Identification card of Claus Hirsch

The card was issued by the International Committee for the Organization of European Immigrants in China, Shanghai. Claus Hirsch fled Berlin, Germany in 1940 with his parents and brother. They traveled by train through Poland, Lithuania, and Russia and then rode on the Trans-Siberian Railroad for nearly two weeks. Finally, a two-day voyage on a small Japanese ship brought them to the port of Shanghai, where they found asylum. In Shanghai, they relied on the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) for hot meals and other services. Claus arrived in the United States in 1947 and became a United States citizen in 1953; he currently lives in New York City and volunteers in the JDC Archives.