Henry Haas’ story of survival echoes that of thousands of Jewish families trying to escape from Nazi-occupied territories. With few options, the Haas family’s arduous journey out of Berlin lasted a year, leading a nomadic existence until finally escaping to Shanghai, China—the only port that would accept them.
A city of 6 million at that time, the Haas family arrived in Shanghai without funds, in a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit, and encountered an entirely foreign culture
and now under Japanese occupation.
Two years after the end of WWII, the family arrived as non-English speaking refugees in San Francisco. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), helped the Haas family come to America, where they finally settled in Tacoma, Washington.
Henry’s wife, Kate, has documented the Haas family story in great detail. Together, Henry and Kate, with the use of photos, maps, and historic family documents, tell the story. Henry and his late mother Gerda, who lived to age 98, told this story for many years to school classes and other groups in the Tacoma area. Henry is part of the Holocaust Center for Humanity’s Speakers Bureau to further share his memoir of antisemitism during the Holocaust.
