachers in English, Hebrew and music at Jewish schools or as music
copiers for the communitys music events), they insisted that fees for services should
be distributed among all members and not just go to the individual. Despite this
apparent esprit de corps and their mutual dependency, there was frequent discord
within the group, concerning for example, the elimination of some uncooperative
elements from within the executive or complaints against some cantors for their
unpunctual attendance at funerals.
A cantors choir was formed in 1941 under the musical direction of Jacob
Kaufmann, to give concerts and help with community events. The following sketch
brings the membership to life:
Max Warschauer, active as a conductor, has besides a good baritone, recognized not
only in the concert hall but over many years as leading cantor of our community in
the synagogue. . . . Warschauers successor in the cantorate became Josef Fruchter, a
brilliant singer, a genuine knight of the high c, who in the concert hall under the
sign of the genuine Verdi strettos came, sang and became victorious. Two powerful
bass baritones Ludwig Korsell and Hans Bergmann were a valuable support for our
ensemble as Fritz Philippsborn, a bass, and his colleague Louis Levine. (Felber
1946/7, 66)
Their voices are remembered as blending beautifully.
The cantors, many of whom had been trained in Italian bel canto singing style,
played a very important role in the refugees musical life. Individual cantors or the
choir sang at various festivals and services, at funerals and weddings and Bar-Mitzvah
ceremonies. The following cantorial performances are recorded by documents in my
possession:
. A Passover musical service at the Ward Road Heim (n.d.), featuring Hebrew and
Yiddish songs for solo and choir, accompanied by the harmonium.
. A Purim evening at the Thals Restaurant, Wayside Road, on 16 March 1941, with a
performance by the Association of Cantors, also included dancing and speeches
and a charity auction of radio apparatus for relief funds.
108 Tang Yating
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. A celebration for the Jewish scientific Lehrhaus (teaching house) on 22 February
1942.
. A memorial service for the victims of the air raid on the ghetto on 17 July 1945,
held at the Alcock Road Heim on 16 July 1946.
. A command performance for the US army on the occasion of the sixth anniversary
of the Cantors Association at the Chinese Theatre on 27 January 1946.
Apart from services and particular occasions such as the above, members of the
Association performed synagogue and other Jewish music at recreational evenings
and concerts, and were broadcast on the American radio station in Shanghai
(XHHZ). Venues used were mostly the Alcock Heim and the Shanghai Jewish School
and, occasionally, the Broadway Theatre. These events were usually sponsored / by
the Jewish Community of Central European Jews, by businesses (e.g. European
Bakery), institutes (e.g. the charity group Kitchen Fund) or individuals. On the
programmes, vocal items (solo, chorus and ensemble) were interspersed with
instrumental pieces / works either by Jewish-European composers working in the
Western art music tradition (such as Bruchs cello work Kol Nidre or Wieniawskis
violin concerto) or by composers such as Torelli, Bach, Handel and so forth. Most of
the vocal items were liturgical songs (such as the Kiddush), songs set to Biblical texts
or arrangements of Jewish and Yiddish folk music. There were also Chassidic songs,
Jewish art songs and Yiddish theatre and operetta songs (e.g. Raisins and almonds, a
poignant lullaby from Avrom Goldfadns 1880 Yiddish theatre production Shulamis ).
Certain names recur on the programmes in my possession: for example, 19th century
Jewish composers of the Reform tradition, cantors and choir conductors in European
synagogues who created music in the Jewish tradition that was yet under the
influence of Western art music, including Louis Lewandowski (1821/94), Solomon
Sulzer (1804/90) and Samuel Naumbourg (1815/80); collectors and arrangers of
Jewish folk and liturgical music such as Arno Nadel (1878/1943) and Josef (Yossele)
Rosenblatt (1882/1933), one of the most popular cantors and liturgical composers of
the early 20th century. Other popular composers, many from the cantorial/choral
tradition, were S. Alman, M. Herschmann, S. Secunda, L. Kornitzer, A. Friedmann, J.
Goldstein, Roskin, Peissachowitsch, Weiser, Bakon, Wilkomirski and Rothstein.
Programmes also included works by composers then resident in Shanghai, such as the
pianist/composer Hans Baer and Cantor Jacob Kaufmann, the conductor of the
Hasmir choir.
