Haiphong Rd, Shanghai

[jlizbeth]

Does anyone know where Haiphong Rd is in Shanghai? I did a google search & couldn't find it. My father was a POW at the Haiphong Rd Prison Camp during WWII & I am trying to find the location. Has Haiphong Rd been renamed ?
I appreciate any help-thanks you in advance!

[Christine DeVillier]

There are many references to Haiphong road and nearby and intersecting roads here: chinamarine.org/Shanghai/ShanghaiToday.aspx#_ftn29

[laohuaqiao]

Haiphong, the port city in Vietnam, is 海防 Haifang City.

There is a 海防路 Haifang Road in Shanghai which can be found in Google maps.

[jlizbeth]

With the help of both of you, I was able to find Haiphong Rd which is now known as Yuyao/Haifang Rd.
Thank you christine & laohuaqiao for your help!

[baksha]

Jlizbeth,

There is also a website by author Greg who researched the Japanese War Camps. His contact is listed:

www.captives-of-empire.com/wst_page4.php

[baksha]

Jlizbeth,

Do a google search : Haiphong Road, Prison Camp, Shanghai for other references.

At the site, www.captive-of-empire.com, author Greg Peck described the conditions at Haiphong Road Prison Camp :

"Haiphong Road
Photo: Shirt signed by Haiphong Road internees, now in the Imperial War Museum, London.

On 5 November 1942 the Japanese kempeitai rounded up over 300 Allied nationals in Shanghai in the early morning hours. Many were prominent citizens, and were individuals who, because of their connections in the financial, political, and information spheres, had the potential to cause trouble for the Japanese. Considered POWs with the rank of sergeant by the Japanese, 382 eventually found themselves in the former barracks of the US Marine Fourth Regiment, Second battalion, at 372 Haiphong Road. Originally built for a wealthy Chinese family, the compound consisted of two large buildings and was utilized by the marines until their departure from the city in November 1941. Internees who survived the torture and degradations meted out by the kempeitai in Bridge House were then often sent to this camp; those interned here were also liable to be hauled off to Bridge House for further interrogation sessions. In one incident, internee William Hutton, formerly of the Shanghai Municipal police, was tortured to death there. The camp's inmates, all men, were moved north to Fengtai, near Peking, in June of 1945, under exceedingly difficult conditions. There, they lived in crowded, hellishly hot godowns (warehouses) until the end of the war. "

[Henry]

Hi Jlizbeth,

Here is some more on the Haiphong Road prison Camp:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Municipal_Police


Henry

[jlizbeth]

Thank you everyone for your responses-you have all been very helpful! I really appreciate it!

[lizarm]

In regards to the Japanese internment of citizens of Shanghai in the Haiphong Road prison camp, my late college professor (who was an American Quaker) told me that he was held there. He had been active in the anti-
Japanese underground and helped to set up the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Movement in an
 effort to increase employment and counter inflation during the War.
 I am uncertain when he was released from Haiphong Road and repatriated to the US in a prisoner exchange. Does anyone know how to find out more about the prisoner exchange/ repatriation? I believe he left China for the US in 1944 as a result of the repatriation. He always said he was not tortured while interned but thought he could be. He heard others being tortured and he was haunted by the memories for his whole life (he lived to be 97).

My professor's wife was Chinese (born in Yichang) and they married in 1941 in Ganhsien (S. Jiangsi). She delivered their son in April 1945 in Chungking. My professor returned to China a few months after he got to the US and took up a post with the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration until it closed in 1948.

My professor's wife left Shanghai for her family home after he was repatriated. Can anyone tell me how far it is from Shanghai to Ganhsien and what it must have taken to travel there during the war? Also any other information about Haiphong Road prison camp and how to find information about my late professor would be of great interest to me.