1_02: Gary Sternberg in Shanghai: Mixing Flour, Water, and German Opera

Archive

-

Spungen Family Foundation - Holocaust Postal Collection

c. 1939, Reverse side - Stamp book which belonged to Gary Sternberg, a Jewish refugee in Shanghai.: Tan paper with printed text in German using black ink. An array of stamps are placed overtop the book. At the left side, five stamps depicting King George VI facing to the left with a crown above. There is a red 1-pence stamp, an orange 2-pence stamp, a blue 2-1/2-pence stamp, a purple 3-pence stamp, and a brown 1-schilling stamp. At the top left corner, a red 1-penny stamp depicting King George V. At the bottom left is the word "Englan" handwritten using black ink. At the right side, three stamps are present. The top right exhibits a red-brown 5-centavos stamp depicting Mariano Moreno, an Argentinian lawyer and journalist. At the center right, a blue 15-centavos stamp depicts an Argentinian cow with the word "Ganaderia" in Spanish or "Animal husbandry" in English. The final stamp on the right side, furthest down is a dark blue 20-centavos depicting Martin Miguel di Güemez, an Argentinian military leader. At the bottom right, the word "Argentina" handwritten using black ink.
c. 1939, Reverse side - Stamp book which belonged to Gary Sternberg, a Jewish refugee in Shanghai.

Tan paper with printed text in German using black ink. An array of stamps are placed overtop the book. At the left side, five stamps depicting King George VI facing to the left with a crown above. There is a red 1-pence stamp, an orange 2-pence stamp, a blue 2-1/2-pence stamp, a purple 3-pence stamp, and a brown 1-schilling stamp. At the top left corner, a red 1-penny stamp depicting King George V. At the bottom left is the word "Englan" handwritten using black ink. At the right side, three stamps are present. The top right exhibits a red-brown 5-centavos stamp depicting Mariano Moreno, an Argentinian lawyer and journalist. At the center right, a blue 15-centavos stamp depicts an Argentinian cow with the word "Ganaderia" in Spanish or "Animal husbandry" in English. The final stamp on the right side, furthest down is a dark blue 20-centavos depicting Martin Miguel di Güemez, an Argentinian military leader. At the bottom right, the word "Argentina" handwritten using black ink.

Name/Title

1_02: Gary Sternberg in Shanghai: Mixing Flour, Water, and German Opera

Entry/Object ID

2017.1.2

Scope and Content

c. 1939, stamp book which belonged to Gary Sternberg, a Jewish refugee in Shanghai.

Context

Gary (Gerd) Sternberg was born in Germany on August 25, 1931 to a Protestant mother and a Jewish father. Although he and his sister were raised and baptized as Protestants, Nazi ideology designated Gary as Jewish. Gary’s father was arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp on June 14, 1938. When released January 28, 1939, the family managed to find refuge in Shanghai, China with about 18,000 other mostly-Jewish refugees. Gary’s family lived in Shanghai from May 1939 to July 1948. Life was not easy for the “Shanghailanders” as they are now nicknamed, but children can be resilient and resourceful. While in Shanghai, Gary converted a German opera booklet into a stamp album. The cover with his written address in the “Shanghai Ghetto” at the time, was made by mixing flour and water to make glue. On each page Gary wrote names of countries and pasted on the stamps. On the page dedicated to England, five of the stamps were part of the 1937 King George VI Definitive series. What Gary did not know at the time was that this series of stamps were part of the Nazi Operation Bernhard counterfeiting and propaganda campaign. Nazis altered the same stamp design by adding a Jewish Star of David on the top of the kings crown. Ironically, the anti-England propaganda stamps were produced in Sachsenhausen, the same camp his father was detained in.

Collection

Gary Sternberg

Category

Book

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Book, Stamp

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Stamp

Nomenclature Class

Exchange Media

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Archive Details

Date(s) of Creation

circa May 1939 - circa 1948

Primary Language

German

Ethnography

Cultural Region

Region

East Asia

Continent

Asia

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Measurement of the full length and width of the archive.

Width

7-1/8 in

Length

9-1/4 in

Relationships

Related Places

Place

City

Shanghai

Region

East Asia, Western Europe

Continent

Asia, Europe, South America

Country

England, Great Britain, United Kingdom, Argentina

Research Notes

Research Type

Curator

Person

C. Walrich

Date

Mar 2, 2026

Notes

Gary Sternberg differentiates the stamps from England and Argentina on separate pages. The book Gary used to place the stamps is a German copy of Der Sandmann by E.T.A. Hoffman, published first in 1816, a children's short mystery story. Gary likely removed the traditional book fabric cover to reveal the hardcover and print his name and address on the stamp book.

General Notes

Note Type

Cataloging Note

Note

C. Walrich - Updated (Mar 2 2026)