Mirroring the role of the Association of Precentors in the German-Austrian
refugees musical life was that of the Russian Shanghai Jewish Club, which also
worked as a liaison between the Polish and Russian refugees (who had more in
common with each other than either had with the German-speaking refugees or the
Sephardim). Set up by the Russian Jews in 1932, the club sponsored ballet, choral
singing, drama, poetry recitation and concerts. With its seven study groups
(literature, fine arts, instrumental music, vocal music, dance, drama and chess), its
aim was to unite and help all art lovers, and it was a non-profit organization (Wang
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1993, 612/13). By the early 1940s, it had also become the venue for performances of
Yiddish songs and plays organized by Polish refugees. These brought some income to
the club and diversified its entertainment. The club moved several times between the
International Settlement and the French Concession, being located first at Avenue
Road, then at Moulmein Road, at Bubbling Well Road in the latter half of 1941 and
finally at Pichon Route in 1947 / the present location of the Shanghai Conservatory
of Music. The following details of some of its concerts may be gleaned from surviving
programmes:
. A concert of Yiddish folk songs on 17 April 1940 (at which time the Polish
contingent had not yet arrived), included solos by the baritone cantor Hersch
Friedmann (the Yiddish folk singer and master of Oriental Jewish songs), Greta
Kleiner (a well-known Yiddish folk singer and formerly a successful Western art
song performer in Vienna) and Lia Morgenstern and piano accompaniments by
Max Retzler.
. A concert of Jewish songs on 22 March 1942, solos by Raja Zomina (Polish Jewish
vocal star) and Cantor Hersch Friedmann, piano by Siegfried Sonnenschein. In
addition to Jewish-Yiddish traditional songs, some composed songs were also in
the programme, e.g. those based on the poems of Yiddish poets I. L. Peretz (1852/
1915), F. Zunser (1836/1913), I. Manger (1901/69), M. Gebirtig (1877/1942).
Sponsors for this concert included an optician, a pharmacy, a fur shop, a trade
company and a nightclub.
. A concert of Jewish-Yiddish songs on 8 July 1942, solos again by Raja Zomina,
with the leading cantor Max Warschauer also taking part and piano accompani-
ments by Professor Ervin Marcus. Once again the programmes included songs
composed to the poems of Yiddish poets such as I. L. Peretz, M. Gebirtig and M.
Broderson (1890/1956). The sponsors were all individuals.
. A concert of Jewish songs on 6 May 1943, with solos by Greta Kleiner and M.
Elbaum. Max Rezler played piano. Some individuals and a bar sponsored this
event.
On her arrival in Shanghai in 1941, the Polish actress Rose Shoshano organized a
troupe for the presentation of Yiddish theatre pieces, concerts and evening
entertainments. For example, in the Concert for Living Art, 17 November 1941,
Shoshano performed songs set to poems by Russian Yiddish poets such as S. An-Ski
(1863/1920) and S. Frug (1860/1916), and Polish Yiddish poets C. Grade and J.
Tuwim. Greta Kleiner and Clara Lin performed Jewish and Chassidic songs, the latter
accompanying herself on the accordion. Other musical items were presented which
Max Rezler accompanied at the piano.
Programmes frequently included compositions with a Jewish flavour, such as the
piano preludes in Oriental Jewish and Palestinian style by the refugee composer
Hans Baer (Hausdorff 1939, 16), and works by Jewish-European composers from
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Mendelssohn to Korngold, with Bruchs Kol Nidre and Blochs Baal Shem being given
on many occasions.
Hongkew Ghetto Period
With the start of the Pacific War after the attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December
1941, the Japanese began the orderly takeover of those sections of Shanghai that had
previously not been under their jurisdiction. Starting in 1942, enemy nationals,
including Baghdadi Jews with British citizenship, were interned (Ristaino 2001, 188/
90).
On 8 February 1943 the occupying Japanese authorities proclaimed a designated
area in Hongkew (todays Ti-lan-qiao area and its neighbouring district of West
Yangpu). The 18,000 stateless Jewish refugees from Central and Eastern Europe (not
including the Russian Jews) were relocated into this area, a run-down district in
north-east Shanghai at that time.
8
The Hongkew Ghetto period lasted for two and
half years from February 1943 until the Japanese surrendered and the ghetto was
liberated in September 1945.
