Harbin,
Heilongjiang PROVINCE,
China

Documents, Correspondence and Memorabilia

Click on any image for a larger version or on any underlined name for a photo.

German Letter from Harbin 1941, Page 1
German Letter_from_Harbin_1941, Page 1 Translation.pdf

German Letter from Harbin 1941, Page 2

This German letter was part of the correspondence between the Jewish Far Eastern Council of Harbin and the Israeli Cultural Community of Vienna in 1941.
The Council was attempting to assist with funds required by Viennese Jewish refugees stopped in the railroad town of Manchouli
(now Manzhouli, located on the border with Russia in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China).
Letter image provided by Ron Laby

Harbin's reputation as a music center began early. Music agent Mark Ullstein sent this post card to a New Jersey music publication in 1914.
Post card image provided by Ron Laby

This 1920 certificate from fellow workers honors Miron Moiseyevich for his long years of service at a Manchurian printing company.
Document image provided by Ron Laby

Boris Degtyarev received this certificate on May 23, 1942, at a track and field event sponsored by Harbin's Zionist Beitar (Trumpeldor) Scouts. He came in second in javelin and discus events.
Document image provided by Ron Laby

Russian Letter from Harbin 1950 Russian Letter Translation.pdf This letter accompanied a Torah sent from the Jewish community of Harbin to the Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel in 1950. Letter image provided by Ron Laby	German Postcard from Harbin to Berlin German Postcard Translation.pdf This post card was sent from Harbin to Berlin “via Siberia” in October 1945. Post card image provided by Ron Laby	This envelope on stationery from Harbin’s Hotel Moderne was sent from Tokyo to “Tel Aviv, Palestine,” where it was opened by a British censor, probably in 1939. The stamps are from the Japanese puppet government of Manchukuo, which was based in Harbin. Envelope image provided by Ron Laby

Document of departure from Vladivostok, Siberia, issued by the Romanian Mission there, making it possible for Yusif Izbeztchi, 40, his wife Basya Feiga and their sons Alexander, 13, Maurice, 11, and Yevsei, 8, to cross the border into Harbin in 1920. The family was originally from Kishinev in Besarabia. Yusif died in Harbin in 1929 and his wife died there in 1933. Their sons moved to Israel, the United States and Australia, respectively. Document image and family information was provided in May 2009 by Yossi Azov, son of Alexander.		Moishe Zilberkasten/Silberkasten was a Yiddish theater actor who moved from Warsaw to the US around 1915 after spending several years in Harbin. This document declaring Moishe's intention to become a US citizen was provided by his great-grandson, Professor H. Daniel Wagner.


Harbin Jewish Community birth certificate (cover & document) from 1904 for Abe (Abraham) Sitsky. Click on his name for a photo of him. His parents were Boris Alexeivitch Sitsky (Jewish name: Chaim Ber Itschok), born in Tcheliabinsk (now Chelyabinsk), east of the Ural Mountains in Russia in 1873, and Yuliya Abramovna Yudova, born in 1873 in Samara in southeastern Russia.		The Tientsin Hebrew Association issued this marriage certificate for Abraham Sitsky and Sarah Toper on September 23, 1932.

Ruvim (Charles) Clurman’s 1918 birth certificate in Russian from Harbin’s Jewish Religious Society. Parents are Itsko Chaim Gershevitz Clurman and Ethel Rachel Naumovna Clurman.	Confirmation of Birthdate (July 30, 1928) and Parentage of Israel I (Izra, Johnny) Clurman.	Ruvim (Charles) Clurman’s 1937 membership papers in Russian and Hebrew for Brit Trumpeldor (Betar), a Zionist scout troop in Harbin.

Ruvim (Charles) Clurman’s passport (pgs 2-3), authorizing his departure from Dairen to America, issued by the Japanese puppet government of Manchou-Kuo in 1937.	Ruvim Clurman’s passport (pgs 6-7)	Ruvim Clurman’s passport (pgs 8-9)	Ruvim Clurman’s passport (pgs 10-11)

Birth record for Sylvia Clurman (Epstein) from Harbin’s Jewish Religious Society, in Russian. Issued in 1940, the certificate certifies that Sylvia was inscribed in “the book of born Jews in Harbin … in the feminine column” in 1920.	Birth record for Sylvia Clurman (Epstein) from Harbin’s Jewish Religious Society, in English translation. Click on her name for a photo of her from the 1930s.	Harry Clurman Birth Certificate, 2 Feb 1923, Harbin, China, Page 1	Harry Clurman Birth Certificate, 2 Feb 1923, Harbin, China, Page 2

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