We need your help in locating Jewish refugees who came to San Francisco in the late 1930s and 1940 and their descendants. As restrictions tightened against Jewish people under Nazi rule in Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, several hundred Jews applied for entrance to the United States. They had the good fortune to have relatives and sponsors in the U.S. After traveling across Russia to China and Japan, they boarded ships for San Francisco. Dozens of families and individuals ended up at the Angel Island Immigration Station, underwent medical inspection and were detained for weeks because they did not have sufficient funds to reach their eventual destinations.
Erika Lee and Judy Yung recounted the perilous journeys of Alice Edelstein, Alfred and Klara Marill, Hans Singer and Isaak Adler in Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America. Recently, AIISF interviewed Eva Schott Berek, Lotte Loebl Frank, and Harry Gluckman, whose stories are posted at www.aiisf.org/immigrant-voices.
The database you see below was compiled by volunteers who reviewed files at the National Archives in San Bruno, California. Please contact AIISF by writing to info@aiisf.org or call 415 262.4429 if you recognize any of the individuals listed below. We would like to interview the descendants in order to get the full story on these brave and fortunate people who fled the Nazi regime. Most of these refugees lost their entire families in the Holocaust. Their stories remind us of that genocide must never be allowed to happen again to any group of people. This database also contains names and short profiles of Jewish refugees who came to Angel Island prior to 1939. After 1915, large numbers of Jews from Russia, Poland, and Lithuania. Many of them were men who had left their homelands to avoid military conscription. Families also fled because of anti-Jewish violence. Many families were able to enter the United States with the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
photos: Eva Schott Berek’s passport; Lotte Loeble Frank’s parents; Harry Gluckman’s father
|
|
|
16451/06-12 |
Shifrin, Sosa |
F |
Russia |
1902 |
08/18/1917 |
Rembrandt |
11 days |
Student; Minor accompanied by sister (Masha); Resided in Harbin and then Yokohama as refugees from war in Russia; Lived in refugee camp in Harbin; Joining married sister (Lena) in US; Case deferred until sister sent $100 to them; Admitted 08/29/1917. |
|
14782/05-14 |
Shifun, Jacob |
M |
Russia |
1894 |
10/30/1915 |
Panama Maru |
2 weeks |
Plumber and Electrician; Came via Yokohama; Literate; Has $45 and paid own passage; Wanted to avoid conscription; Excluded as LPC; Appeal by Harry K. Wolff; Admitted 11/19/1915 |
|
14390/023-08 |
Shmarkotin, Oshir |
M |
Russia |
1889 |
06/01/1915 |
Mongolia |
6 weeks |
Tailor; From Tawricheskai to Kobe; Has $25; Excluded as LPC; Appeal by Lucius Solomons, who finds NY tailor to write affadivit offering job and $100 transportation money; Landed 7/15/15. |
|
35819/02-5 |
Shmulevsky, Gdaly |
M |
Russia |
34 yrs |
12/10/1935 |
President Pierce |
1 day |
Druggist; Literate; Came via Shanghai; Has $83 and paid own passage; Destined to bro in law (Rudolph Stein) for 6 months temp visit; Admitted 12/11/1935 as temp visitor for 6 months |
|
14776/21-04 |
Shten, Samuel |
M |
Russia |
1896 |
10/27/1915 |
Mongolia |
2 days |
Laborer; Literate; Paid own passage; Uncle (Mania Wisniotsky) in MA; Admitted |
|
37633/06-3 |
Simmons, Dora Spunt |
F |
Turkey |
1881 |
10/6/1937 |
President Coolidge |
2 days |
Housewife; Literate; Came via Shanghai to SF for permanent residence; Has $150 and passage paid by husband; Traveled with mother in law and 2 daughters; British passport and visa; Witness Eugene T. Broderick, G.M. of E. F. Hutton and Co; Admitted 10/08/1937. |
|
15153/40-1 |
Sinelnikoff, Simon |
M |
Russia |
1887 |
04/10/1916 |
Shinyo Maru |
6 weeks |
Farmer; From Cherikoff to Harbin to Yokohama (1 mo, no work); Friend in SF; Paid guard and guide 50 roubles to cross Russian border into Harbin and 300 roubles from Harbin to Chinchun, eight hours of travel; Paid 200 roubles for external passport which contained false information; HIAS asked to help contact witness; Excluded as LPC; HIAS appeals; Landed 5/23/16; |
|
40198/24-1 |
Singer, Hans |
M |
Austria |
1899 |
7/31/1940 |
President Coolidge |
1.5 month |