It was not a ghetto in the European sense inasmuch as there were no walls.
However, none of the refugees was allowed to move freely, even for work. None could
leave the so-called ghetto without a pass; all came to suffer extreme poverty, especially
between spring 1943 and summer 1944 when American relief funds were cut off
(Ristaino 2001, 202). As the Japanese occupied the city centre and most shops were
closed, it was hard for the musicians to go there to give regular performances.
Programmes had to pass Japanese censorship to meet the occupiers interest and
taste. Even if a concert were approved, it was subject to interference by Japanese
patrols and police. However, the demand for musical life persisted even in the face of
such restrictions, with musicians often volunteering their services. Such events
enriched the life in the Heime and the community and strengthened the unity of
refugees. Thus music was a valuable cultural factor, which cannot be underestimated
(Felber 1943, v).
During this period, two institutions played important roles in the musical life of
the ghetto. The refugees themselves had established the Kitchen Fund, a foundation
for the relief of refugees, in August 1942. With initial support from the American Jews
Joint Distribution Committee (60% of all the funds), the organization whole-
heartedly supported cultural activities for the refugees as well as attending to their
material needs (Kranzler 1990, 306).
The Shanghai Musicians Association of Stateless Refugees (SMA) was responsible
for the employment of its member musicians and it reached an agreement with the
Innkeepers Association to guarantee that employment. On 15 November 1943 a
general meeting was called to help the SMA members in poverty to cope with the
severe winter of 1943/4. The Association resorted to the patronage of some relief
organizations in order to give concerts (Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, 19 November
1943, 2).
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During the Hongkew Ghetto period (1943/45), it was reported that there existed,
in Hongkew alone, 14 large and small Betstaetten (places for prayer) for the refugees
ranging from Orthodox to Liberal orientation, including theatres, Heime and Jewish
schools. The rabbis officiated at services of all persuasions whether Orthodox, Reform
or Liberal (Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, 25 October 1943). These services and festival
celebrations connected the refugees to Jewish tradition and affirmed an encom-
passing identity that was sustaining even in the worst of times (Ristaino 2001, 275).
For example:
. A ceremony for the donation of a Sefer Torah (Scroll of the Law) at the Kadoorie
School
9
on 26 September 1943 commenced with the song Ma Tovu (How lovely
are your tents, O Jacob) by Cantor Antman and the Hasmir Choir, directed by
Martin Epstein and climaxed in a festive Chassidic dance.
. Five rabbis, two preachers and 60 singers from five community choirs (among
whom were about 20 cantors) assisted at the New Year ceremonies in September
1943. The celebration at the Broadway Theatre was enhanced by the participation
of senior cantor Antman from the Russian synagogue with the choir conducted by
Epstein, while principal cantor Warschauer took part in the one at the Eastern
Theatre, with the choir conducted by Markt. Both venues were occupied to the last
seat.
. The Simchat Torah celebrations, which marked the completion of the liturgical
years reading of the Torah in October 1943, were held in Ohel Moishe synagogue,
Allgemeine Judische Kirche (General Synagogue), Chaofoong Heim, the Broadway,
the Eastern and the Shanghai Jewish Youth Association School respectively.
The festive mood was heightened by delicious food and the beautiful singing.
The celebration at the SJYA School included a religious ceremony, and
was accompanied throughout by the singing of Cantor Antmann and the
Hasmir Choir. Later Rav Jehuda recited Kiddush (a blessing over wine) in the
garden.
. A celebration of the second anniversary of the refugees own McGregor Synagogue
was marked in November 1943 with a performance by Cantor Amsterdam and his
students.
. The festival of Chanukah (commemorating the victory of the Maccabees over the
Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus) in December 1943 was celebrated by the Agudas
Jisroel (Union of Israel) with the singing of Cantors Lewkowitz, Schallamach and
Aschendorf.
. The Purim celebration at the SJYA School on 12 March 1944 featured a secular
programme, in keeping with the festival. Assisted by the ballet master Erdstein, the
students sang, danced and recited in costume. The school chorus performed
English, German and Jewish songs. Aside from Chassidic dances, there was a
minuet, a piece of swing, a Russian group dance and a dance scene from the
operetta Countess Maritza.
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The refugees secular musical life in this period is exemplified in the evening variety
shows, including those undertaken for charity, or for religious or political purposes.
