Making A
Difference
National Council of Jewish Women

metro »

Greater Detroit Section

Meet Sue and Sheldon Simon, NCJW/
Greater Detroit dedicated resale store
volunteers.
"We have always enjoyed helping out
whenever we could. We have worked in the
store, picked up donations from community
members, donated clothing and household
items as well. Once we even helped a lady
clean out her basement!"
"They are always available whenever
needed” says Delores Hendrix, manager of
council re|sale in Berkley. "If you happen
to have your donations picked up by Sue
and Shel, you'll receive a special smile in
addition to your donation receipt."
We would like to encourage others to
join us and volunteer. As a volunteer corps
member, you can work 2-3 hours at a time
on a regular basis or show up for special
events, or every now and then-- your
choice. When you volunteer, you can help
sort or hang clothes or even help customers
¿QG WKDW SHUIHFW RXW¿W  <RX PLJKW HYHQ
¿QGWKDWVSHFLDOLWHPWREX\IRU\RXUVHOI
For over 80 years, NCJW/Greater Detroit
has owned and operated council re|sale,
ZKRVH SURFHHGV EHQH¿W PDQ\ SURMHFWV
for women, children, and families in our
community. Volunteers play a major role in
the store and we have enjoyed our time
immensely. Volunteers are also needed at
our re|design HOME consignment store in
Royal Oak. It is a wonderful opportunity to
see interesting pieces of home furnishings
ZKHQWKH\¿UVWDUULYHLQWKHVWRUH
To learn more about volunteer
opportunities, call the NCJW/ Greater
'HWURLWRI¿FHDWH[W&DOO
either store for a donation pickup.

council re|sale
3297 Twelve Mile Rd.,
%HUNOH\0,
 

re|design HOME
32801 Woodward Ave.,
5R\DO2DN0,
 

Join NCJW/Greater Detroit today.
Become a new annual member and
take advantage of our special $25
annual membership fee in honor
of our 125th Anniversary.
Call us at (248)355-3300 ext. 0

MISSION:The National Council of
Jewish Women (NCJW) is a grassroots
organization of volunteers and advocates
who turn progressive ideals into action.
Inspired by Jewish values, NCJW strives
for social justice by improving the
quality of life for women, children and
families and by safeguarding individual
rights and freedoms.

2109100

20 November 3 • 2016

Sean Delaney/Oakland University

Sue and Sheldon
Simon

Revisiting History

OU to host survivors who will tell their
stories of discrimination during WWII.

Alfred Zydower looks at
family photos and recalls the
difficult life in Shanghai for
Jews who fled Nazi Germany.

Sean Delaney | Special to the Jewish News

A

Jewish man whose fam-
ily fled from Nazi Germany
to Shanghai in 1940 and a
Japanese-American woman who was
forcibly relocated with her family to
an internment camp in California in
1942 will share their stories of surviv-
ing racial discrimination during World
War II from 1-3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, at
Oakland University in Auburn Hills.
“These stories need to be shared
and, unfortunately, this may be our last
chance to hear them from a firsthand
perspective,” said Seigo Nakao, Ph.D.,
an associate professor of Japanese at
OU. “This event provides people with
a unique experience, and it gives us an
opportunity to explore a topic that is
often overlooked in our history.”
The event is made possible through
the Judd Family Endowment Fund.
Alice Sano of Ann Arbor and Alfred
Zydower of Madison Heights will serve
as guest speakers for the event, to be
held in Gold Room C at the Oakland
Center.
Born on Nov. 15, 1929, in
Furstenwalde, Germany, Zydower lived
with his mother, father, sister, uncle and
other relatives in a building shared with
other families.
They attended services at a nearby
synagogue until it was set on fire by the
Nazis during Kristallnacht in November
1939.
After the attacks, the family arranged
for passage to Shanghai, which was,
along with Spain, the only location in
the world unconditionally open to Jews
at the time. They arrived on Sept. 14,
1940, and shared a one-room apartment
with relatives who had relocated there
earlier.

“It was very crowded,” Zydower said.
“If you had a kitchen, it became your
eating, sleeping, cooking and living
area.”
Following the occupation of Shanghai
by the Japanese in 1942, the family
was forced to relocate to the “Hongkew
Ghetto,” also known as the Restricted
Sector for Stateless Refugees. The area
lacked running water or functioning
toilets, and hunger and disease were
common.
“Our house was full of bed bugs,”
Zydower said. “And they would leave
corpses in front of the building until
they were picked up. It was not a nice
place to live.”
The family remained in the Hongkew
Ghetto until 1948, when they were able
to secure passage on the USS General
Gordon, an army ship. They initially
arrived in San Francisco, but were sent
to Detroit by the resettlement agency.
“The agency asked my father where
we wanted to go, and I told them he had
a cousin in New York,” Zydower said.
“But New York wasn’t taking any more
refugees, so we came to Detroit.
“I love America,” he said. “When I
first got off the boat in San Francisco, I
thought I was in paradise. Everything is
so nice here.”
Like Zydower, Sano’s story also begins
overseas. Her father, Joseph Sano, was
born on March 4, 1890, on Awaji Island
in Japan.
“My dad came to the United States in
1906 as an immigrant,” Alice Sano said.
He served in the U.S. Army Air
Service during World War I, then was
granted naturalization as a U.S. citizen
by a special act of Congress in 1919.
He returned to Japan in 1924, where

he married Sakae Ikuta. They eventu-
ally returned to the U.S., where they
had three children. Alice was 13 when,
during WWII, her family was forced
to move from Los Angeles to the Santa
Anita Assembly Center in Arcadia,
Calif., by Executive Order 9066.
“At 13, I didn’t really know what was
happening,” Alice Sano said. “I was just
happy to be with my family. But I felt
bad for the adults, who had to leave
everything they had behind.”
The Sano family lived at the Santa
Anita Assembly Center until it was
closed in 1942.
“Physically, it wasn’t a bad experi-
ence,” Alice Sano said. “We were given
beds, blankets, pillows, etc. I played
music and joined the orchestra. There
was even a hospital there. I have no
complaints about the experience. The
government treated us well. There was
nothing really frightening about it.”
The family later moved to Ann Arbor
when Joseph Sano became a Japanese
language teacher at the Army’s Military
Intelligence School, hosted at the
University of Michigan.
Nakao said he hopes the differing
viewpoints offered by the two speakers
will encourage people to re-evaluate
their own understanding of the impact
of war.
“It’s unfortunate, but a lot of younger
people don’t really know what World
War II was,” Nakao said. “What they
know, they know from indirect experi-
ence — books, movies or television.
They don’t understand the misery the
war brought to innocent civilians.”
The event is free and open to the
public.

*

