User:Marior1981/Horst "Ted" Fabian

Horst "Ted" Fabian ( ? – December 2010). Ted Fabian, who as a 21 year old musician and unknown to historians, may be one of the first persons responsible for the initial exodus of German Jews to Shanghai after Kristallnacht ( November 9, 1938 ).

Prior to his trip he went to various consulates seeking a way to escape from Germany. The Japanese Consul in Germany originally told him to take the Siberian railway, but this was not possible since the Russian Travel Visa was no longer available. In researching his trip to Shanghai he went to the office of Hilfsverein, the Jewish refugee agency in Berlin, where his stepmother worked as a volunteer. The agency personnel told him that they knew nothing about this route.

Travels
He and his wife left Berlin in September, 1938 and using his German “J” passport arrived in Italy. He had the help of the Japanese consulate in purchasing tickets on the passenger ship SS Conte Biancamano to Shanghai through the Suez Canal.

Once on the ship he was in the 3rd class level, and as an accomplished pianist with a large repertoire of international music he was discovered by the first class passengers and took the place of a pianist in the combo who was ill. A vacancy on the upper deck became available at the Suez Canal, and he and his wife were invited to stay in first class to entertain there. Before arrival in Shanghai, British persons on board told him he would never be allowed to leave the ship without the correct travel visa. When he arrived in Shanghai he just walked off the ship with no officials there to check his papers.

His step mother Charlotte Hammerstein Fabian wrote him on behalf of Hilfsverein asking if it was safe and he responded that it was.

In the History of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 1929-1939 Chapter 6, The Beginning of the End, the fact that there was no requirement for an entry visa in Shanghai was known by Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien (IKG) in Vienna in the summer 1938. This information was available to Ted through the Japanese consulate in Germany, but apparently not verified until his correspondence to Hilfsverein and thus his experience would be a key link in verifying that taking an Italian liner to Shanghai was indeed a way out for German Jews.

Shanghai
Once in Shanghai, he had little to do with arriving Jewish refugees and immediately with a German friend set up a bar for the sailors at the docks. The other was the bartender and he was the piano player. He and his wife left Shanghai for Tientsin in October 2, 1940 and he played in night clubs and restaurants there for international audiences including Japanese and Europeans. When he was paid he always converted his payment to gold due to the inflation at the time.

He returned to Shanghai in July 1946 in preparation for leaving to the United States. For a while he was in quarantine there because of an abnormal chest x ray, and finally in March, 3, 1948 he and his wife and two year old son arrived in San Francisco.

History
In early 1938 there were some 500 destitute Jews in Shanghai and most were German Jewish refugees. At that time prior established Jewish communities consisting of Iraqi and Russian Jews lived separately in the European section. The new arrivals went to the Chinese section and were not welcomed or supported by the established communities. By June, 1939 there were 10,000 Jewish settlers who came on the SS Conte Biancamano and other Italian ships with little prospects for work and later the established communities and foreign consulates discouraged emigration to Shanghai. In March, 1939, the Hilfsverein answered with the plea to “trust us when we tell you that we are unable to diminish the emigration from Germany and that the only possibility to prevent our people from going to such places as Shanghai lies in finding some more constructive opportunities for emigration.” Among those arrivals were Ted’s parents, mother in law, sister in law and his younger brother Herbert Fabian age 14. His brother was interviewed in 1980 and told the interviewers that Ted saved their lives.

Friends
"A week before he died I asked him when was the best time of his life and he said "China"." --Dr. Stephen Waldman, Fullerton, California.