Place of exile Australia: The Prager family
Berlin − Shanghai − Melbourne: The Prager family
Georg Prager (1904-1960), who ran a small printing office in Berlin, was freed from Sachsenhausen in early December 1938 after three weeks’ imprisonment. For reasons pertaining to visas, the only feasible destinations were South America or Shanghai. Prager’s wife was actually able to get hold of tickets for Shanghai. After hastily selling the printing business, the couple set out for Southeast Asia with their infant son, Lothar, in January 1939.
The family found a small dwelling in the Hongkou district, yet Prager could not work as a printer in the Chinese city. The Pragers struggled through with odd jobs and the sale of household items they had brought with them.
After the end of the war, a cousin who had emigrated to Melbourne was able to acquire entry papers for the Pragers to come to Australia. In 1946, after eight years in Shanghai, the Pragers resettled to Melbourne. As a worker in a Jewish printing plant, Georg Prager was able to return to modest prosperity. He died at the early age of 56 in January 1960.
The Pragers had deep roots in Germany. German was always spoken in the small family; even today, their son Lothar – who, aside from his early infancy, never lived in Germany – still has a Berlin accent. Nevertheless, the Pragers’ expulsion from their German homeland upset them deeply. Margarete Prager (1906-1976) in particular never again wanted to set foot upon German soil.
Georg Prager on his bicycle in Berlin
Early 1930s, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
Georg Prager, born on March 21, 1904, in Berlin, ran
a small printing business in Prenzlauer Berg. Prager was mostly underway on his bicycle in his district and was well-known.
Business card and stationery from Georg Prager’s printing office
Around 1935, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
Prager’s printing business was located in the basement of the building
at Straßburger Straße 34, where he also had an apartment.
Prisoner’s letter from Georg Prager to his wife, with envelope
Postmarked November 26, 1938, Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum
Georg Prager was arrested in the evening of November 9 and transferred on the next day, or two days later, to Sachsenhausen. In the letter on a concentration camp form, he advised his wife to immediately wind up the business and the family apartment.
Transkription des Häftlingsbriefs von Georg Prager an seine Frau.
Passport photograph of Georg Prager
Fall 1938, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
Prager had this passport photo taken shortly before his abduction to Sachsen-hausen, most likely because he had already considered emigration. In his letter from the concentration camp, he asked his wife to pick up the prints.
“The following prisoners are to be released on December 2, 1938”
Directive from the Political Department to the camp-command, 1938,
Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum
During this three weeks’ imprisonment in the concentration camp, Prager was housed in Block 41, one of the “Jewish barracks.” Beginning on December 2, 1938, he and 272 other men who had been arrested after the pogrom were released.
“Due to aryanization, I have decided to close my printing business...”
Customer information card, December 1938, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
The same month he was released from the concentration camp, Prager liquidated his printing business. A nearby non-Jewish printing plant took over the staff and materials.
On the deck of the Conte Biancamano on the way from Genoa to Shanghai
Three photographs of the Pragers with their young son, January/February 1939, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
On January 26, 1939, the Prager family set out to sea, and they reached Shanghai after a voyage of four weeks. The Italian passenger steamer, on this passage alone, brought 841 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria to China.
Celebration of Lothar’s first birthday in Shanghai
May 29, 1939, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
A few months after their arrival, the Pragers had set up their home in the socially deprived district of Hongkou. In late May they celebrated their small son’s first birthday with neighbors and friends.
The Prager family in Shanghai
Early summer 1939, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
Member of the Association of Former Concentration Camp Prisoners
Registration card, filled out by Georg Prager, 1939, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
In Shanghai, Prager registered with the Association of Former Concentration Camp Prisoners. Many of the exiles there had suffered from imprisonment in concentration camps and therefore accepted the difficult living conditions in the Chinese city out
of necessity.
The Prager family, after one year in Shanghai
Winter 1939/40, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
Porträt Georg Prager
Winter 1939/40, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australien)
"Herrn Georg Prager aus Berlin, Shanghai, postlagernd ..."
Postkarte von S. Prager, Poststempel 11.3.1940, Lothar Prager,
Melbourne (Australien)
Aus dem Shanghaier Exil standen die Pragers in regem Briefkontakt mit den in Berlin zurückgebliebenen Verwandten und Freunden. Pragers Cousine Herta und ihr Mann, die auf der Vorderseite der Karte grüßten, wurden 1943 in Auschwitz ermordet.
Transkription "Herrn Georg Prager aus Berlin, Shanghai, postlagernd ..."
“Via Siberia”
Postcard from Rosa Prager, postmarked November 9, 1940, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
Beginning in January 1939, Jewish Germans were forced to adopt the first names of Sara or Israel to identify them as Jews. Prager’s mother Rosa, in accordance with this anti-Semitic regulation, was now called Rosa Sara.
Transkription "Via Sibiria", Postkarte von Rosa Prager
Red Cross letter from Georg Prager to his aunt Elsa
August 3, 1942, delivered on November 26, 1942, front and back side with message and reply from Berlin, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
Beginning in 1941, the Pragers could only stay in contact with their relatives by means of Red Cross letters. The form only allowed 25 words and only arrived months later at Elsa Neuke’s address. Her answer is on the back side. She later died in Auschwitz.
Transkription Rot-Kreuz-Brief von Georg Prager an seine Tante Elsa
“Elsa wrote. Are distressed.”
Carbon copy of a Red Cross letter from Prager to his parents, which went unanswered, August 3, 1942, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
Prager learned from an aunt in Berlin that his parents had been deported to the ghetto in Litzmannstadt (Lodz). His letter never reached them there. They had been murdered in the Kulmhof extermination camp in May 1942.
Transkription "Elsa gab Nachricht. Sind betrübt."
Georg Prager at his workstation in Melbourne
1950s, Lothar Prager, Melbourne (Australia)
The Pragers left Shanghai after the end of the war. With support from a Jewish aid organization, they traveled via Hong Kong to Melbourne, Australia, in 1946. Upon arrival, Georg Prager began working immediately in a Jewish printing plant.
Their son Lothar with family at the Sachsenhausen Memorial
June 30, 2017, Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum
Georg Prager died on January 3, 1960, at just 55 years of age. His son Lothar, who like his father became a printer, was always interested in his German roots. Once he retired he finally had time to visit Berlin, the city of his birth.
“Letter from Sachsenhausen”
Article from “The Australian Jewish News” on February 23, 2018
In June 2017, Lothar Prager visited the Sachsenhausen Memorial with his wife and daughters. He handed over the letter to the archives that his father had written from the camp in 1938. The story was even published by the Australian press.
The Pragers at Brighton Beach in Melbourne
March 4, 2018, Astrid Ley, Berlin
