Ten Green Bottles: The True Story of One Family's Journey from War-torn Austria to the Ghettos of Shanghai

by Vivian Jeanette Kaplan

To Nini Karpel, growing up in Vienna during the 1920s was a romantic confection. Whether schussing down ski slopes or speaking of politics in coffee houses, she cherished the city of her birth. But in the 1930s an undercurrent of conflict and hate began to seize the former imperial capital. This struggle came to a head when Hitler took possession of neighboring Germany. Anti-Semitism, which Nini and her idealistic friends believed was impossible in the socially advanced world of Vienna, became widespread and virulent.

The Karpel's Jewish identity suddenly made them foreigners in their own homeland. Tormented, disenfranchised, and with a broken heart, Nini and her family sought refuge in a land seven thousand miles across the world.

Shanghai, China, one of the few countries accepting Jewish immigrants, became their new home and refuge. Stepping off the boat, the Karpel family found themselves in a land they could never have imagined. Shanghai presented an incongruent world of immense wealth and privilege for some and poverty for the masses, with opium dens and decadent clubs as well as rampant disease and a raging war between nations.

Ten Green Bottles is the story of Nini Karpel's struggles as she told it to her daughter Vivian so many years ago. This true story depicts the fierce perseverance of one family, victims of the forces of evil, who overcame suffering of biblical proportion to survive. It was a time when ordinary people became heroes.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Holocaust, World War II, China, Memoir, Biography

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Camelia Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten Green Bottles is a memoir of a young Jewish woman's surival in World WII, who escaped from Nazi's Austria to Shanghai. It is written by the narrator's daughter in her mother voice.

The voice is honest. Nini's family were secular Jews who had assimilated into pre-War Austrian society. The naïvete of the young girl at the dawn of the War is heartbreaking.

“What ideas you have, Nini. So naïve, so young. I’m afraid that idealism like yours won’t last long in this world,” she says sadly. “Will the Jews not hate you for wearing the cross and the Christians despise you for being a Jew?”

“Mama, your generation was born in fear, but we are free,” I respond indignantly. “This isn’t one of those uncivilized villages in Poland where primitive superstitions and ignorance confined you. You don’t understand the new wave of political power that’s about to emerge. This, after all, is our Vienna! Hitler’s a buffoon. Once reason is established again, he’ll be thrown into jail where he and his mad ideas can rot!”

What the protagonist thinks about China and Chinese is honestly told and disturbing at times.

Before leaving Austria, Shanghai (and China) appears wicked and uncivilized, not even a part of the humanity:

"Shanghai, China, Nini, just think of it. It seems to me that we are being exiled from humanity, from all the civilized world. Still, with the insanity that has overtaken the entire globe, I suppose we should be thankful that any place, no matter how wicked or far, is willing to accept us."

This, in its essence, is not much different from what the Nazi officer says:

“Shanghai,” he says, chuckling in disgust. “A good place to send you Jews to die. There will be a slow death for you all. Go to the stinking hole of yellow-skinned mongrels. At least you won’t be here to spread your contagion.”

Upon arrival, Shanghai indeed looks wicked and uncivilized to the protagonist, whose view of China is a typical European view at the time:

"Thick hordes of people swarm the pier and coalesce into one throbbing dark mass, a monster with hundreds of wriggling arms and legs that surrounds and threatens to devour us whole."

"We look in dismay at the dark masses of people,"

"There is a powerful mixture of odours from bodies pressed too closely together and the peculiar aromas coming from the food being cooked in steaming pots out in the open."

"Our expectations of a bizarre world are exceeded at every turn as our vehicle rumbles through the streets, and as we are being jostled about we observe all manner of wares being loudly hawked – tiny bright-feathered birds twittering in bamboo cages, frogs croaking in others, eels writhing in barrels and live carp sloshing in tubs. Our stomachs bob up and down and many of us are sick along the way, fainting, vomiting, overcome by it all, and still the truck does not stop until we reach our destination."

