On September 4, Henry Winter, a descendant of Jewish refugees from the United States, visited the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum with three friends. While purchasing tickets at the front desk, his friends told the staff about Henry’s identity as a “Shanghai Baby”. Henry said, “I was born in Shanghai in 1949, and this is my first time ‘coming home’ since I left Shanghai!”

Henry being interviewed at the museum

On September 9, Henry revisited the museum with his friends and gave an interview. Recalling his parents’ years of refuge in Shanghai, the elderly man choked up several times. “When my parents took me away from Shanghai, I was not even one year old. I have no memory of the city where I was born, but my parents never forgot it. Instead, they often told me stories about those days,” Henry said. He added that before his father passed away, he specifically recounted his experiences in Shanghai, urging Henry to make sure they were recorded.

Henry finding his mother Hanna’s name on the Wall of Names

Inside the museum, Henry’s excitement was written all over his face. He paused in front of the Wall of Names, carefully searching for his relatives’ names. Every time he spotted a familiar surname, he immediately shared the story behind it with the staff. He also displayed a number of treasured old photographs—including pictures of his parents in Shanghai and images documenting their living conditions back then. “My parents fell in love and got married in Shanghai. I was far too young to have a recollection of that time, but these photos are all the memory fragments I have of the city.”

Henry visiting his parents’ former home at Lane 54, Zhoushan Road

Upon learning that Henry’s father had once lived at Lane 54, Zhoushan Road near the museum, the staff immediately offered to accompany him on a site visit. As they unlocked the iron gate and walked through the quiet alley, Henry slowed his pace, stepping into the place where his father had sought refuge decades earlier. Standing before the former residence, he gently touched the bricks on the wall, peered through the windows, and lingered for a long time, reluctant to leave.

Director Chen Jian (third from left) with Henry (second from left) and his friends

“I had always wanted to return to Shanghai. After retirement, my wife and I enthusiastically made a plan, looking forward to setting foot on this land together.” However, the passing of his wife in 2024 left him deeply devastated, and his roots-seeking journey was put on hold. “My friends couldn't bear to see me trapped in grief, so they suggested accompanying me to Shanghai to fulfill this wish.” Standing on the soil of Shanghai and seeing the place where his parents once lived, Henry was filled with emotion. “My lifelong wish has finally come true,” he said.

Refugee Stories

A wedding photo of Henry’s parents in Shanghai

Henry’s father, Oscar Winter, was born in Austria in 1916. In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria, and the persecution of Jews soon followed. One day, the Gestapo came to search for Jews at his home. Oscar narrowly escaped as he happened to be out at the time. Realizing the danger, he and his cousin Paul Freud fled Austria. They first went to hiding in Czechoslovakia for nearly a year before eventually traveling by ship to seek refuge in Shanghai.

Upon first arriving in Shanghai, Oscar and his cousin initially stayed in the refugee camp converted from schools on Wayside Road (now Huoshan Road) and Ward Road (now Changyang Road). In 1943, as the Japanese occupation authorities forced Jewish refugees to relocate to the Designated Area, Oscar moved into 13, Lane 54 on Zhoushan Road.

Henry’s parents with his uncle (first from left) in Shanghai

In Shanghai, Oscar not only found hope for survival but also met his lifelong partner—Hanna Fabisch, another Jewish refugee. Hanna’s family originally came from Breslau, then part of Germany. After her father was arrested and later released, the family fled the Nazi regime by train across Siberia to Shanghai. When they first met, Hanna was only thirteen or fourteen years old. Oscar, being slightly older, quietly watched over her and waited patiently. On February 4, 1945, twenty-year-old Hanna married Oscar in Shanghai.

To support his family, Oscar first worked as a tailor in a clothing store, then served as an interpreter for the U.S. Air Force, and later joined the Metropolo Hotel (now the Metropolo Jinjiang Hotel The Bund Shanghai), a hotel owned by the Sassoon family and as famous as the Peace Hotel. Starting as a front desk clerk, he gradually rose to the position of assistant manager. Thanks to this job, Oscar and Hanna were able to move into the hotel where their lives gradually stabilized.

In March 1949, Henry was born at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Shanghai (originally located on today’s West Beijing Road). To take care of the newborn, Oscar and Hanna even hired a “Shanghai amah” . In October of the same year, the family departed Shanghai via the ship SS General Gordon, first arriving in San Francisco, USA, before moving to Montreal, Canada. Two years later, with the sponsorship of relatives, they settled in Cleveland, USA.