Nine-year-old Jerry Lindenstraus loved a parade, but growing up in Nazi Germany, parades had grown dangerous. Upon hearing the jubilant music of the band and the distinctive uproar of a parade, a young Jerry ran to enjoy the spectacle. He refers to this moment as a “big mistake because you had to salute the Nazi salute when the flags came by and I didn’t do it. I was nearly beaten up [but] I got home on time and never went to the parade again until I came here” – America. This was a moment of realization for Jerry and illustrated the truly crooked world he was living in.
Jerry Lindenstraus is a Holocaust survivor who spoke to students from the School of the New York Times recently about his experience as an escaped German Jew in Shanghai during the Holocaust. The Nazis began to rise to power when he was a child, in 1933, so he was never explicitly told about the atrocities taking place, but he “knew what [he] had to know” and noticed the minor changes around him. Even before the Holocaust, Jews in Gumbinnen “were completely assimilated” and Jerry narrates “we did Jewish holidays,… but we didn’t even have a rabbi”; therefore, this shift was not entirely sudden but definitely jarring.
After Kristallnacht, a horrific pogrom against Jews in which Jerry’s school was demolished, his family knew they had to flee Germany; however, it was very difficult to go to a Western country then. As a last resort, they decided to go to Shanghai– a completely alien place to this European family. His father bought nine tickets and Jerry, his father, his stepmother, and six other relatives boarded a ship and embarked on their journey to Shanghai– leaving behind all that was familiar for foreign ground.
Thanks to some money saved from his father and sent from a cousin in London, they could get a small apartment in the French district of Shanghai. However, once they ran out of money, they had to move to a more congested and middle-class neighborhood that eventually became a ghetto– small gated communities intending to confine and segregate Jews set up by Nazis. Jewish refugees in the ghetto were heavily guarded by the Japanese, and they referred to the general as the “King of the Jews.” They “had no running water [and an] outhouse on the roof where my stepmother had to cook,” Jerry told. In the ghetto, they could not do much, and one of the only happy places for Jerry was his school. The school offered him both breakfast and lunch and was also where he learned English because his teachers, though German, taught in English. This was where he made a lifelong friend Gary, who lived in a refugee camp; Jerry and Gary became very close and remained dear friends until Gary passed away two years ago in California.
Jerry remembers the moment the war was over as a joyous but shocking one. He recalls the instance when he was able to simply take a walk with his friend Gary without waiting in long lines or facing harsh guards as one of his fondest memories. After the war, his mother, who had been living in Columbia after remarrying, found out he was alive and sent for him to come to her. Much to the dismay of his stepmother, whom he had been living with all this time and considered his true mother, he reluctantly decided to go as “blood is thicker than water.” On the trip to Columbia, he spent some time in California. He feels this time is when he became acquainted with and started developing a liking for the US. He then moved to Columbia for some years and learned Spanish, making him trilingual along with German and English. He did not speak much about his experience in Colombia and opened up more after leaving.
Later, he moved to Louisiana, where his stepmother was, and used the reparations given by Germany to travel around America. As he ran out of money, he ended up in New York. He said “I call home…I came in 1953”. He has been living in New York since and now takes many opportunities to share his story worldwide. One of his most emotional storytellings was when he returned to Shanghai for the second time for a speech in the museum converted from the synagogue where he had his Bar Mitzvah and said Kaddish for his father. This synagogue had served as a connection to faith and a safe haven for Jerry during his time in the Shanghai Ghetto. The first time he returned to Shanghai was with his son, whom Jerry had promised to take to all the places he had lived. This promise, which he holds dear to his heart as he is very close to his son, prompted him even to visit his hometown, which is now part of Russia.
He believes his experiences have defined him as they have helped him in life and business, and his optimism has made him very friendly. During the Holocaust he “learned how to survive”. He doesn’t feel survivor’s guilt and he noted that “I feel lucky not guilty” and that his life has been destiny. However, he acknowledges that many of the Jews who were in Shanghai minimize what they underwent because they did not experience concentration camps. He admitted that “I do that too. I say it wasn’t that bad, it was terrible!” He feels that Germany has taken responsibility for the Holocaust well and is very happy about the museum having been made in Shanghai, as the Chinese government initially chose not to acknowledge the Shanghai ghetto. He wants his legacy and those of all victims of the Holocaust to be passed on by retelling stories and feels there are many books and movies, including Jerry’s own, to help future generations do this.
Regarding the rising antisemitism in the United States, Jerry is concerned for the future and his grandchildren but is optimistic that the situation will not worsen. He feels that “there was and there always will be” antisemitism, but that people must “keep your eyes and ears open and… be involved and… active, so these things don’t happen again”. Jerry Lindenstraus is a truly optimistic survivor of the Holocaust with incredible experiences throughout his life. His message to the world about genuinely making a difference is that “you got to be proactive” and that “if you are tough and hang in there, you can do anything.”
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