Eric Halpern

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Eric Halpern , originally probably Erich Halpern (* 1907 in Vienna , Austria , † after 1958 in Hong Kong ), was an Austrian journalist .

From Austria to China

In 1932 the League of Nations sent a Lytton Commission to Shanghai

After Austria was annexed to Nazi Germany , Halpern, who was threatened with persecution as a Jew, fled to China. As early as 1932 Halpern traveled to Asia for the first time in order to examine the circumstances of the establishment of the Manchukuo state on behalf of the League of Nations . In 1939 he first settled in Shanghai, which was occupied by Japan.

In Shanghai, Halpern used money from the Sassoon family to publish the English-language business magazine “Finance and Commerce”, which had to be discontinued in 1941 under the Japanese occupation. The German-Jewish refugees were ghettoized under increasingly difficult living conditions in 1943 , but were spared the Holocaust .

Far Eastern Economic Review

After the capitulation of Japan and the looming victory of the communists in the Chinese civil war , Halpern fled to Hong Kong. From 1946 he published a weekly economic and political magazine, the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), with capital from Jardine Matheson Holdings , the Kadoorie family and the Hongkong Bank . Until his retirement in 1958 he acted as its editor-in-chief according to the maxim

“To analyze and interpret financial, commercial, and industrial developments; to collect economic news; and to present views and opinions with the intent to improve existing conditions. "

Alleged espionage

There are contradicting information about various contacts Halpern has with various secret services. He is said to have offered his services to the British MI5 , the national Chinese Kuomintang and the American OSS suspected him of collaborating with the Japanese, and until 1952 he is even said to have been a Soviet agent. Halpern's successor at FEER was another British spy, the Welshman Derek Davies.

Street in the Shanghai Ghetto, 1943

Others

In his autobiography, Straße des Glücks , the journalist Christian Roll (1915-2006) claims that Halpern “hunted young Chinese boys” on the beach at Repulse Bay during his time in Shanghai.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b History: Telling Asia's Story ( Memento from March 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Anthony Paul: A Traveller's Tale filled with intrigue - The Malaysian Insider, November 26, 2009 ( Memento of November 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ Soviet intelligence in Shanghai, MI5 of March 3, 2009 ( Memento of August 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Christian Roll: Straße des Glücks , Book on Demand, Munich 2002, page 114 .
personal data
SURNAME Halpern, Eric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Halpern, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-Jewish journalist
DATE OF BIRTH 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria
DATE OF DEATH after 1958
Place of death Hong Kong