Paula, Josef and Frieda Fruchter: Letters from Shanghai Exile 1941–1949

1941年4月/5月，钢琴家兼声乐教练保拉·弗吕希特（Paula Fruchter，1896-1983）和歌唱家、声乐教师兼领唱约瑟夫·弗吕希特（Josef Fruchter，1900-1976）带着他们8岁的女儿弗里达（Frieda，1933-2020）逃往上海。他们是大约18，000名犹太难民中的一员，这些难民在中国港口城市寻求庇护，以躲避纳粹迫害。1941年至1949年期间，保拉·弗鲁切特在丈夫和女儿的帮助下，给她在维也纳的母亲和其他亲戚写了近70封信、明信片、电报和红十字会的信息。由于母亲没有受到反犹主义迫害的影响，她在维也纳的纳粹时期幸存下来，并与她的信件。这绝对是个例外，因为在大多数情况下，从上海来的信件的收件人都被驱逐出境，信件沿着他们的财物一起丢失了。弗吕彻特夫妇的信分三个阶段写的，没有一封回信幸存下来。第一批电文是在从维也纳经柏林、莫斯科、西伯利亚和满洲国的飞行途中写的。他们给人的印象的情况下的旅程，城市和景观以及接近外国世界。最后一部分是由四封信组成的，这四封信是在从上海经意大利到以色列和在以色列的拉纳纳的船程中写的。这些主要是关于对未来的希望和恐惧。来自上海的信件占了最大部分。除了专业情况（音乐会，教学，在犹太教堂担任领唱，工作条件，竞争情况等），他们涉及上海的日常生活（住宿，食品，健康，气候，教育，联系网络以及战后进一步移民或再移民的考虑）。在上海的艰难处境和对维也纳母亲的担忧的背景下，保拉·弗吕希特特别制定了写作策略--典型的流亡信件--既能让自己放心，也能让母亲平静下来。该项目的目的是出版一份分为两部分的出版物。第一部分是分析性研究。它将分析Fruchters的流亡特定的通信策略，因此，除其他事项外，在维也纳的上海条件，包括音乐生活传达给家庭的形象。这是结合的研究状况，来源情况，历史背景，传记的Fruchters和家庭环境的解释。第二部分是信件版，包括评论和参考资料、信件索引以及关于编辑问题和决定的报告。该项目与申请人的专著《1938-1949年流亡上海的音乐家和音乐家》（2021年）有关，旨在建立在对那里尝试的纠缠历史的方法论考虑的基础上。

In April/May 1941, the pianist and vocal coach Paula Fruchter (1896-1983) and the singer, singing teacher and cantor Josef Fruchter (1900-1976) fled to Shanghai with their eight-year-old daughter Frieda (1933-2020). They were among the approximately 18,000 mostly Jewish refugees who sought refuge from Nazi persecution in the Chinese port city. Supplemented by messages from her husband and daughter, Paula Fruchter wrote almost 70 letters, postcards, telegrams and Red Cross messages to her mother and other relatives in Vienna between 1941 and 1949. Since the mother was not affected by antisemitic persecution, she survived the Nazi period in Vienna and with her the letters. This is absolutely exceptional, because in most cases the addressees of letters from Shanghai were deported and the correspondence was lost along with their belongings. The Fruchters’ letters, for which no reply letters have survived, were written in three phases. The first messages were written during the flight from Vienna via Berlin, Moscow, Siberia and Manchukuo. They give an impression of the circumstances of the journey, of cities and landscapes as well as approaching foreign worlds. The final section is made up of four letters written during the ship passage from Shanghai via Italy to Israel and in Raanana, Israel. These are mainly about hopes and fears for the future. The letters from Shanghai make up the largest part. In addition to the professional situation (concerts, teaching, work as cantor in the synagogue, working conditions, competitive situation, etc.), they deal with everyday life in Shanghai (accommodation, food, health, climate, education, contact networks and considerations for further migration or remigration in the post-war period). Against the background of the difficult situation in Shanghai and the concern for her mother in Vienna, Paula Fruchter in particular developed writing strategies – typical of letters from exile – that served both to reassure herself and to calm her mother. The aim of the project is a two-part publication. The first part will be an analytical study. It will analyse the Fruchters’ exile-specific communication strategies and thus, among other things, the image that was conveyed to the family in Vienna of the conditions in Shanghai, including musical life. This is combined with explanations of the state of research, the source situation, the historical background, the biographies of the Fruchters and the family contexts. The letter edition, including commentary and reference apparatus, a letter index and a report on the editorial problems and decisions, will form the second part. The project is connected to the applicant’s monograph “Musiker und Musikerinnen im Shanghaier Exil 1938–1949” (2021) and is intended to build on methodological considerations on the history of entanglements tried out there.