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(1937) Travels to America and Sweden

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Edith Journeys to America

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Drottningholm
Swedish American Line From website: http://www.greatoceanliners.net/virginian.html
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In 1937 Edith returned to Sweden from New York to attend a medical convention.1 She hadn't been in Sweden for 31 years, since 1906 when she visited her homeland for the first time. She traveled from her home in Boston to New York and sailed on the Drottningholm,1 "During World War II, the Drottningholm was chartered to the United States, British and French governments for the exchange of diplomats and prisoners of war. She made 14 such voyages and carried a total of 18,160 passengers."
Original name: Virginian, (Allen Line) ê Shipyard: A Stephen & Sons, Glasgow ê Year: 1904 ê Tons: 11,285 ê Delivered to SAL: 1920 ê Sold: 1948 ê Sold to: Home Lines ê Renamed: Brazil ê Today: Scrapped in 1955
Quote from:
http://www.salship.se/drott.asp a ship 2 For more information on the Drottningholm see:
http://www.greatoceanliners.net/virginian.htmlon which her uncle was the chief engineer. The journey by ship took about ten days, and she was in Sweden about two weeks.2 The medical convention was an important event. The royal family of Sweden came to pay their regards to the attendees, and the Swedish orchestra played.3 [See footnote 1 regarding Edith's travels to Sweden at this time].

Bombing of Shanghai

After spending time in Sweden Edith continued on to China.4 She arrived in the port city of Shanghai where she met a few Peking friends. George Pearson had her to dinner and an evening of bridge. Annett took her to tennis. Other old friends were away however. Katie was in Pei Ta Ho as was Pauline. Her (Pauline's?) husband was also away helping to evacuate Americans.

On Friday the 13th [a day after the Double Seven Festival [modern Chinese: Qixi Festival] when young Chinese girls demonstrated their domestica arts, and wished for a good husband] the large guns began booming. A few fires broke out in Chapei. Though everyone was a bit excited about the escalation of the war in the area, everyone felt safe and didn't take much notice of the events. Someone's farewell cocktail party in fact had already been scheduled and went on as planned, and Edith attended.

The next day, August 14, Edith went to the consulate to register and then wandered about the Bund or waterfront of the city taking in the sites. Chinese refugees with their goods and chattels thronged the Bund. The refugees had little sleep and less food and flopped down where ever they could find space. Edith continued down to the Garden Bridge to see the warships, went to the Cathy Hotel for a newspaper, to the Palace Hotel for directions; in other words visited many of the tourist haunts of the city.

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Bombing beside the Cathy Hotel
Shanghai, China
1937
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By afternoon the bombing had increased. The weather was perfect for air raids. She thanked her lucky stars that she had no business in town. She heard the drone of planes, watched them come out of the clouds, and release their bombs on the city while puffs of smoke dotted the skies from exploding anti-aircraft shells. It was somehow unreal, like a show put on for her amusement. But then the loud reports followed with bombs exploding in the city. The house shook. The radio reporter announced the part of the city on which the bombs were dropping, and the masses of people being killed. The reality of it all sank in and was terrifying. Later Edith learned that a bomb exploded just where she had been hours before killing many foreigners.

The sights in the city were appalling Edith heard, and would take several days to clear. The bombing was indiscriminate The Chinese pilots apparently lacked the courage to fly low over the city to drop bombs on their selected targets, so they wildly dropped bombs anywhere. Edith decided not to go into the city later. She didn't want to see the death and destruction.

That night Edith and her hosts didn't get much sleep. The Americans were using nearby Ferry Road to transport supplies and men. They would roar by in their heavy trucks about every half hour. Dorice, Lordie's best friend, was extremely nervous the whole night which didn't make matters any better. Lordie on the other had was magnificent. Having a roof over her head during an air raid was infinitely better than having a tent. Lordie slept peacefully during the bombing, and then through the whole night. Lordie had an opportunity to leave Shanghai at an earlier date and had even booked passage, but she was told by customs that if she left her job it might not be there when she returned. She decided to stay. The men [who are the men?] would stop by now and then to see if she was OK and had enough supplies. With the decision to remain in Shanghai, Lordie settled down and was actually enjoying herself. She even offered her help at the Country Hospital but was told they needed no help at present.

After the first two days of bombing Edith was feeling less nervous, but was laid up with a 'Shanghai tummy' and ran a temperature which perhaps accounted in part to her lack of interest in the bombings. On Wednesday she made her daily call to the Swedish consulate and was told she should report at once to a particular address as Scandinavians were being evacuated. She returned to Lordies and dressed while the other girls were throwing things into her bags. She was on her way in just twenty minutes. Afterwards she would regret her hasty departure, but at the time it seemed the only thing to do.

