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| Gary Matzdorff recalls his time in the city at the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum.(Photo/Shanghai Daily) |
Gary Matzdorff could not hold back the tears as he took a walk down memory lane on his return to the former Ohel Moshe Synagogue in Shanghai.
Memories came flooding back as the 92-year-old Jew spoke of a Shanghai woman he loved and lost.
The synagogue, now part of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, was also the place where Matzdorff married a Jewish woman 66 years ago when they were both refugees in the city, fleeing the Nazis.
But Matzdorff said it could well have been a Shanghai woman standing next to him if she did not break his heart.
For Matzdorff, Shanghai is not only the city that saved his life but it also a place he calls home. He was only 17 when the World War II broke out.
This was his sixth trip to the city, digging out old memories of his time here from 1939 to 1949 and also to look for his former love Cleo Wang.
"Dear Miss Wang, where are you? If we can meet again, our ages may add up to over 200," Matzdorff said.
Matzdorff, who now lives in the United States, can still speak some Shanghai dialect as the locals discovered. He still remembers the location of his former residence in the modern city and shared his story of lost love for a young Shanghai woman with them.
Dancing hall
Matzdorff said he met Cleo Wang, a young and beautiful Shanghai woman at a ballroom in 1941.
"One late afternoon my friend and I went to the top of Wing On Department Store where you could dance with girls after buying tickets. After an hour, two young women walked in as customers," said Matzdorff.
As the ballroom had a rule that disallowed strangers from taking the floor, Matzdorff and his friend gave a note to the waiter to give it to the two women. In it, they asked: "Would you like to meet us and have dinner somewhere else?"
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