Born in Austria, German citizen; Upholsterer; Came via Shanghai (1 1/2 yr); Has $60; Joining brother in Pittsburgh for permanent residence; German passport with non preference German quota immig visa; Affadavist of sponsorship from Carl Singer and Joe Levy (brother's employer); Wife got him released from concentration camp by buying a ticket for Shanghai; Excluded as LPC; Appealed and admitted 09/17/1940 on $500 public charge bond by Hebrew Free Loan Association in Pittsburgh; NOTE: Applicant works as upholster in Pittsburgh; Bond cancelled 6/18/46. |
|
14425/12-04 |
Singer, Walden |
M |
Russia |
1910 |
06/14/1915 |
Persia |
1 day |
Minor accompanied by mother (Rosa) and sister (Zina); Going to father (Feodor Singer) in SF; Admitted permanently -- father appearance is good and has butcher business. |
|
13485/25-03 |
Solomon, Sara |
F |
Russia |
1911 |
06/12/1914 |
Korea |
|
Minor accompanied by parents (Hirsh and Chaji) to join uncle in Chicago; Admitted permanently |
|
15153/39-9 |
Srebruick, Elia |
M |
Russia |
1886 |
04/10/1916 |
Shinyo Maru |
1 month |
Worked in hat factory; Literate; Brother (Isidor Srebnik) in Boston; Wanted to avoid conscription; Excluded as LPC; HIAS apeals; Admitted 5/23/16. |
|
14622/18-10 |
Stanler, David |
M |
Russia |
1887 |
08/30/1915 |
Persia |
6 weeks |
From Sherea to Harbin; Carpenter; Has $40; Evaded military service; Friends in Harbin said plenty of work here; Served 2 wks in army and placed on reserve list; Stole out of Russia; Excluded as LPC; Traube finds witness who will guarantee; Request to reopen case denied; HIAS appeals; D. C. recommend bond; Landed 10/16/15. |
|
36034/06-2 |
Starffin, Victor |
M |
Russia |
|
02/27/1936 |
Chichibu Maru |
3 days |
Baseball player; Certificate of Identity from Tokyo, Japan; Part of Dai-Nippon Tokyo Basefall Team on a traveling tour of US and wants to enter temp for 6 months; Admitted 03/02/1936 as temp visitor for 6 months with condition he does not step foot on Russian soil in order to return to Japan. |
|
40253/06-9 |
Stoeckel, Leo |
M |
Poland |
58 yrs |
8/28/1940 |
Rakuyo Maru |
6 days |
German citizen; Clothing merchant in Vienna, Germany; Accom by wife (Theresia Sara); Has $28 and paid own passage; Destined to son (Bertold) in NY for permanent residence; German passport and Polish quota immig visa; Sent $5,000 to Paris that son picked up; Jewish Aid Association helped telegraph son; Admitted 09/03/1940 under 1924 Act. |
|
14255/28-10 |
Stoffman, David |
M |
Russia |
1897 |
04/05/1915 |
Korea |
1 day |
Farm Laborer; Literate; Lived in Harbin and came via Kobe; Accompanied by brother (Solomon) who paid his passage and has $40; Mr. Brachman assumes responsibility of applicant; dmitted |
|
16269/07-17 |
Strupinsky, Sara |
M |
Russia |
1901 |
06/05/1917 |
Vondel |
20 days |
Seamstress; Traveling with brother (Melach Strupinsky) to join older brother (Louis Pinsky) in Chicago; Traveled via Yokohama; Has $81; Admitted 05/25/1917 |
|
40415/07-11 |
Szatenstejn, Jozef Wladyslaw |
M |
Poland |
1892 |
11/13/1940 |
Tatuta Maru |
unknown |
Professor; Literate; Paid own passage; Accom by wife (Anna) and children (Lenora and Alexander); Came via Lithuania; Destined to friend (Joseph Vangolder) in NY for business and pleasure; Admitted for 1 year; NOTE: Several visa extensions and reasons state "because of war in Poland;" Admitted permanently. |
|
40415/07-13 |
Szatensztejn, Alexander |
M |
Poland |
1924 |
11/13/1940 |
Tatuta Maru |
unknown |
Student; Literate; Passage paid by father; Accom by father (Jozef), mother (Anna) and sister (Lenora); Came via Lithuania; Destined to friend (Joseph Vangolder) in NY for business and pleasure; Admitted for 1 year and later permanently. |
|
40415/07-12 |
Szatensztejn, Anna |
F |
Poland |
1895 |
11/13/1940 |
Tatuta Maru |
unknown |
Jew; Housewife; Literate; Passage paid by husband; Accom by husband (Jozef) and children (Lenora and Alexander); Came via Lithuania; Destined to friend (Joseph Vangolder) in NY for business and pleasure; Admitted for 1 year and later permanently. |
|
40415/07-14 |
Szatensztejn, Lenora |
F |
Poland |
1929 |
11/13/1940 |
Tatuta Maru |
unknown |
Student; Literate; Passage paid by father; Accom by father (Jozef), mother (Anna) and brother (Alexander); Came via Lithuania; Destined to friend (Joseph Vangolder) in NY for business and pleasure; Admitted for 1 year and later permanently. |
|