19370830-Edith Rinell

[At this time we don't know where she evacuated to. By 1938 or earlier she was back in Shangahi, but we don't know when she returned. Around October/November of 1938 Edit was, apprently, back in the USA. See Chapter 1938. LJH.]

Evacuation of Japanese Civilians

Shanghai at the time of the Japanese attach of Shanghai already a sizeable Japanese population. Because of increasing preceived danger to Japanese civilians, between 20,000 to 30,000 civilians were evacuated to Japan around the 19 of August. This included Japanese civilians who had already been evacuated from Hankow on August 7 aboard Japanes ships and accompanied by a land combat unit and the 11th Gunboat Division, and Japanese residents of Wuhu, Tayeh, Kiukiang and Nanking on the lower reaches of the Yangtze.

However, the Japanese ship Gakuyo Maru carrying Army and Navy attaches and civilians from Nanking could not reach Shanghai because the Chinese had closed the river. These individuals reach Tsingtao on a specially guarded train.

The Japanese troops landed in Shanghai on Monday, the 23rd and took over the city.

[See: POLITICAL STRATEGY PRIOR TO OUTBREAK OF WAR: Part 1. PREPARED BY MILITARY HISTORY SECTION HEADQUARTERS, ARMY FORCES FAR EAST, DISTRIBUTED BY OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF MILITARY HISTORY DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, Japanese Monograph No. 144, n.d. http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/monos/144/144chap2.html#Evacuation%20of%20residents%20from%20the%20Yangtze%20River]

In July the Japanese made plans to for their navy to protect Japanese civilians in Tsingtao following the China Incident earlier in July. On August 14 these plans were abandoned and orders were given to the Japanese military to evacuate the civilian population. This evacuation was completed by Tuesday, August 31.

Furlough in Sweden

In the winter of 1937 5 Oscar, Hellen, Roy and Dollan boarded the ship Potsdam Norddeutscher bound for Sweden. A photograph 6 shows them nicely dressed for traveling, Hellen with a her hat tilted stylishly to the right and carrying a large bouquet of carnations, a gift from friends, Oscar in a suit and tie with a Chinese fur hat placed squarely on his head, Dollan with her bonnet placed on the back of her head, green coat and cape, long wool stocking that itched horribly and white socks, her platinum blonde hair shinning from under the brim with a smile on her face looking quite ready for an adventure, and Roy with neatly combed hair, scarf, jacket and knickers meeting socks half way up his calf.

They sailed from Tsingtao traveling south along the China coast, docking first in Shanghai, a layover of one day. Before leaving home they had received a letter from their good friends the Sahlin family in Sweden who where members of the same church in Göteborg, Linnea Church. George Sahlin asked if Dollan could be a bridesmaid in his wedding to his sweetheart, Mary. Hellen agreed. The bridesmaid dress and shoes would be bought in Shanghai.

When the family arrived in Shanghai Dollan was ill and was warm with a fever. Dollan did not feel at all like going shopping.

"We have to get this dress for you and the shoes," Hellen said, "so hop on the gangplank and look very alive, otherwise they won't let you back on again if they know that you are sick!"

Down the gangplank they went into the streets of Shanghai to some big department store. Dollan bought a long pink taffeta dress and Chinese brocade shoes with embroidery7 and returned to the docks that afternoon. Dollan mustered all her remaining energy to bounce like the playful child she normally was, up the gang plank and straight to bed.

Back on board the fever kept climbing and reached 104º. But now Roy was also sick. What Dollan and Roy had was undoubtedly scarlet fever Hellen thought.8 Hellen had seen it before in China. She gave each of them cooling baths to bring down the fever. With no antibiotics available, they had only aspirins, vicks inhalers and prayer on their side.

Besides being sick this was not to be the most comfortable voyage. Traveling the cheapest way possible, like typical missionaries, the cabin was small and had no porthole to allow in the fresh and cool ocean breezes. The air was stifling and hot. On top of all this, Oscar was as usual seasick.

Before the trip Hellen had bought Dollan a baby doll made of rubber, a baby doll who could, amazingly enough, wet its diapers. Hellen gave it to Dollan while in the storeroom which was full of crates while packing. The doll also had a "baptism dress" on and a bonnet. Hellen had showed it to to her before they had left Kiaohsien, but she was not to have it until they got on board. It was a real treat. Dollan named it Friedel.

Dollan had always enjoyed boat rides, but this time she was even too sick to know where they docked in America, possibly it was in New York.9 They visited Edith at a children's hospital in Philadelphia where she worked. Edith took them to a department store. Dollan wanted to buy her doll a baby blanket, but didn't have enough money. [Oscar, Hellen, Roy and Dollan's trup doesn't quite jive with Edith's trip. Paragraphs need to be reordered].

After some time in America, they continued on to Sweden.

Life in Sweden

Dollan was excited about being in Sweden.10 The Rinell family had been in war for nine years, so Sweden was an exciting change. Dollan had been to her homeland years before, but she was too young to remember her first visit when she traveled on the trans-Siberian railroad and delighted fellow passengers with her cuteness.

