More than 400 items documenting the life of a Jewish family that escaped from Vienna to Shanghai during World War II. Vienna, Shanghai and elsewhere, 1930s and 1940s (a few are from earlier or later years). German, English, and other languages.
An interesting, comprehensive collection of certificates and official documents, letters, photographs and other items relating the life story of the couple Max and Dorotha Konstein and their daughter Edith; especially their lives under the Nazi regime in Vienna, their escape from Europe in 1940 and their life in Shanghai in the 1940s.
Maximillian (Max) Konstein was born in 1893 in Třebíč (the Czech Republic). During World War I, he served in the Austro-Hungarian army and in the early 1920s moved to Vienna and married Dorotha (born in Krakow in 1899). Their daughter, Edith, was born in Vienna in 1932.
In 1938, with the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, the Konsteins began to feel the persecution of the Jews firsthand – Max lost his job at the Kosmos insurance company and the couple were forced to leave their apartment, their possessions being sold for a pittance. Subsequently, Max and Dorotha decided to leave Vienna. In 1940, after many attempts to attain visas, a period during which they corresponded with the consulate of Chile, they succeeded in finding refuge in Shanghai, which at the time was the only city in the world allowing entrance without a passport or a visa (all that was needed was an European exit visa). In Shanghai they lived as stateless refugees. Edith studied at the Jewish school in the town and was a member of local Scouts movement.
Max Konstein died in 1945. In subsequent years, Dorotha and Edith worked for the American army. In 1949, they received new Austrian passports and attained visas via Canada to the USA, where they settled.
This collection includes numerous items documenting the persecution of the family members in Europe and their life in Shanghai:
• Three certificates, printed, filled-in by hand and stamped by the Vienna police, indicating that Edith and Dorotha added the middle name "Sarah" to their names, whereas Max added the name "Israel" (as required by Nazi law).
• Official price appraisal (Verkaufsschätzung) of the family's possessions from May 20, 1939, before they had to leave their house in Vienna – a list of the family's furniture and its appraisal.
• Announcement issued by the property manager in Vienna (Hausverwaltung), informing the Konsteins that they must leave their house immediately and move to a new address. 22.7.1939.
• Three letters that were sent to Max Konstein from his workplace, the Kosmos insurance company, documenting the worsening of his situation after the annexation of Austria: a letter from February 1937 (about a year before the annexation), congratulating Konstein for 25 years of work in the company; a short letter from April 1938, announcing that he will have to sever his ties to the company at the end of the year; and a letter of dismissal from July 1938.
• A German passport for Jews in the name of Max Konstein. On the first page appears the red stamp "J" (Jew) and alongside his name, the middle name "Israel" was added. Contains an entrance visa to Chile (from November 1939) and a one-time exit visa from the port of Trieste (Italy).
• A letter from October 1939, by the consul of Chile in Berlin, Artemio Zanartu, announcing the intention of issuing visas for the family and listing the documents the family needs to submit.
• Entrance visa to Chile in the name of Dorotha Konstein, hand-signed by the Chilean consul in Berlin. Issued on 25.11.1939.
• A boarding pass for the Conte Rosso ship sailing to Shanghai, for Edith Konstein.
• A letter from the Kitchen-Fund Kuratorium aid organization, to the Director General of the Office for the Shanghai Stateless Refugees Affairs, 1945. Indicating that the house where Dorotha and Edith had lived was destroyed in a bombing.
• Various certificates that were issued in Shanghai in the name of Edith Konstein, including a certificate issued by the American Army Advisory Group in 1948 (Edith being only 16 years old at the time), indicating her work in the service of the army.
• Certificates issued by the Shanghai Jewish School and notebooks used by Edith during her studies at the school.
• A certificate issued by The Boy Scouts Association, Shanghai branch.
• Several issues of newspapers, including the Shanghai Jewish Chronicle and the North China daily News.
• And many additional items, some of them personal items and souvenirs that were collected over the years (a photo album from the 1930s; an ornate wallet with a small collection of Chinese banknotes; a hand-held fan with the emblem of the Rotary International and a map of its branches in the Far East; an embroidered flag of Israel; and more).
A total of approx. 460 items (approx. 290 of them are photographs; some of them arranged in an album). Size and condition vary.