After several years living in China, as she understands more of the country and the people, especially after having been forced to live in Hongkew, the poorest district in Shanghai, side by side with the poorest Chinese, her views of China and Chinese people have changed. She becomes more sympathetic, though she still sees them strange:

"Chinese servants speak in “pidgin English” and remember to keep their place. They are hardly more than slaves, tending to every need and whim, and bowing in obsequious servitude. They pad about in soft small steps, unobtrusive and efficient, made to humble themselves before the strangers who have invaded their land."

"A mutual respect is gradually nurtured between us and these strange people, although it may never develop into complete trust."

She starts eating Chinese food with chopsticks:

"Although Poldi has told me not to take a chance on this strange food for fear it might be contaminated, we sneak out all the same and hurry to the spot to eat our forbidden delicacy."

"We have become accustomed to the smells of the local cooking that repelled us when we first arrived, and now the European refugees are even scooping rice and exotic delicacies into their mouths with chopsticks, in the Oriental style."

Yet, they mostly maintain a distance. After the war, even they, the Jewish refugees, can afford to employ Chinese as servants. Perhaps the refugee status makes them more keenly aware of the social injustice but changes take time.

"We have always maintained a separation from the Chinese and they from us. To them we are white foreigners. We employ them as fur finishers and as servants, as have the others who have come before us. Although we are aware of the injustice in this, we accept it. Things do not change easily."

They think they never belong, but have learned to appreciate the ancient civilization:

“Despite the relaxed mood and certain prosperity that peace has brought to us, and although we have spent years living in Shanghai, we still feel like outsiders, never truly integrated into this part of the world.”

”We have learned something of the ancient civilization of the Chinese and have come to appreciate their artistry. Our first impressions of this land had been of a coarse people, uncivilized by European standards, but we have come to respect their ancient culture and customs.”

A fascinating story. The writing is average. The overall story-telling could be improved. Some nice paragraphs, but I find the ubiquitous speech adverbs annoying.

[Linda Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book several years ago at a Toronto book store while I was visiting Canada on business. It seems to me I brought home a suitcase full of books written by Canadian authors, and Ten Green Bottles is one of my favorite books of all time.

I read it before I started writing book reviews online, but it remained on my shelf because I loved it so much. Recently I had some email correspondence with the author's agent and I decided it was time to read the book again and post a review.

Ten Green Bottles is the true story of an Austrian Jewish family who escaped from Nazi persecution in Vienna in 1939. The only country that would take them in was China. After a long ocean voyage, they land in Shanghai with nothing. Now they must learn to survive in a strange country also in the midst of a horrific war. The title Ten Green Bottles comes from a song sung by sailors in the bar Nini and Poldi run in order to support themselves. One by one the bottles fall from the wall until none are left. The song comes to represent Nini's personal struggles to adapt. She wonders when her last bottle will fall sending her into the final abyss.

I love the history of China and until I read Ten Green Bottles I knew nothing of this chapter of it. I was fascinated. The Jews escaped one horror in Europe only to find another waiting for them. The human will to survive is compelling.

Reading Ten Green Bottles again reinforced why it will stay on my list of favorites. I love it from a historic perspective and Kaplan does a beautiful job of making the story come to life on the page. With words she draws the reader into the carefree life of a child in Vienna, slowly changing the mood of the city as the Nazis take over. The shock of first impressions in Shanghai as Nini and her family disembark the ship that has brought them to what they believe is safety, crackles with electricity. I know Nini and Poldi. I laugh and cry with them. I walk alongside them through every joy and every hardship.

Ten Green Bottles is one family's story of a piece of history we should never forget. And this story is told in a way that will make sure we never do.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a really compelling story that needs to be told, but the telling of it was anything but compelling. Kaplan tells her mother's story in the first person, and does an admirable job of relating the extraordinary events of her life, one incident after another in a completely linear manner. Nini, (Kaplan's mother), manages to get out of Vienna with most of her family before the Nazis completely stop Jews from leaving. They go to Shanghai, the only country that will take them. But life in Shanghai is horrible and lawless, and the Japanese occupation forces are even more brutal than the Nazis. Amazingly, the family survives to make a better life in Canada. A better writer, or one who wasn't so emotionally tied to the protagonist, could have told this incredible story in a much more creative and interesting way and I suspect would have reached a larger audience.