A building contractor, Eric Solberg, a member of Linnea Church, gave the family the use of an apartment. He owned a number of apartments and made sure he had a small apartment, living room, bedroom and kitchenette free when they and perhaps other missionaries arrived in the city, which they could stay in for the year.5 Last apartment that Dollan stayed in with her family when she was 16 when she stayed in Sweden was on Lemansgatan in Göteborg. Dollan and Roy sometimes stayed for a few days or a week at a time with Mormor (grandmother) Ida, Hellen's mother, in her apartment on Stockholmsgatan for most of the time11 together with Ida's daughters Ebba, Ludde, and Ruth. Ruth slept in the dining room. Ester had earlier moved to her own apartment. Ebba and Ludde slept in the living room. They were up early every morning and out of the apartment 4:30 AM to start work in their own bakery named Hella's Hembakerij, named after their sister Hellen who went by the name 'Hella' in Sweden. Dollan's slept in a trundle bed under Ludde's bed which they pulled out at night. Roy was in Ludde's trundle bed. Her mother and father were usually traveling, speaking at churches and other Christian meetings, raising support of their mission. When they were in town they slept on a couch in the dining room, probably. Ruth, apparently, slept elsewhere.

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Ida Colldén
Göteborg, Sweden
circa 1937
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Dollan and Roy attended Ånässkolan (Ånäss School) in Göteborg not far from grandma Ida's apartment. Up by 7:00 Ida usually fed the children bread with butter and strawberry jam and milk. Occasionally, she boiled or fried them each an egg on her cast iron gas stove. A special breakfast Ida prepared for the children was boiled egg mixed with a little butter and Kallas brand orange caviar. For school lunch Roy and Dollan went to their aunt's bakery for bread and chocolate milk.

Every now and the Dollan and her Aunt Ebba walked ten minutes or so to the cemetery. Aunt Ebba brought a scrub brush, a little container for holding water, soap and a bag of hazelnuts. At the beautiful and quiet cemetery they walked to the Colldén family grave with its stone-bordered plot and stone dove on a large stone cross. Filling up the container with water at a faucet a few graves away they returned to the grave plot, cleaned the stones or at least some of them and then sat on the stone border and open the bag of hazelnuts. Squirrels who, apparently, knew the routine hopped up on their laps, climbed into the bag and exited with a hazelnut or two the shell of which they broke with their strong little jaws. Their job done, and their friends fed, Ludde and Dollan walked back to Hella's bakery.

Sundays were quite days at grandmother's apartment. She would not allow her daughters or grandchildren to do anything that would be considered work. Knitting for instance was out. Ida felt that watching soccer games was alright, which she did looking out her apartment window and listening to the announcer on the radio. Without much do to Ludde, and Ebba and Dollan would go to the walk on ferry to one of the islands, Styrsö where they climbed down steel rung stairs to the water, cold water no matter what time of year. Ludde went in first to get it over with. Dollan took her time.Slowly inching herself into the water. Sometimes Ludde was ready to get out before Dollan was off the ladder.and so encouraged her to hurry up. Dollan sometimes teased Ludde by decending even more slowly.

The wedding of the Sahlins came soon after their arrival in Sweden. Brides often got dressed for the wedding in a beauty parlor as did this bride. The groom arrived a little later and also got ready at the beauty parlor. The beautician wanted to curl Dollan' hair.

"Don't do that. My mom won't like you to do that!", little Dollan objected.

The bride convinced Dollan that it would be OK to have her hair curled for the day. Dollan went through with it, though she didn't like it. George Sahlin came a little later to get ready and take everyone to the church. The bride carried red roses, and looked very nice. But Dollan with her blonde curled hair and pretty little face got more of the admiring glances from the crowd.

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Dollan Rinell
Hella's Hembagerei
Göteborg, Sweden
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There was one thing about Sweden Dollan was concerned about and this she thought of all the way to Sweden on the ship from China as she lay in bed sick. In China there were only two students in her class in school including herself. Now there would be a whole room full of students, more than thirty.12 Her parents were not around much because they were out traveling visiting churches, which made it all the more difficult. Roy and Dollan walked to school and brought lunch at times though most of the time for lunch she walked down to to her Aunts Ebba and Ludde's 'Hella's Hembageri' for hot chocolate, fresh bread and summer-sausage.13

One time Dollan wanted a certain red candy so badly that she stole ten öre out of her grandmother's paperboy fund, went downstairs, out the door and bought the candy. However the choice of this particular candy left telltale evidence - red lips. Mormor Ida was getting worried because Dollan was gone for so long. When Dollan came home Ida saw her bright red lips and asked about the candy she had bought.14 To get out of this embarrassingly difficult spot Dollan said that she had bought it with her very own ten öre.15 If Mormor Ida suspected anything differently, she did not mention it.

