Skip to main content



Sewing for survival : Last chance

Jewish refugees in Shanghai 1938-1949

14.06.2024 - 17.11.2024 ,
tim - Staatliches Textil- und Industriemuseum Augsburg (State Textile and Industry Museum Augsburg)

  • Museum café.
  • Shop.

In this exhibition with international participation, the tim sheds light on a moving piece of German history. It is about Jewish women, men and children who fled from Germany and Austria to Shanghai from 1938 onwards to escape persecution by the National Socialists and secured their livelihood there, not least through textile work.

The exhibition was created in cooperation with the renowned Käte Hamburger Research Centre "global dis:connect" at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. It shows original objects made by Jewish refugees during their time in Shanghai, including handicrafts created by a refugee girl.

At the centre of the exhibition is a historic sewing machine that ensured the survival of one of the families. Originally a gift from the grandmother to her granddaughter, the sewing machine has journeyed a long way from Frickhofen in Germany to Shanghai to San Francisco to Cleveland ...and now to Augsburg.

Last edited on 26.09.2024

Additional information

Associated museum

Museum / Exhibition Centre: tim - Staatliches Textil- und Industriemuseum Augsburg (State Textile and Industry Museum Augsburg)

Man - machine - pattern - fashion: the four M's are at the heart of the Textile and Industry Museum, or tim for short. For centuries, Augsburg was an important centre of textile production and...

Location: Augsburg