Document Type
Oral History
Publication Date
12-17-1992
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.
Recommended Citation
Hochstadt, Steve, "Praeger, Henry oral history interview" (1992). Shanghai Jewish Community Oral History Collection. 74.
https://scarab.bates.edu/shanghai_oh/74
COinS
Scope and Content Note
Karl Heinz Praeger (1911-1997) was born and went to school in Berlin. His father was born in Posen and worked as an auditor for Jewish banks. Heinz worked for the Kommerz- und Privatbank in Berlin. He was arrested and sent to Dachau, then was released so he could sail on the Gneisenau to Shanghai in 1939. He met Phyllis Hoffmann (1918-1986) in Shanghai, who had come with her family from Vienna on the Athos II in 1939. Her father Hans Hoffmann was a physician.
Praeger and Heinz Friedman created a passport photo business, and then he developed a wider commercial photography business, based on relationships with Chinese businessmen. He and Phyllis were married in October 1942. He worked as a patrol scheduler for the Pao Chia after the Proclamation in 1943. Their son Robert Jack Praeger was born in 1945. Right after American forces arrived in Shanghai, he saw American sailors create a race, pulling rickshaws with their drivers in downtown Shanghai. The family left Shanghai in 1947 for Boston, where he worked for Morrison & Schiff, a kosher meat producer. Phyllis Praeger taught at the Cambridge Community Center and then became director of the Cambridge Nursery School.