Physical Description
folded in thirds; white paper with black ink; outside recto: "The/BOY SCOUTS ASSOCIATION/Shanghai Branch/13th Shanghai (United) Group", image of fleur-de-lis with banner reading "BE PREPARED" printed inside; blue stamp of box with "N(" and "053" handwritten in black ink; outside verso: "Troop 510/C.S. MERSEREAN/666-40th Ave" handwritten in script, in black ink ; inside: preprinted form with handwritten responses; "THE BOY SCOUTS ASSOCIATION/SHANGHAI BRANCH" with international Boy Scout symbol at top of left side; "13th Shanghai (United) Group/This is to certify, that/ROVER ERIC M. BERGTRAUN/has been a member of our Group/since SEPTEMBER 15th 1943/He has:-/[next section crossed out]/joined Boy Scouts on February 1939/in SHANGHAI (5TH TROOP)/subsequently gaining his FIRST CLASS AND/GREEN ALL ROUND CORD/and rising to the rank of SCOUTMASTER (SEP 17th 1946)/joined Rovers on APRIL 14th/in SHANGHAI/being enrolled as Rover Sct. on APRIL 14th 1944/and rising to the rank of.../joined Old Scouts on.....19/in.....; top of middle section, blue stamp of box with "N(" and "053" handwritten in black ink; black and white photograph of young man wearing scout uniform and hat attached, circular blue ink stamp in lower left corner of photo, "THE BOY SCOUT ASSOCIATION/BRANCH SHANGHAI/13th UNITED ROVERS" written around international Boy Scout symbol; printed below photo: "Signature Eric M Bergtraun [handwritten in script]/Rover ERIC M. BERGTRAUN/Born on FEBRUARY 21st 1925/in VIENNA (AUSTRIA)/Present Address 483/6 WAYSIDE Rd/SHANGHAI/CHINA"; printed on right side "RECOMMENDATION/INTRODUCTION TO ALL SCOUT ASSOCIATIONS/This membership card will be presented to you by/our Brother Scout who intends to travel abroad./We recommend him to your kind consideration/in full assurance that he will receive a Scout's wel-/come from all members of the Brotherhood of Scouts"; handwritten in script: "Not only in his leadership/has Eric Bergtraun proved himself a man of integrity/ and initiative but in his/professional work he has/shown himself a credit to/the movement"; circular blue ink stamp in just below handwritten text, "THE BOY SCOUT ASSOCIATION/BRANCH SHANGHAI/13th UNITED ROVERS" written around international Boy Scout symbol; signature of "Group Scoutmaster" and "District Commissioner"; "Shanghai, China, MAY, 4th 1948" printed and written at bottom of page.
Dimensions
overall : 5.880 x 10.500 in. (14.935 x 26.67 cm.)
Materials
overall : paper, ink, gelatin silver print, adhesive
Contributor
Subject:
Eric Bergtraun
Biography
Eric Bergtraun (1925-2008) was born Erich Maximilian Bergtraun in Vienna to Edmund Leon Bergtraun and Lilly Wagner Bergtraun. His family left Austria for Shanghai shortly after Kristallnacht in 1938 and was forced to live in the Hongkew Ghetto for three years as the war intensified. Eric was active in the underground British Boy Scouts and became Scout Master after the war. He immigrated to the United States in 1948, settled in San Francisco, and married Polly Bergtraun (nee Hertz).
