Postcard sent by Dr. Susanne Engelmann from Harbin, China, to her brother, Konrad, in Istanbul. Dr. Engelmann was in Harbin awaiting a transit visa that would allow her to travel through Tokyo on her way to San Francisco.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 98631

Overview

Caption: Postcard sent by Dr. Susanne Engelmann from Harbin, China, to her brother, Konrad, in Istanbul. Dr. Engelmann was in Harbin awaiting a transit visa that would allow her to travel through Tokyo on her way to San Francisco.
Date: 1940 November 24
Locale: Harbin, [Manchuria; Sungkiang] China
Variant Locale: Kharbin
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Peter Engelmann

Photo Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Provenance: Peter Engelmann

Keyword: CONVERTS (TO CHRISTIANITY) CORRESPONDENCE/MAIL EMIGRES/EMIGRATION/AID (PREWAR/WARTIME) IMMIGRATION IMMIGRATION (TO USA) JEWS (GERMAN) POSTCARDS REFUGEES (JEWISH)
Photo Designation: JEWISH REFUGEES: SEARCH FOR SAFE HAVENS (1933-1945) -- Emigration/Refugee Assistance -- Turkey

Biography: Susanne Engelmann (the donor's aunt) was raised in Berlin. She was the daughter of Martha (Heimann) Engelmann, a German Jew. Susanne received her doctorate from the University of Heidelberg. Her course of study had included one year at Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia. During the interwar period Susanne served as the principal of a large public high school for girls in Berlin until her dismissal as a "non-Aryan" in April 1933. In 1934 Susanne joined the German Confessing Church and became a member of the small Protestant congregation in Berlin-Dahlem led by Pastor Martin Niemoeller. In 1939 she left Germany with her ailing mother to join her brother, Konrad, and his family, who were living in exile in Istanbul, Turkey. Her mother died the following year, in June 1940. Shortly thereafter Susanne was able to immigrate to the United States via China and Japan. She settled first in San Francisco and later in Northampton, MA, where she joined the faculty of Smith college. Through her connections with the American Friends Service Committee, Susanne was able to bring her family to the U.S. from Turkey after the war.