[Fran Short · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is written by the daughter of a Nini, a Jewish refugee from Vienna during World War II. It is told in the first person by Nini, based on the story as it was told to her daughter many times. I have read many accounts of this time period but this one particularly interested me as Nini and her family escaped, not to America or another European country, but to Shanghai, where they arrived penniless and attempted to build a life there during the war years. The living conditions were deplorable, though they counted themselves fortunate to have escaped with their lives. Shanghai was turbulent at that time as it was occupied by Japan, a country which had the same designs on Asia as Hitler had on the remainder of the world Though the Jewish refugees were left in comparative peace for a while, Hitler's long arm reached into Asia and the Japanese were 'encouraged' to move all their Jews into a ghetto, which they could only leave if issued a daily pass which was given arbitrarily.

Shanghai already had two wealthy established Jewish communities, a Sephardic one that had been there for many years (the Sassoons were among the wealthy Sephardic population) and a Russian one that was established by tsarist refugees after the 1917 revolution. Though they gave money to help settle the newest refugees, they never mixed with them in any way.

Following liberation, many stayed in Shanghai for a while since many borders were still closed to them, but then were forced to make another decision to resettle when the communists came into power and confiscated businesses and expelled foreigners.

The book is well written and for me, it was a source of history I was not familiar with. Would recommend.

[Shari (Shira) · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unbelievable story of a Viennese family that escapes the Nazis by immigrating to Shanghai. I breathed a sigh a relief when they escaped the Nazis and reached China, but that was just the beginning of their troubles. I learned a lot about the Jewish community in Shanghai and Hongkew, the Jewish ghetto. The book was not particularly well-written, but I was willing to endure the abrupt transitions and long descriptions of inconsequential things to find out what happened to this family.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story about the author's parents. She writes in the first person of her mother, which I found to be both clever and affective in relaying the family's harrowing history. Kaplan's parents meet in 1930s Vienna when anti-Semitism is on the rise in Eastern Europe. Leopold, or Poldi as he's called by family and friends, is originally from Poland, but makes his home in Vienna and meets Nini, who runs a store with her widowed mother. Nini feels safe and secure in Austria, where Jews have assimilated and live peacefully with their Christian neighbors. But in 1933 Hitler comes to power and everything changes for the Jews. By 1938, Poldi is in Milan, where he's working in the resistance against the Italian fascists. He promises Nini that they'll reunite someday. It's soon evident that that won't happen in Vienna. Nini's friends and family are arrested by the Nazis and told to leave. Word has it that there's one place that will take in Jews without question: Shanghai. Nini and her family and Poldi's parents decide that they can't wait around for things to change in Austria, so they book tickets on a boat from Trieste to Shanghai in early 1939. Kristallnacht happens in late 1938, but just as tragic than that, Poldi's parents make a fatal mistake that the family will regret for the rest of their lives. By some miracle, Poldi reunites with Nini in Shanghai. Their lives in Shanghai are difficult. Hunger, filth, disease, and death plague the family. But it's also a time of thankfulness and rebirth.

[Joan Moran]

I'm knee deep in the last edits of a memoir I wrote about my Jewish mother. And I keep reading other memoir to compare style, voice and structure. Ten Green Bottles was one of the most extraordinary memoirs that I have read. I had known that some of the European Jewish population had no other place to go in Vienna after Kristallnacht besides Shanghai. European countries had been closed off to them by the late 1930s; however, Shanghai was drawing Jewish immigrants there at a steady clip. Did the Jews simply trade one ghetto for another -one dictator for another on two different continents? Vivian Jeanette Kaplan traces her family's journey two years before Hitler's concentration camps were in full operation. Increasingly, Japan took its orders from Germany: make life horrific for the Jews and put them in a ghetto alongside the local Chinese population. Torture them all. The stakes kept rising for Vivian's extended family as they war progressed. Ten Green Bottles is a terrifying story of trying to stay alive amidst the circumstances of three conflicts, the last of which was the Communist Party who brutally over-ran China. This was a shock to the Jews living int Shanghai. itI uprooted not just Vivian's world, but the world of every displaced Jewish family that immigrated to Shanghai from 1936 to 1949. Ten Green Bottles is a shattering and deeply profound manifesto of the possibility the hope can and will be kept alive.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me 2 and a half years from start to finish. I wanted to read this book because of my family’s story. I found it tough to get into and at times because of the horror, tough to read. I am not sure someone without ties would have given it this much time to get through. I think you need to approach this book knowing it’s someone’s story, at times I wanted to give up and put it away and others I could not put it down. Inspiring story of survival and the human spirit.

