The Five Passports-Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

This set of collections consists of the passports that Ruth Callmann, a former Jewish refugee, had used in her life, including a German passport and four American passports, which reflect Ruth's life trajectory of fleeing Europe, taking refuge in Shanghai and settling down in the United States.

According to the German passport, Ruth was born in Germany on May 11, 1918. The Berlin authorities issued the passport to her on March 27, 1939, allowing her to leave Germany. On July 11, 1939, Ruth left Austria by train; on July 13, she left Europe from Genoa by ship; on September 4, she arrived in Tianjin; and in October, she came to Shanghai. On July 29, 1947, she obtained an exit permit from the Shanghai Municipal Police and left China on August 10 of the same year.

The four American passports were issued respectively in 1977, 1982, 1998 and 2008.

In 2009, Ruth visited the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum and showed her German passport. At that time, she declined the museum’s request for donation. But during her last days, Ruth entrusted her old friend Janis Seeman to give the five passports to the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. In 2014, Janis flew to Shanghai to deliver the passports despite her old age. “She wanted to tell you that Shanghai was always in her heart by donating these passports”, said Janis.