A Living Survivor: The Life of Inga Berkey
This is a biographical paper that I wrote on Inga Berkey who is a Jewish refugee who went to Shanghai.
A Living Survivor:
The Life of Inga Berkey
During World War
Two treatment of Jewish people wasn’t the nicest. Jewish individuals were
targets of antisemitic acts in a nonviolent manner but the night of November 9,
1938 a pogrom which we now refer to as Kristallnacht or “the night of broken
glass” happened. Kristallnacht was a turning point in the treatment of Jewish
individuals progressing from non-violent acts to more viciously violent events.
Individuals who were targeted in Kristallnacht were captured by the Nazis and
shipped off to various concentration camps where they were forced to perform
hard labor in camps like Buchenwald or worse, they were sent to concentration
camps like Auschwitz where they were killed. Most of the people taken to these
camps either died or never saw their families again and never knew what
happened to those who were taken away by soldiers until long after the war’s
ending in 1945.
Those who were
lucky were able to seek a way out of Germany and seek refuge in other
countries. Some of the places that Jewish people sought refuge were other
places in Europe for example London, Israel, The United States, South America,
Australia, basically anywhere that would allow them to enter the country. One
place that might come as a surprise people is Shanghai, China. Getting the
proper documentation into any of the previously listed countries wasn’t the
easiest thing to do and the process often took weeks or even months. There was
the matter of having the proper financial funds to pay for the assurances that
would allow one to journey to one of these countries. Some countries required
more extensive documentation than others, and some countries required that an
individual had a sponsor in the country, that was going to that would help
them. One thing that posed a challenge for refugees seeing shelter outside of
Germany was the quota system. This quota system dictated a maximum number of
Jewish individuals that would be allowed inside of each country. As these
countries got closer to the maximum number of Jewish individuals, they were
allowing in each country these places began to shut their borders.
The closing of
these borders left many fearful Jewish families looking for other places to
seek refuge. This is when many families began to migrate to Shanghai, China because
there weren’t as many restrictive requirements to enter the country and this
was perhaps the only place left, they could go to. The requirements to enter
Shanghai were relatively simple compared to other countries. As long as you had
the assurances to pay for a route to Shanghai you were able to enter the
country. Refugees could virtually enter Shanghai with no documentation. Most refugees
who made the journey to Shanghai weren’t able to directly leave from Germany
rather they had to leave from Genoa, Italy through the Suez Canal where they
would eventually reach Shanghai by boat then train and they were allowed to
take the bare minimum with them.
For most families
Shanghai because the go to place when they heard about how minimum the
restrictions were to enter the country. Many Jewish families immigrated to
Shanghai during through the 1930’s and 1940’s. One of the families who went to
Shanghai was Inga Berkey’s family. Inga’s family made the journey to Shanghai
via the Conte Biancamano around June 1939 according to Inga, she can’t remember
exactly as she was rather young, but she thinks it was around then.[1] Prior to Inga’s story in Shanghai
it is just as important to look at her life and her family’s life before going
to Shanghai. Inga Seligmann Berkey was born on March 19,1938 to Arnold and
Ellie Berkey. Inga has an older brother who died 10 days after being born.
In a phone interview
I conducted with Inga on April 10, 2020 I had the opportunity to learn more
about her, her parents, and their story in Shanghai. Arnold Berkey was born in Boffsen, Germany on
October 16, 1907 and her mother Ellie was born in a small town near Boffsen on
September 13,1911. Arnold and Ellie met through family friends. Reflecting on
her life before Shanghai Inga told me that her parents worked incredibly hard.
Her father and her grandfather (her father’s father) worked as butchers selling
meat, sausage and hides. Inga remembers her mother working a series of careers
taking jobs wherever she could, she worked in a drug store, she worked as a
homemaker, and later worked at a delicatessen in Shanghai and Inga’s mothers
proudest moment was getting an ounce of butter every month because food was
scarce.
In 1939 Inga’s
family made the mutual decision to take the journey to Shanghai, everyone could
see what was going on especially after Kristallnacht, as Shanghai was the only place,
they could go they made the journey with what little they had[2]. Anything belongings they
had of value Hitler and the Nazis had already taken. Since her family got there
after the Japanese proclamation was issued Inga’s family went to live in the
designated area. Reflecting on her memories of living in the designated area or
as she refers to it the ghetto she remembers that there was little food, a lot
of restrictions, and you couldn’t really go anywhere.[3] In the designated area
Inga lived in a heim with her parents, her uncle, another uncle, her aunt, a
cousin, and her grandpa. Looking back on Inga’s house she remembers that her
father was always making new things in their house. In talking about her
memories of her house with historian Kevin Ostoyich she mentions that her stove
was something invented by her father. He made their stove out of a metal bucket
and they would use coals to heat the food. While her family was in Shanghai her
father was able to continue working all the way through the war until they left
Shanghai in 1947 but her grandfather was no longer able to continue working in
Shanghai. Her father would deliver the
meat, sausage and hides by bicycle and would need to request special permission
from the Japanese to deliver orders outside of the designated area.