[Shana Petrouske · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing. I've read many historical non fictions. Never read any taking place in China in the 40s. It was very educational to learn what was happening in different areas.
I learned SO much. I am blown away by this family's life and what they have endured. So glad I found this book. One that I will read again.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book. A unbelievable but true story of heartbreak and perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds. I couldn't put it down. The writer tells the story in a way that keeps you riveted to the page. One of the best books I have read in a long time.

[Jen Sangiovanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book only four stars just because it wasn't really my style of writing that I prefer. I must however say that the story told in this book is in my opinion so important, extremely moving, and astounding. I have known a lot of the holocaust and this period of time, and have had little knowledge about the displacement of European Jews to Shanghai or Asia and what they ultimately faced in their time spent there. I knew about Japan's occupation, but didn't know how that overlapped, about the timing of it, and it was interesting to read, as well, about the implementation of communism in China. Being from families of immigrants who moved to Canada, it is always interesting to me to learn about how people have ended up here. Definitely a great undertaking, Vivian should be proud of her family's resilience to what they have had to endure.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Kaplan channels a kind of a magic via the tale she weaves about her parent's experiences during the Holocaust. To begin with the author's writing is superb in every way. She writes as from the standpoint of her mother who is the heroine of the true story. In a sense Ms. Kaplan is a narrator using her mother's voice. The story in and of itself is filled with trauma but as well with the unbelievable courage and will to rebuild, over and over again. And like a toxic, poisonous smoke the evil of the time period invades and pervades each page. I felt I was there, unwillingly and yet having a curiosity about how the family manage, eventually, to move on and out.
As an afterthought, I wonder how many readers are like me, absolutely ignorant of Shanghai China's having been a haven ( of sorts, and in a very loose sense) for Jews fleeing Germany.

[Elyse Hayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't recommend this, although the topic had promised to be fascinating. A WWII first-person narrative about an affluent, cultured Jewish family from Vienna. They flee to Shanghai and spend the war there. My main problem with the book is the author's voice and attitude. They were cultural Jews, not religious ones, and there is no inkling of any religious faith helping them survive. Also, there is just a general complaining tone of the "victim." As I read, I kept picturing the Jews in the camps and wondered how someone in Shanghai could complain. Even later, when they find out what's been going on in Western Europe, there isn't much sympathy for the other victims. There is deep-rooted snobbishness in the author's psyche.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story behind this book was interesting and very different from most Holocaust books. It is a story that should be told. However, I found the telling of the story very flat. There was little character development and even though the characters were going through horrific events, it was difficult to feel much empathy for them. The book is very heavy on descriptive paragraphs - sometimes going on and on. I found myself skimming through many of these. I’d say the book is worth reading only because it tells the story of the Jews who escaped to Shanghai.

[Tina Kanagaratnam · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best on the Shanghai Jewish refugee experience, a rich and detailed accounting. Kaplan helps us understand what the refugees were leaving. behind in Vienna, and, in excruciating detail, the suffering and eventual acclimatization in Shanghai. Kaplan is a terrific writer and we care deeply about her characters and what happens to them. Great details. Four stars because of minor but easily fact-checked historical inaccuracies that made me wonder how accurate the rest of this account was.

[debra L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Give this book a 4stars on story and 3stars on writing. This is another important story about an area I knew nothing about. Jews whose ONLY escape route was to Shanghai where the Chinese/Japanese conflict followed by expanding WWII consequences made for horrific conditions.... While at times the writing is quite eloquent, there is much that reads very flat and report-like.
All in all, worth the read and I will say it puts some perspective on our current pandemic conditions as really being... well, small potatoes in comparison....

