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President Benjamin Fisher presided over the hybrid meeting at Hillel UCLA and started it on time!
PP Ron Lyster led the Pledge of Allegiance. PP Ed Gauld led Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” while wearing a bishop’s miter, one of the many hats in his extensive collection.
For the thought of the day, Jim Crane mentioned that war is a no-win situation because of the loss of lives and the destruction of property. He mentioned the war in Ukraine and led a prayer for the resolution of conflicts and for peace.
Today’s guests included “first lady” Susan Taylor Fisher and Kathie Gauld. PP Ed Gauld mentioned that he and Kathie have been married for 64 years! PP Mark and Lynn Rogo both attended the meeting, and PP Mark announced that on 5/23 he and Lynn will celebrate their 49th wedding anniversary! PP Mark in good fun agreed to pay happy dollars in celebration of their anniversary.
Bob Simon summarized the recent District Assembly at Woodbury University in Burbank. The assembly featured sessions with general information about Rotary. There were also specialized sessions for club officers and about the various avenues of service such as membership, youth, and community service.
Ethan Kim was inducted as the newest member of the Friendly Westwood Village Rotary Club. PP Mark Rogo, PPx2 Diane Good, and President Ben Fisher led the ceremony. PP Mark Rogo gave a “pep talk” for Rotary, and he is excited for the future of our club.
PPx2 Diane Good provided an update about PP Tom Barron who has just undergone surgery for an infection. Recovery time may be 2-4 weeks. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him soon at a Rotary meeting.
Today’s speaker was Monika White, who is a long-time member of Rotary and the current president of the Santa Monica club. The Santa Monica club is the parent club of the Westwood Village Rotary Club and was founded in 1929. Monika White has a PhD from USC in Social Work and specializes in Gerontology and care management for older adults. That subject might be an interesting topic for a future talk.
However, today’s talk was entitled “Surviving the Holocaust in Shanghai”, and Monika recounted her early childhood as a refugee in China.
Before introducing today’s speaker, President Ben Fisher reflected upon the recent anti-Semitic incident in Washington, D.C., when two young employees of the Israeli embassy were murdered by an assailant who shouted, “Free Palestine”. Anti-Semitism is on the rise in the United States and in other parts of the world.
Monika White’s father was born in Germany, and her mother was born in Poland. They were living in Germany when the Nazi Party came to power in 1933 and immediately revoked the civil and political rights of Jews. They created labor camps and incarcerated Jews, including her father, in these camps. However, a family could secure the release of prisoners if they had permission to reside in another country. With the exception of Shanghai in China, at that time, most countries were not accepting Jewish refugees. Her parents were able to secure passage to Shanghai in January 1939, where Monika White and her twin sister Gitta Morris were a couple of years later.
The family lived in the Hongkew Jewish ghetto of Shanghai in one room without modern conveniences. By 1941, there were about 20,000 refugees in the ghetto. Her father was able to work in a water purification plant and later worked with the "CARE” Agency. The family had basic necessities, and there was some semblance of a normal life in the ghetto. For instance, the children attended classes at a school funded by wealthy Jews who had established businesses in Shanghai. At some point, her mother disappeared, and she and her sister lived only with their father.
The Japanese gained control over Shanghai during World War II, and the residents of the Hongkew ghetto were relocated into internment camps until the end of the war. The conditions in the camp were terrible, and food was scarce. Five families were crowded into a single room. People were allowed to leave the internment area only with permission from a Japanese soldier who was guarding the entrance. However, the Japanese occupiers refused to implement the Nazi suggestion about converting the detention camp into an extermination camp.
After the war ended, families returned to the Hongkew ghetto. The refugees were considered “stateless” people, and they were allowed to choose where they wished to resettle. Her father chose to emigrate to the United States, and they arrived in San Francisco in 1948. The refugees were sent to either San Francisco or New York and remained there until they were offered a furnished home, a job, and opportunities for schooling. Monica White, her sister, father and stepmother were offered a two-story home with all the modern conveniences in Duluth, Minnesota near Lake Superior. Monika White greatly appreciated the generosity of the American people. She and her sister spoke German, and they attended summer school in order to learn English. They soon became proficient in English and performed well in other subjects due to their education in Shanghai.
Her father never revealed what happened to her mother. Years later she and her sister located her mother and her mother’s new family, but they never found out what actually happened to divide their family. They discovered that all their relatives who had remained in Germany perished during the Holocaust.
At the age of 18 Monika White left home. She took a trip to Los Angeles and stayed after deciding that the weather in warm and sunny Southern California was preferable to the cold winters in Minnesota.
At the end of Monika White’s presentation, new member Matt Yuan mentioned that his family is from Shanghai and that his great-grandfather had purchased a stamp collection from one of the Jewish refugees.
Monika White is a compelling speaker, and this was a very informative and revealing presentation about one of the few places which offered refuge to Jews after the Nazi party gained control in Germany. Thank you, President Monika!
President Benjamin ended the meeting after presenting Monika with a speaker’s gift.
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