Dan Moalem - Growing Up in Shanghai

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The Family Album       To view full size with caption, click image.

Family Photographs
Family in Shanghai
Photo of the 1922 Whangpoo Road Jewish School Hockey team. In the photo are my mother Girgee, Headmaster J. P. Jones, Esther Bloomfield, Emma Nissim, Nora Toeg and Mrs Westfield, the hockey coach. Wedding photo of my father Reuben Moalem and mother Girgee Ghazal. (1929) A tribute to my paternal grandfather, Joseph Moalem, published in Israel's Messenger newspaper. (1931) Wedding photo of my father's second brother Simeon and his wife Emma (1931)
My father, Reuben Moalem, and mother, Girgee Ghazal, with me (Dan) at one and a half years of age. (1932) Wedding photo of my father's third brother Joe and his wife Anna (1932) Cousins Abe, Esther and Solly (on the rocking horse). (1934) Wedding photo of my father's elder sister Flora to Mr. Pisarevsky (1935). Left back row is my father's youngest sister Marge
My brother Joe with his Amah. (1935) A studio photo of me (Daniel) aged five years. (1935) A studio photo of myself (Daniel), sister Louise and brother Joe. (1935) My father, Reuben Moalem. (1936)
Garden parties were popular in Shanghai. In this photo (from left to right) are my mother Girgee, her sister Flora, friend of the family Joseph Aghassi, Flora's husband Shalom, my father Reuben and a neighbour, Mr Cohen. (1936) Attending this garden party are (from left to right) my mother Girgee, her sister Flora, my grandmother Aziza with myself (Daniel) on the right. My sister Louise has her back to the camera and my brother Joe is turning to face the camera. (1936) My mother Girgee with us as children at the beach at Lai Chi Kok. (1937) Advertisement for Venus Café, jointly owned by Girgee Moalem and Shalom Levy. (1937)
A birthday party held for the children of the Moalem family. (1937) My cousin William aged six. (1938) The cousins of the Saul clan taken in front of our home at 640 Seymour Road, Shanghai. (1938) My mother, Girgee, dressed in a Japanese kimono with parasol, standing on snow in our laneway at 640 Seymour Road. (1938)
Cousins Rachel, Eva and Esther with me(Daniel) on an outing. (1938) A silhouette cut out of me (Daniel) done at a garden party. Cousins Rosie, Abe and Elsie Saul in Shanghai. (1946) Uncle Simeon with his children, Grace and Joe. (1946)
My mother's (Girgee's) youngest brother Isaac. (1947)
Family Post-Shanghai
My mother's (Girgee's) younger brother Ezekiel. (1947) Weddings were sometimes held in private homes. My father and I are witnesses at the private wedding of family friends Jack Cohen and Helen Levy. (1947) Cousins Rosie, Elsie and Abe, children of Ezra, my mother's brother. (1947) Cousin Esther Saul, daughter of Silas, my mother's (Girgee's) brother. (1952)
Cousins Cathryn and David Moalem, two of Mendee's children in Australia. (1954) The Moalem family shortly after we arrived in Australia. (1956) Wedding of cousin Maurice Saul (son of Ezra), to Hanita in Haifa, Israel. (1956) My mother's eldest brother, Ezra and his family. In front is the youngest daughter, Elsie, at back from left to right are my uncle Ezra, his wife Girgee, daughters Jenny and Rosie. (1956)
My first cousins, the children of my father's youngest brother Nissim, taken in Australia - Cathryn, Michele, Raymond and David (from left to right). Marriage of cousin, Rosie Saul (daughter of Ezra), to Eliazer in Haifa, Israel. (1958) Cousins Lily and Eva (elder sisters of Maurice and Rosie) in New Jersey, USA. (1960) Cousin Gracie's daughters Gail and Janis Solomon in Tulsa, Oklahoma USA. (1961)
Cousin Ruth (Silas' daughter), and her daughter Aviva in Israel. (1968) Uncle Ezekiel (my mother's brother) wife Rena, and daughter, Edna in Israel. (1958) Cousins Edna and Uri, children of my mother's brother Ezekiel, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (1962) My father, Reuben (right), with his brother Simeon in Sydney. (1974)
My father, Reuben, myself (Dan) and daughters, Linda and Jenny. (1977) From right to left, my wife Ruth, my father Reuben, my eldest daughter Jenny, myself (Dan), Aunt Marge (my father's sister) and her husband, Harry Geddes. (1977) A family reunion with my father, Reuben, and his three brothers and sister. Seated left to right are Sid, my father Reuben, Joe, sister Marge, and on the floor is Mendee (Nissim). Standing behind my father is Mendee's wife, Sarah. (1978) Seated are cousin Solly Gazal and his wife Jaffa, Standing are my mother's brother Ezekiel and his wife Rena, in Israel. (1990)
My mother, Girgee, with her brother Ezekiel during his visit to Sydney. (1992) My mother, Girgee, at 92 years of age holding her great-grandson, Ty. (2002)
Family Homes in Shanghai
The house where I was born and lived from 1930-32 - 4 Wayside Road, Hongkew (photographed on a return visit). The house we lived in from 1933-1942 - No. 9 Lane 640, Seymour Road. It is the fifth house from the left with the scaffolding in front (photographed on a return visit).
