Eva Rickles:
Jou and Peter’s Departure
(Text below the letter) This picture depicts the exodus of friends of my parents who had to flee from Germany in 1938 and move to Shanghai during the HOLOCAUST. It was painted by the husband, an artist and interior decorator, who was an amazing miniaturist. On the back of this page is a letter, describing these experiences.
Letter to Dolf + Marie Simons, Seattle WA (formerly Berlin, Germany) – written Dec. 10, 1939.
Here are the translations of the panels of the painting:
(To be read left to right)
- In the spring we met our choice: Sachsenhausen, Dachau, Shanghai
- Traveled from Genoa
- Over Suez Canal through the magnificently colored desert
- Through all kinds of seas
- To Singapore, where a job beckoned
- Penang (by way of First Class Pullman Car)
- Return (no job) in a small steamer along the Malabar Coast to Singapore
- Over to Hong Kong
- To Shanghai ~ and everything was, one more beautiful than the other
Peter & Jou’s Emigration to Shanghai
Peter & Jou Hernstadt