Editor's Note: During the World War II, more than 30,000 Jews, under attack by the Nazis in Europe, fled to Shanghai, China and 16,000 of them took refugee in this city. Meanwhile, the local Shanghai people were also in an abyss of pain inflicted by the Japanese invasion.  Though the time was difficult, gratitude and mutual friendship lived on in the heart of the Jewish and Chinese people. The Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum and Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) launched a initiative early this year to present those touching stories in Chinese, English, German and Hebrew. This is one of the selected stories in the project to commemorate the history of Jews in Shanghai.

eter Max, a famous American painter, was born in 1937, and one year later he was brought by his parents to Shanghai as a refugee to escape the fomenting Nazi movement. The family stayed in Shanghai for a decade. His affection for art started to grow exactly in his childhood in Shanghai. At that time, Peter had an affectionate nanny who he called amah and taught him painting pictures. Peter still misses his amah very much today. 

On October 11, 2012, Peter came to Shanghai to and held a press conference at Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, asking the local press and the community to look for him find his amah. He said at the conference, “She was only a few years older than me, more like my elder sister. She was my first art teacher.”

When they were in Shanghai, Peter and his parents lived in a pagoda-style house, where on one side there was a Buddhist temple, and on the other, a Sikh temple. In the early morning he would watch the Buddhist monks practicing calligraphy with large bamboo brushes on large sheets of rice paper and at night, he would listen to the beautifully sung prayers of the Sikhs. Peter’s amah taught him how to hold and paint with a brush by using the movement of his wrist and his mother encouraged him to develop his art skills by leaving a variety of art supplies on the balconies of the pagoda.

In 1948, Peter had to leave Shanghai together with his family. He kept crying on the ship and he’s reluctant to bid farewell to his amah. After Shanghai, they went to Israel and France and finally settled down in the United States. Peter lost the contact with his amah. Ever since he left Shanghai, Peter had been dreaming to return to Shanghai to look for his amah.

Now, Peter is a well-known artist in the USA. His works often feature famous people, statesmen, sportsmen, sports and some other popular cultures. He has painted for US Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush. He had also created about 100 portraits for President Clinton. One of Continental Airlines' Boeing 777-200 ER aircrafts sported a special livery designed by Peter. Peter had planted the seeds of his success as an artist in Shanghai, just like many other Jews who have scored amazing achievements. Their successes, in turn, are tangible evidences of the humanitarian character of Shanghai in that special history.

In October 2012, Peter returned to Shanghai with a sketch of his amah he painted from his memory. He hoped to find her and give her a big hug. He would love to bring his amah to the USA. Peter said, “I’ve been to many countries. Wherever I go, I feel myself a Chinese. I think I’m 80% Chinese.”

It would be difficult to find his Shanghai amah merely with some childhood pictures and a memory-based sketch. However, Mr. Chen Jian, curator of Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, promised to do everything possible to help him realize his dream. Peter also promised that he would do whatever he could to let his amah live a better life if he could find her.