Old Shanghai
Pre-WWII map showing streets of Shanghai. View of the Bund and its famous buildings looking North. Broadway Mansions with the Garden Bridge and Soochow Creek. The 13th century Lunghwa Pagoda.
A later picture of the Soochow Creek with the Post Office and Embankment Building in the background. The Sun Company building, one of Shanghai's largest department stores. Cathay Mansions built by the Sassoon company. Sassoon House, corner of the Bund and Nanking Road, where some of Sassoon's famous parties were held.
Bank of China with Sassoon House on its left. Peking Road with trolley car and rickshaw. The North Train Station. A view from the Race Course of Nanking Road, showing the Park Hotel, YMCA and Grand Theatre.
An aerial view of Nanking Road with the Race Course and Park Hotel in the distance. Foochow Road showing trolley bus, rickshaws and pedicabs. Note the banners used for advertising by day, at night neon signs lit up the street. Shanghai at night. The tall building is the Wing On department store. Close-up of The Grand Theatre on Bubbling Well Road.
The French Bund looking north. This busy dock area turned ships around in 24 hours. Trams ran along this section of the Bund. Sampans on the Whangpoo River. The famous Garden Bridge. Several Embassies flanked the north side of the bridge. Looking south along the Garden Bridge and the Bund.
Nanking Road looking west. Trams travelled along this main street. Note the banners. Nanking Road.
School and Community 1930-1950
Ohel Rachel Synagogue with its classic columns. Rear view of the Ohel Rachel Synagogue. Rear view of the Ohel Rachel Synagogue. Members of the B'nai B'rith Shanghai, a Jewish benevolent organisation. My father, Reuben Moalem, is seated second from the right. He held several roles over the years including Treasurer. (1938)
A picture of the Shanghai Jewish School covered partly with vegetation, taken on a return visit years later. The Form IV class of the Shanghai Jewish School in 1944. Form VI graduating class at the beginning of 1947. From left to right, Senior prefect Paul Kafka, Vice Captain Bobby Rabinovich and Captain Daniel Moalem of the Shanghai Jewish School, 1947.
Shanghai Jewish School's graduating class of 1947. Many emigrated before the end of the year, leaving a much smaller group to graduate.
University Days 1947-1950
The foreigners in my first year Aurora University Engineering class. I am on the left (1947). The Aurora Softball team 1948. I (Daniel) played pitcher and am seated in the right back row. A group of foreigners, ex-members of the Shanghai YMCA who migrated to Australia. They were participating in an impromptu softball game. The popular Race Course sporting complex, which was modified after the communist takeover of Shanghai. (1949).
Pre-War Shanghai
Members of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. My Uncle Simeon was a member of this Corp before war broke out.
Lunghwa Camp
Inmates collected their ration of hot drinking water from this shed, which was affectionately called 'Dew Drop Inn'. I am in the line on the far left wearing shorts. (This photograph was taken by a war correspondent named Spitzer.) This building was called 'D Block' and housed mostly families. The paddock in front was often used by inmates to play soccer and at the back we each had a small plot to grow vegetables. These sheds were called Huts A, B and C and housed single internees. The 'Dew Drop Inn'.
The Assembly Hall in the foreground. On the left Huts A, B and C lie between it and the Dining Hall. The tower in the background supplied salt water for washing. This is F block where we were originally housed. Volunteers doing kitchen duty. E block.
Architecture and Artifacts
The Temple of Heaven in Peking. This famous building was built without using a single nail and is one of its most popular tourist sights in the city.