For example:
. In order to collect donations to help those in extreme poverty to cope with the
hard winter of 1943/4, the artists of the community initiated evening and matinee
concerts in the name of Jewish Winter Help. These were presented at weekends at
the Eastern Theatre. A number of artists, including those from art music, cabaret,
pop music, dance and drama as well as folk music, contributed solo performances
to the programme of the evening concert held on 25 December 1943. Cantor Fritz
Fruchter was active in these events, as was the folk-singing star Raja Zomina, who
was known as the Child of the East by her audience.
. The Agudas Jisroel (Union of Israel) gave a concert on 23 January 1944 at the SJYA
School in support of the Shabbat-Tisch (Sabbath table), an organization formed to
collect funds to feed the starving refugees, many of whom were able to take only
one meal a day. Among the performers were Cantor Hersch Friedmann (baritone),
Cantor Hans Bergmann (tenor) and Senior Cantor Podrabinek from the Russian
New Synagogue in French Town. Jewish folksongs along with Western art music
made up the major part of the entertainment.
Not surprisingly, political themes were reflected in the performances of the Zionist
Organization Shanghai (ZOS). The matinee entitled Lied und Bild (Song and
Painting), held at the Broadway Theatre on 14 November 1943, adopted such striking
slogans as Eretz Israel in Wort (The Land of Israel in words) and Wenn Ihr wollt ist es
kein Marchen (If you will it, it is not a fairy tale).
10
Besides the highlight of a
Palestinian artist painting on the stage, other items consisted of a chorus by the
synagogue choir Hasmir under the baton of Epstein, Zominas Jewish songs, Cantor
Warschauers Palestinian song, Senior Cantor Antmanns song Eternal Wanderer
and Lotte Sommers dance hailing the rebirth of the Jewish State. Kapellmeister Max
Rezler prepared the arrangements and provided piano accompaniments, Oscar Dub
played accordion.
Another example is the Zionist Organizations Maccabee celebration at the hall of
the SJYA School around the Chanukah Festival (23 December 1943) before a capacity
audience. After the kindling of the menorah (the eight-branched candelabrum),
Alfred Winzer recited his own Chanukah ballad, a melodramatic verse in praise of
Jewish heroism and unity. The synagogue choir, conducted by Heinrich Markt,
performed Lewandowskis Psalm 150 (Hallelujah), the final chorus from Mendels-
sohns incidental music to Racines tragedy Athalie and some other items, all with
Cantor Aronsohn at the organ. In addition, there were performances of a violin solo,
a childrens ballet and an accordion quartet, with piano accompaniments by Cantor
Kaufmann. The occasion ended with Winzers recitation calling for the declaration of
a Jewish State.
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At the Zionist Passover matinee, presented by the ZOS at the Broadway on
2 February 1944, a mixed programme of Western classical and Jewish traditional
pieces was again presented. A cappella choruses by the Hasmir choir under its
conductor Epstein started the programme, Alfred Winzer recited his Passover-Vision,
Hebrew-Yiddish folksongs were sung by Senior Cantor Antmann and the Polish
Jewish folk singer Raja Zomina was also heard. Other items included Herbert Zerniks
performance and a Yiddish dance by Kurt Friedberg, each of whom also had a duet
with Zomina (also a folk dancer). Sabine Rapps Zionist song in bel canto, Walter
Joachims cello solo and a childrens ballet were in Western art style. The evening
ended with Winzers epilogue. Max Rezler and Siegfried Sonnenschein were the
accompanists.
Other entertainments aimed to lift the spirits or promote education. One such
event was a charity performance for the purpose of the help of spiritual creativity,
held at the Roof Garden of the Roy Cafe on 8 November 1943. This variety concert
was sponsored by Ossi Lewin, Chairman of the European Jewish Artists Society
(EJAS) and editor of Shanghai Jewish Chronicle. Raja Zomina played the major part
with her folksongs. The other items were Robertsons dance duet with Zomina and
Hilde and Walther Friedmanns operetta duet, Max Rezler accompanying. Later, the
Oschitzki Ensemble provided music for dancing.
