Finding Adler

Snapd Vaughan
Oct. 1, 2019

On September 8, at the Bathurst Clark Resource Library, Fang Sheng presented his story, "Finding Adler", and told of his journey to find out more about the man who helped his father long ago.
In the late 1930s, Shanghai was the only major city in the world that didn’t require visas or financial guarantees for Jewish refugees. During the peak of influx of refugees, approximately 30,000 Central European Jews fled Nazi persecution and resettled in Shanghai. One of them was Austrian violinist Ferdinand Adler. Not only did he find a safe haven in Shanghai, but he also established a successful career as the concertmaster of the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra --today’s Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He appreciated the safe haven afforded him, and was willingly giving back to the community that hosted them. Little did he know, several orphans he taught later became the backbone of China’s National Symphony. And decades later, the son of one of his students embarks on a journey to find out about him.