[Cathie Waugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true story of survival - one family’s flight from Nazi Austria to war-torn China in search of safety. A journey of fear and hope. Vivian Kaplan is a writer that paints a picture with each paragraph she writes. I couldn’t put this down. Only 285 pages. The history of how her Jewish family survived the terror of the Nazis in their beloved Vienna and what happened to each of them is portrayed in vivid detail. From the heart, with hope that wavered but never died. Ten Green Bottles is her first book. I look forward to seeing the next!

[Barbara Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a memoir told in first person, but really written by a daughter; it’s both creative and factual. I’ve read a lot of historical literature related to WW2 and what happened to the Jews in Europe, those who either died or survived the ordeal. But I’ve seen very little related to what became of those Jews who were displaced and found the means to emigrate in advance of the holocaust. I found it fascinating.

[Dawn Legenza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book mostly because it was a true story. It was about a Jewish family and the ordeals they suffered throughout their lives. They had to leave Vienna , then Shanghai due to Nazi infiltration. They finally settled in Canada. The main characters were Nini Karelia , her husband Podi, Nini sisters Stella and Erna and their husbands. Podi’s brother Dolu and his wife. Nini and Podi have two children, Vivian and Bion.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating journey, the story of the travel to, and struggles in China is well told.

I have read many books about the holocaust, both non-fiction and
historical fiction. This tale of the many
challenges of the time spent in China, and the associated challenges was new information for me. The descriptions
were clear and thorough without being too long. The story was informative and well told.

[Pattye Nicolls · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded to 3. Every person affected by the Holocaust needs to have their story told. Certainly the Jewish community in Shanghai was something I was not familiar with. But the writing seemed stilted and the telling was very linear. The first person singular did not work well for me. I could not tell if this was a fictional retelling of her parents experience or an actual biography. At times I felt an uncomfortable element of classism and racisim. Still worth the time to read

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

To survive a life of rejection

This is different from all the other Nazi stories,because they tragically survive despite the hatred and horrible living condition endured. This family leaves their home in Austria to settle for years in China during Japanese occupation . it's not until the threat of communism are they able to immigrate to Canada. This is a story of grit, transformation and faith.

[Sarai · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.75 ish. Thoroughly engrossed in the history of this. Was not aware of Shanghai immigrants or ghettos. appreciate kaplan’s personal connections. Always unbelievable to bear witness to this very sad part of history. Kaplan does an amazing job of providing insight to the pre-hitler changes in Austria allowing you to better understand the horrors of the times.

[Allison Dulman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok! Interesting to read a Holocaust/World war two story from a different angle - I had no idea Jewish refugees escaped to Shanghai and that there was a whole community there. But, I found this book to be slow at the beginning, and even when it picked up, it was just kind of sad - hardship after hardship. I kept waiting for it to be uplifting and that never really happened.

[Erin Lesser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating story and very well written. A story of human determination and strength. I found it interesting that it was written in the perspective of the authors mother and felt that there could have been more expansion into her thoughts at certain parts, but that is a minor critique. All in all I loved it.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really made me understand and better appreciate what many Jews went through in order to survive WWII. The book went into great detail regarding the preparations the author's family made to flee Austria and made me wonder if I would be as strong and determined in a similar situation.

[S R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've heard about Jews emigrating to Shanghai to escape Hitler before, but I had no idea what that experience was like and how absolutely horrifying and difficult it was. I have been tired of reading Holocaust books, but this book was “totally new” and a truly amazing biography.

[Dawn Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I knew nothing about the Jews that ended up in Shanghai in WWII.
It was written very well, and very compelling. It was so interesting to read everything they went through. What a horrifying life they had.
It makes you very appreciative of your own life.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think it’s well written in an easy-to-read style. There were times earlier in the book when I was a bit bored with some of the descriptions, but it could’ve been my own mood at the time. It’s really interesting and worthwhile reading.

[Catherine Allen-Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enthralling!

This book was so well written. The author captures her mother’s story with profound descriptions only the best of all authors can do. If you think you’ve read enough WWII Holocaust stories, you haven’t. Read this!