A synagogue chorus matinee, especially for young refugees aged between 14 and
20, was presented at the Broadway Theatre / the venue for many Jewish concerts by
cantors and synagogue choirs / on 12 September 1943. The conductor was Heinrich
Markt and the soloists were baritone Cantor Max Warschauer and mezzo-soprano
Rapp. The event prompted Professor Felber, music critic of the Shanghai Jewish
Chronicle, to comment that the first step in cultural development is to educate young
people (Felber 1943, v).
Two distinct styles can be found among the purely recreational musical events,
namely the Jewish folk style and a Jewish-European mixed style.
The Polish singer Raja Zomina was the most popular folk star in the ghetto, well-
known for her many performances in Hongkew, especially those with the famous
presenter Herbert Zernik; the pair were called Z-Z (Zomina-Zernik) by their fans.
Zomina was appreciated for her charm and grace as reflected in her fascinating and
soft voice. She expressed real Jewish heart and soul, joy and sorrow in her
performances of Yiddish songs such as the well-known Raisins and almonds, one
of the best-loved Yiddish lullabies. This popular song by the Father of Yiddish
Theatre Avrom Goldfadn (1840/1908) was taken from his 1880 operetta Shulamis.
It later achieved the status of a folksong, sung by Yiddish-speaking mothers the world
over (Eckhardt 1993, 53). The melancholy lyrics and sentimental melody resonate
with images of wandering and loss, reflecting the mood of the stateless wandering
Jews. It is no wonder that this lullaby struck a chord among the Shanghai refugees.
Zominas repertoire also included Chassidic songs, Oriental songs from Palestine
and even gypsy songs. She sang Yiddish duets with her partner Zernik. Zernik was
versatile, with humour and wit. Favourite performing venues for the pair in this
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period were the Alcock Heim, the roof garden of the Cafe Roy and Ward Road Park.
Grete Kleiner was another popular star for both Yiddish and German art songs in the
ghetto period. Her most welcomed item was the (probably comic) song, Ich will kein
Rebbe sein (I dont want to be a rabbi). Unusually, she also sang cantorial songs,
though there were no female cantors at that time. Her gala evenings with Cantor Josef
Fruchter used to be held at Chaofoong Park (now Zhongshan Park, outside the
ghetto), where her partner performed Yiddish songs as well as opera arias and
German Lieder (art songs).
The Jewish-European mixed style can be found in both Western operetta and
popular music entertainments. Among the former, we find the Singspiel (sung play)
of German-style ballad opera with dialogue, often in comic or light mood, such as
Jede traegt sein Pinkerl (Everyone carries his bundle) written by Jewish refugee
librettists Engel and Gruen using Jewish material and themes. Among the actors and
actresses for the performance at the theatre hall of the Alcock Heim (n.d.) were the
beloved Yiddish folksong singers Hersch Friedmann and Ernst Krasso. Cantor Max
Warshauer made a guest appearance in Scene 3, performing arias from Offenbachs
Tales of Hoffmann and The Toreadors Song from Bizets Carmen. Among the
accompanists were Max Rezler on piano, A. Wolffers on accordion and a childrens
choir.
As an example of a more popular form of entertainment, the Yiddish cabaret
evening (a mixture of Yiddish music, drama, language and European song and dance)
at Ward Road Heim garden (mid-September 1943) is worthy of mention. The
occasion featured songs by Yiddish folk singer Hersch Friedmann, and he, together
with the Polish refugee actress R. Shoshano and actor H. Walden, appeared in
cheerful sketches with Yiddish humour and wit. Shoshano also recited Yiddish verses
and Max Rezler, who also performed a solo Jewish potpourri, accompanied
everything on the piano. The whole performance was given in the Yiddish language.
Jewish folk music of this sort was also popular at Zominas and Kleiners evenings.
Conclusion
Shanghai was a confluence of nearly every major style of the Jewish musical world,
reflecting the multinational origins of the Jewish population and its multiplicity of
cultural identities: from Sephardic-Oriental to Ashkenazi liturgical, from Yiddish folk
to Chassidic mystic. For the refugee community, its musical life became a means by
which the daily struggle for subsistence could be lightened and made bearable.
