Metal and leather identification tag issued to Moritz Sondheimer when he lived in the Hongkew ghetto in Shanghai, China, from 1941-1945. The tag permitted the bearer to leave the ghetto for work and was color coded to denote the term of valid use. The pass would also include an identification photograph. Moritz, his wife, Setty, and their children, 17 year old Hanni and 14 year old Karl fled Kaunas, Lithuania, in February 1941 following the Soviet occupation in 1940. They planned to emigrate to the United States, but visa restrictions made them take a difficult route through Russia to Japan. Classified as stateless refugees when they reached Japan in March 1941, they were deported to Shanghai where they survived the war in the Hongkew ghetto. Hanni married a US soldier and emigrated to the United States in 1946. Her family emigrated the next year.
Metal and leather identification tag issued to Moritz Sondheimer when he lived in the Hongkew ghetto in Shanghai, China, from 1941-1945. The tag permitted the bearer to leave the ghetto for work and was color coded to denote the term of valid use. The pass would also include an identification photograph. Moritz, his wife, Setty, and their children, 17 year old Hanni and 14 year old Karl fled Kaunas, Lithuania, in February 1941 following the Soviet occupation in 1940. They planned to emigrate to the United States, but visa restrictions made them take a difficult route through Russia to Japan. Classified as stateless refugees when they reached Japan in March 1941, they were deported to Shanghai where they survived the war in the Hongkew ghetto. Hanni married a US soldier and emigrated to the United States in 1946. Her family emigrated the next year.