Daniel Lohr leaves Germany with 10 Reichsmarks in his pocket and a modest suitcase of clothes. His Uncle Nathan arranges a first class ticket for him on the Raffaello, a Lloyd ship. Uncle Nathan has underworld connections. There is a favour to be done for the ticket.
Lohr meets the lovely Leah Auerbach and her mother, Frau Clara Auerbach. They have fled with little more than Lohr after the family business is sold to its German manager.
On board class and racial distinctions are maintained. The Jews are grouped at a table for meals. They are uncomfortable with Colonel Yamada, a member of the Kempetai, the Japanese Military Police, in Shanghai.
In Shanghai there is constant tension over the Japanese presence.
Lohr connects with his Uncle Nathan who has a nightclub. Their reunion is poignant. There is no one left in their family.
In business there is constant “squeeze” to be paid to the Japanese. Lesser “squeeze” is paid to the Chinese.
Lohr must decide whether he wants to join his uncle in the club business or try to make a living as a journalist.
The Jewish community has a strong presence in the nightclubs of the International Settlement.
As he ponders, Lohr starts making stops at night at the clubs to pick up gossip for the Merry-Go-Round column of Selden Loomis in the North-China Tribune.
Lohr finds his past is never far behind him. There were issues for him with the Nazi regime beyond being Jewish. Life experiences have hardened Lohr. He is ready to be ruthless to survive in a world at war.
Lohr and Leah connect.
Uncle Nathan, with others, owns the Gold Rush, a grand Tudor style home, converted to a nightclub on the ground floor, public rooms for roulette and blackjack on the second and private gaming rooms on third. A broad staircase makes for dramatic entrances and exits. Elegance and champagne all around.
The interactions between Westerners, Chinese and Japanese are fraught with tension.
Lohr is adept but not infallible at working out the odds on the amounts of “squeeze” to be paid and when to say “no”.
While business disputes may ultimately be resolved by words but only after bodies have fallen. No one relaxes in Shanghai.
Lohr goes to see Xi, a Chinese businessman with a gang. Xi speaks and Lohr replies:
“So you’ve come to see me. You think I can guarantee that. There are no guarantees in life.”
“No. But there are promises.”
With WW II underway in Europe anxiety pervades Shanghai. The wise know the war is coming. When and how will the war come to China? Life is about to change.
Morality shrinks when war dictates life. There is precious little rule of law in a war. People do what they need to survive.
Can there be a touch of honour amidst the brutality?
Kanon is skilled at exploring what men and women will do in the maelstrom of WW II. Is Lohr a good German? I was reminded of his book, The Good German, which I read 20 years ago.
Kanon comes near Philip Kerr in examining the moral issues facing those who want to be good in a world where evil strives for supremacy.
****
This explores an aspect of the war that I don't know enough about, Bill (the Shanghai experience at that time). War does bring with all sorts of questions of morality, and the 'right thing to do' becomes murky at times. I'm glad that's discussed honestly here. The characters sound interesting, too, and I can see how the story would be reminiscent of Kerr.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. It is coincidental that I have read two books in the past months about Shanghai in the early stages of WW II. Shanghai Girls dealt with the Chinese experience and Shanghai sets out the refugee experience. It was brutal for both groups.
Delete