During the time in
Shanghai children typically didn’t have many toys and made up their own games.
Some games that were common among the children included marbles, packs which is
a game played with old cigarette packages and a game they called Shanghai
Millionaire that is similar to what we know as Monopoly in the present day. I
asked Inga about what games she remembers playing as a child and she never
played Shanghai Millionaire, she didn’t have a bicycle and still doesn’t know
how to ride one to this day.[4] The only toy she remembers having is a little
golden teddy bear and taking rubber bands to make a jump rope. Inga doesn’t
remember having any interaction with other children, but she remembers having
an omma. She doesn’t remember anything about her or what she did. Inga doesn’t
know what happened to her because she was so young when they were in Shanghai.
In 1947 Inga’s
family made the journey from Shanghai to the United States, her family didn’t
have a specific place in mind they just wanted to go somewhere that wasn’t
Shanghai. Inga had a relative in Cleveland, Ohio who sponsored her family and
she currently still lives in Ohio. One thing that remained important for the Berkey’s
during and after their time in Shanghai was their Jewish culture. While in
Shanghai her parents did the best they could to celebrate the larger Jewish holidays
but weren’t always allowed to. While they couldn’t celebrate the high holidays,
they were able to attend temple and Inga remembers going to temple with her father
every Friday night and Saturday morning. Even after coming to America her
family didn’t keep the traditions as much as she would have liked to despite
the holidays being very important to her family. Looking back on it now Inga is
very proud of her Jewish background. “I have never been more proud of being
Jewish. My parents always took me to temple.”[5] As Inga had her own
children and raised them her sons both had a bat mitzvah and her daughter used
to go to temple with her but as they got older they didn’t have as much
interest anymore. Inga has expressed that she wishes her children were more
interested in their Hebrew background, but she is keeping some of the stuff
from Shanghai because her grandson and his wife are interested in the history
and have interviewed her a few times. [6]
In Inga’s life in
America her experiences as a Shanghai refugee fell into the background as she
got older. Inga had a little bit of an easier time adjusting to life in America
because she had learned English in school, but her parents and the rest of her
family had a little more struggle with the language barrier. Inga remembers
that when her family first came to the United States there was a lot of tension
because a lot of them were still living under the same roof. Her parents would
compare items they had like furniture with things that other people had and
that weighed down on her parent’s. Her parents overall experience in Shanghai
weighed on them even in America. When asked if she has any wishes to return to
Shanghai Inga doesn’t want to go back to Shanghai because it wouldn’t have any
real meaning to her as she can’t remember vividly what Shanghai looked like
when she was there. In 1987 though Inga and her husband did go back to Germany
and the only reason Inga wanted to go back was to see her parents house, and
the graves of her family members. In an interview with Kevin Ostoyich Inga
recalls the experience as being cold and not very friendly. All she wanted to
do was just to see the house her parents lived in but the family who lived
there was only concerned with whether Inga wanted anything or not but the
family who lived there was very hostile towards Inga and her husband.
After listening to
a few interviews with Inga and having the chance to interview her myself and
learn more about her story I gave Inga the chance to talk about how she wants
the history of the Holocaust, Kristallnacht, and the Shanghai refugees history
to be remembered. She told me that she just wants people to remember that it
was a very tough time for Jewish people and it probably would have been harder
for them if they had lost the war. [7] In one of her interviews
with Kevin Ostoyich she was asked a similar question and she had told him that
she wants people now a days to know about the struggles that refugees went
through. “They need to know what people went through. Not just that it was a
war it was bombing it all the suffering all these people had to go through.
They had to leave their homes. They had to go to foreign lands. Some people
went to Israel and some went to Australia.”[8] One quote from my
interview with Inga that I think epitomizes the immense strength and courage
that refugees had during their experience and after is “You can be a survivor
you just have to work at it.” [9]
[1]
Inga Berkey,2nd Interview by
Kevin Ostoyich.
[2]
Inga Berkey Interview by Kevin Ostoyich
[3]
Inga Berkey phone interview by Christian Yoder
[4]
Inga Berkey interview. Kevin Ostoyich.
[5]
Inga Berkey Interview by Christian Yoder
[6]
Inga Berkey Interview by Christian Yoder
[7]
Inga Berkey phone interview by Christian Yoder. April 10, 2020
[8]
Inga Berkey interview by Kevin Ostoyich.
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