Document Type
Oral History
Publication Date
4-22-1989
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, "Pollack, Curt oral history interview" (1989). Shanghai Jewish Oral History Collection. 61.
https://scarab.bates.edu/shanghai_oh/61
COinS
Scope and Content Note
Curt Pollack was born in Berlin on 14 August 1927. On 9 November 1938 (the date of the Nazi pogrom commonly referred to as the Kristallnacht) his father, a businessman, was arrested by the Nazis and imprisoned in Buchenwald. Subsequently, his mother began trying to find a place to which their family could emigrate (and in this way obtain the release of her husband from the concentration camp). The Nazis released her husband, and on 31 May 1939, the Pollack family (including Curt) set sail for China. After arriving there, they lived in a modest apartment in the poorer Hongkew district, which was controlled by the Japanese, for the duration of the war.