Document Type
Oral History
Publication Date
10-16-1999
Abstract
Copyright Steve Hochstadt. This transcript is provided for individual research purposes only; for all other uses, including publication, reproduction and quotation beyond fair use, permission must be obtained in writing from: Steve Hochstadt, c/o The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, Bates College, 70 Campus Avenue, Lewiston, Maine 04240-6018.
Recommended Citation
Hochstadt, Steve, "Matzdorff, Gary oral history interview" (1999). Shanghai Jewish Oral History Collection. 58.
https://scarab.bates.edu/shanghai_oh/58
COinS
Scope and Content Note
Gary (Günter) Matzdorff was born in Berlin on 10 July 1921. He attended the Jewish School in the Grosse Hamburger Strasse after 1933, and joined a rowing club, the Schwarze Fähnlein, and the Naumannianer. He apprenticed in the leather trade. His family sailed to Shanghai from Italy in April 1939 on the "S.S. Victoria." In Shanghai, Matzdorff worked for the Sino-Java Import and Export Company until Pearl Harbor and the beginning of the Pacific War. He joined Betar and the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. The Matzdorff family lived within the Hongkew District. Matzdorff worked as a nightwatchman, delivered coal, and worked in a leather goods factory.
After the war, he did more leather work and drove a cab. He got married in 1947. The Matzdorff family came to the U.S. in 1948. He has prospered in the leather goods business since then in Minneapolis, Springfield, Ohio, and Los Angeles.