Document Type
Oral History
Publication Date
6-25-1991
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: The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, Bates College, 70 Campus Avenue, Lewiston, Maine 04240-6018. Email: muskie@bates.edu
Recommended Citation
Hochstadt, Steve, "Goldstein, Martin and Ruth oral history interview" (1991). Shanghai Jewish Community Oral History Collection. 67.
https://scarab.bates.edu/shanghai_oh/67
COinS
Scope and Content Note
Martin Goldstein was born in Berlin in 1904. He had a business there in the manufacture of ladies’ overcoats and costumes. He married Ruth Edith Kuechler, born in 1913, from Alzey in Rheinhessen in 1935. Their daughter Inger (later Ingrid) was daughter born in 1937. He was arrested a few days before Kristallnacht and remained in custody until 1940, when they were able to leave and travel to Shanghai via the Trans-Siberian Railroad. They landed in Shanghai in July 1940. His two brothers were also in Shanghai.
They established a café near the wharves called the Monopol Bar, then the River Bar. They also resold refugee clothes. The family had to move to the Designated Area in 1943. Inger attended the went to Kadoorie School, and after the war’s end went to the Shanghai Jewish School. The family sailed to San Francisco in 1948 with the “Marine Swallow”. Martin worked as a carpenter until he suffered a work accident. Ruth was a salesgirl at S. H. Kress. They also opened a launderette, and then owned a motel 1962-69. They retired and moved from San Francisco to Laguna Hills in 1977. Ruth died in 1996 and Martin died in 1999.