Escape to Manila: From Nazi Tyranny to Japanese Terror

6. Establishing a Life

✦ 6 Establishing a Life high commissioner mcnutt could not possibly have foreseen the failure of the initiative for a Jewish settlement in Mindanao back in early December 1938 when he responded to the State Department’s request for the number of refugees the Philippines would absorb.His talks with President Quezon were favorable, and the ongoing immigration program was going well, with larger groups of Jewish refugees arriving and finding a home in Manila. During this time, Rabbi Joseph Schwarz officiated at his first wedding in Manila when on December 6,1938,Edith Lange married her long-time fiancé Dr. Max Pick. Both had been aboard the Empress of Japan with Alex Frieder when he made contact with the group of refugees. In the afternoon of her wedding,however,Edith received a telegram with the news that her father had been taken to a concentration camp in Germany. She went to see Alex Frieder ,who showed her a stack of telegrams and letters from desperate applicants who wanted to come to the Philippines. She said she needed help from him to get her father, mother, sister, and brother out of Germany. Edith had been advised to bring money, because by now the financial means available to the Manila Jewish Refugee Committee could not possibly cover guarantees for all those who had applied for entry. Edith gave 500 pesos ($250) to Frieder, who agreed to put Edith’s father,Ferdinand Lange,and brother,Arthur,on the list of approved applicants. Leaving Natalie, his wife, and Ilse, his daughter, in 52 escape to manila Beuthen to follow them later, Ferdinand and Arthur Lange boarded a train for Marseilles. From there they set sail on a passenger ship for Manila. The Langes’ two “lifts,” the wooden containers for household goods, arrived packed with a wide variety of items, including a black baby grand piano that they hoped could be sold.During their first year in Manila the whole family,as well as many other families, lived off the sale of goods they brought from Germany.1 Even the empty wooden lifts themselves were sold to Filipinos who used them as housing. By the end of 1938, with the increasing urgency to flee Nazi terror, what had been an impromptu haven to the early immigrants such as Karl Nathan and his friend Heinz Eulau became a sought-after refuge, as more than two hundred Jewish refugees had arrived in the Philippines. They had also come without the approval—and the financial guarantees—of the Manila Jewish Refugee Committee’s “selective” and official immigration program,managing either to obtain visas on the basis of affidavits from friends or relatives in Manila or from American consuls at ports along the way.As many of them came without much luggage or useful items to sell, it fell to their sponsors— to the extent that they had any—and the committee to provide initial financial aid and housing. The year 1938 had been long and frightening,one that jarred the refugees’ senses as they experienced the sharp contrast between the Philippines and their countries of origin. They encountered not only a new culture but also a highly visible American presence. As in most Christian countries, the Christmas season brought forth many traditional religious and secular practices . The Americans celebrated Christmas morning and the Filipinos, devout Catholics, attended midnight masses at the many churches throughout Manila. The Jews celebrated Hanukkah undisturbed and in freedom for the first time in years in an improbable place, reminiscent of the spirit of their ancestors, the Maccabees. Yet the newcomers also voiced complaints as they began to merge into business,economic,and social structures.Those who found jobs with American firms often had minor supervisory or sales positions, and they voiced frustrations when the Filipino staff were slow, late, or capable of making up a hundred excuses for not showing up for work. The refugees had to adapt to delays, a major change from the typical German promptness and precision .It did not take long,however,for the fast-stepping refugees to slow down as the heat and the pace of life in the Philippines caught up with them. In their small apartments or homes, a few refugees were able to afford household help at the low wage of 10 pesos ($5) a month, but there was consider- Establishing a Life 53 able consternation when an item of...