For fifth grade graduation from Ånässkolan Dollan had to memorize a long poem about the Chinese people. She was scared petrified. Her mother said that she would get one Krona if she recited her poem without hesitation. She did, and she got the Krona. Her ten öre was multiplied ten fold.

In Sweden her mother took Dollan to shoe store about twenty minutes from grandma Ida's apartment for a new pair of shoes, probably the first pair of store-bought shoes she had ever received. All others shoes in China were hand-me-downs except for one pair of shoes made by the local shoe cobbler that didn't fit and she couldn't wear, and one pair that she could wear. Though the shoe store was nothing fancy, just a plain store front with a display window, the store gave a free ball with every pair of shoes.

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Jansson & Rinell Families
Scheelegatan, Göteborg bSweden
Autumn 1937
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Sometimes Oscar and Hellen took their children with them with when they traveled to speak at churches when it didn't interfere with the children's school. Hellen especially liked to bring them if there were relatives living near where they were speaking. When visiting a church or Sunday school, Dollan was required to sing in Swedish 'Go Up the Sunshine Mountain'. Since she was too small to be seen from the back rows she stood on a chair in front of the church.

Photos: Jansson & Rinell Families in Sweded 1937-38

Other stories of Dollan's:

Camping trip

Dentist on campus

Everything in Sweden was so clean, green and there was an abundance of everything.

Swedish-Chinese Mission Board

The Swedish-Chinese Mission Board was founded in 1937. Johan Alfred is chairman.

Church at Kaomi

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Church at Kaomi, China
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In 1937 a new church was consecrated in the town of Kaomi [Gaomi].

[Note: to go in chapter regarding Hedvig's house. Large brown rug was on floor.].

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Footnotes

  1. In corrections to this chapter Edith mentions that she went to China in 1937 to visit the family and not to Sweden. She also seemed to say in the corrections that she went to China in 1949. However, all this needs to be confirmed. In speaking with her in 1995, she was unclear of the year she actually did go to Sweden. The confusion is further confirmed that, apparently, Oscar and Hellen visited her in the USA in 1937. Possibly Edith traveled to Sweden in a diffent year. If she traveled only to China to visit family, she could have been caught up and stranded in Shanghai due to the hostilites.

2.

3.

4.

  1. A date on the back of photograph gives the date of January 21, 1937 when they departed Tsingtao.

  2. Photo #RI-CH-0075

  3. She later wore these at Gittan and Astrid Sahlin's brother George's wedding in Sweden. He picked up his wife-to-be and Dollan at the hair dressers. They curled her hair inward with a curling iron, the first time she had ever had it done. Dollan said, "I'm not sure I'm allowed to do this for Mom."

  4. In an email in June of 2000 Dollan said she had strep throat.

  5. Mom, I take it this was after you left Sweden on the return journey to China. If it was going to Sweden you might have docked in San Francisco and taken the train from there to New York. What do you think? If this was the journey to Sweden, possibly you went through the Panama canal and then up to New York. Answer on 2 May 2019: Always took a train across the U.S. except the last time from China to Sweden in 1945 when they took a freighter thru the Panama Canal. On the way would see John Eric and Pearl Rinell and sons Billy and ? (Ohio?), Philadelphia to see Edith Rinell who worked there in pediatrics (stayed with her 2 nights in 1945).

  6. What did Roy think about going to Sweden? Answer on 2 May 2019: don't know.

  7. Mom, did both of you stay there or was Roy already off to school. Answer on 2 May 2019: left Roy in Sweden in boarding school. Hellen later regretted it saying she should have brought in back to China.

  8. Mom, did you have specific concerns? How did it work out being with all these students? How was your Swedish? Did you understand everything and did they understand you? Answer on 2 May 2019: 9 years old. no concernts because she was going to Ida, Ludde and Ebba. Doris went to Onasskolan. (Needs accents).

  9. Mom, I take it that Roy was with you at these times. Is that right? Roy probably went to a different school because he was 3 years old.

  10. Mom, what sights did you have to pass to get to the candy store? Answer on 2 May 2019: No sights. Went through long passageway throught the building pass Hella's bakery to the candy store.

  11. Later in life this caught up with her. When she was to be baptized in China she had to confess her sins first, and that sin was the only one she could feel guilty about. So, the baptism was put off until she could write Mormor Ida and ask for forgiveness about the 10 öre. She was then baptized by Oscar. Ester wrote back for her mom, Ida, saying that all was forgiven and they were happy that she told them. Lally was baptized the same day.

CHAPTER

Foreign Devils: A Swedish Family in China 1894 to 1951
© 2012-14 Lennart Holmquist
Lorum • Ipsum• Dolor • Sic Amet • Consectetur

Updated: 02-May-2019

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