Musical events raised funds to support relief efforts, provided food for the soul or
opportunities for the promotion of political ideals, and affirmed identity and
ethnicity. All these functions were ensured and maintained by social institutions and
individuals, both musical and commercial, and also by flexible tactics in the face of
political coercion. Only in a very few individual cases did Jewish musicians have
anything to do with their Chinese counterparts. For the most part, the Jewish
community was a segregated and self-enclosed enclave, especially on occasions of
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those secular performances and liturgical events that would seem to express the
essence of Jewish tradition. Jewish music culture / secular and sacred / was wholly
inward-turning, transplanted and practised almost as if the practitioners were still at
home, and it existed as an exotic element side by side with all the other cultures
present in Shanghai.
The experiences of each group within the Shanghai Jewish diaspora clearly shaped
its musical behaviour in various ways. For a time and in some respects, the musical
life of the refugee group under study in this report contributed to its internal social
integration in a positive way. This was not to last, however. Unlike other refugee
communities who experienced a loss of identity (such as the Vietnamese refugees
studied by Reyes in the USA) but who entered a stable and essentially welcoming host
culture into which they might reasonably hope to be assimilated, the Shanghai
refugee Jews entered a situation that was to be seriously affected by the deteriorating
world situation, an unsettled, confusing situation which, as it turned out, could not
offer a permanent home even to those who may have wished to stay. They entered a
society that welcomed them at first, without any expressions of racism or anti-
Semitism. However, they lived as a dislocated group within a much larger host
community which was itself simultaneously also experiencing dislocation, as the
Japanese conquest of the city proceeded, the Pacific War broke out and ended and
Chinese nationalism finally resulted in further expulsions and relocations. Thus no
positive outcome was in the long run possible and Shanghais Jewish inhabitants
moved on to the USA, Israel and Australia, taking all traces of an active and
meaningful musical life with them.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a grant from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, USA. I
am indebted to those who kindly provided me with the information necessary for this report, in
particular Dr David Kranzler, the Oriental Library of Cambridge University, UK, and the Modern
Literature Department of Shanghai Library. I am grateful to Dr Kay Dreyfus of Monash University,
Melbourne, for her invaluable research of the urban contextualization of Shanghai and editorial
assistance.
Notes
[1] The term victim diaspora was introduced into diaspora studies by Robin Cohen (1997) and
is used by Ristaino to distinguish the refugee communities of Shanghai from its older trade
and imperial diasporas: the rst comprising the Baghdadi-Jewish merchant community and
the second the denizens of the international settlements and the occupying Japanese.
[2] Of the synagogues that once existed in Shanghai, one (Ohel Moishe) is to be a museum and
another (Ohel Rachel) is now a government building. Two (New Synagogue and Beth Aharon)
were demolished for several small shops and a newspaper building respectively. Since the
1990s, the new Jewish community has been holding its services in a room of a hotel or in the
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Jewish Center, Hongqiao, where foreign settlers from the world over tend to make their
homes.
[3] Many maps of old Shanghai are available in the literature; see for example, Ristaino (2001,
xx/xxi). For a map of the Hongkew ghetto area, see Ristaino (2001, 195). The Ohel Moishe
museum has issued a pamphlet containing a keyed map of former Jewish sites, the latter may
be viewed at http://www.han-yuan.com/shudian/god/god36.htm
[4] According to a Web-based heritage tours site, the building is currently closed to the public,
though the World Monuments Fund added it to the 2002 Watch List of 100 Most Endangered
Sites: http://www.shanghai-jews.com/3.htm (accessed November 2003).
[5] For a fuller discussion of the exceptional nature of Hardoons interaction with the Chinese
environment, see Betta (1998, 216/29).
[6] The building was demolished in 1993 (Pan 1995, 18).
[7] For a further discussion of the colourful musical life in the European-Jewish tradition and its
relation to the local musical life in the Shanghai of this period, see Tang (1998, 1999).
[8] The statelessness of the European Jews resulted from laws passed in November 1941 by the
Third Reich which stripped Jews living abroad of their nationality (Ristaino 2001, 190).
[9] (Sir) Elly Kadoorie, founder of another Baghdadi Sephardi merchant dynasty in Shanghai
and Hong Kong, arrived in Shanghai in 1880. The family amassed a fortune in merchant
banking, real estate, hotels, utilities and rubber. Contributing to both Jewish and non-
Jewish institutions, the Kadoories founded schools and hospitals all over the world (Roland
1998, 149).
[10] This sentence is attributed to Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism (pers. com.,
Louis Waller, February 2003).
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