United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Max Schmeidler (1920-1981) was born in Berlin to merchant Bernhard Schmeidler (1891-1957, born in Brzeszcze to Herman and Zofia Schmeidler) and Laura Schmeidler (born in 1900 to Salomon and Dobka Hammer). Max was trained in leather manufacturing in Berlin in 1938 and in London from 1939-1940. He fled to Shanghai, China, where he served as a sergeant with the Shanghai Municipal Police from 1941-1945 and was awarded a Police Distinguished Conduct Medal. He survived polio and encephalitis in 1943 and lived in the Hongkew ghetto. He immigrated to the United States in 1947, and his parents, who survived the Holocaust in Siberia, joined him in 1949.
boxes oversize folder book enclosure 2 1 1
The Max Schmeidler papers are arranged as a five series: I: Biographical materials, 1927-1963, II: Correspondence, approximately 1947, III: Photographs, approximately 1938-1947, IV: Poem and song, approximately 1938-1947, V: Printed materials, approximately 1941-1945
The Max Schmeidler papers include biographical materials, correspondence, photographs, newspapers, and clippings documenting Max Schmeidler from Berlin, his training in leather manufacturing in London, his refuge in Shanghai during the Holocaust, his service on the Shanghai Municipal Police, his immigration to the United States, and his health and the health of his parents, Laura and Bernhard Schmeidler. Biographical materials include Max’s childhood report cards, materials from the Leathersellers’ Technical College and from a leather manufacturing conference in London, letters of reference and recommendation documenting his education and career, materials documenting his service on the Shanghai Municipal Police, and statements from doctors documenting the wartime and postwar health of Max and his parents. Correspondence consists of a 1947 letter to Max from his father in Bamberg and two letters in Chinese. A photograph album and loose photographs primarily depict Max in China, mostly wearing his Municipal Police uniform. A handful of photograph depict Max and his family in Poland and in the United States. The collection includes an unattributed poem that begins “Have you heard the latest thing in town” and lyrics to a song titled “Mein Jiddische Mame.” Printed materials consist of clippings and newspaper pages relating the news of World War II, the Holocaust, and life in Shanghai under Nazi occupation. A couple of articles refer to Max Schmeidler’s award of the Police Distinguished Conduct Medal in 1941.
Max Schmeidler papers