Abstract
This chapter reflects on the narrative of the Shanghai Jews that has taken shape in China with government-sponsored research and commemoration. The chapter is based on interviews and correspondence with professors at the Center of Jewish Studies Shanghai, and the directors of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. With support from the Chinese government, both institutions are dedicated to producing and publicizing a narrative that portrays the Chinese as saviors of the Jewish refugees, one that places China favorably in international relations.
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Notes
- 1.
“Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Salutes ‘haven’ of Shanghai,” South China Morning Post (online edition), https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1232285/israeli-leader-netanyahu-visits-shanghais-old-jewish-ghetto. Accessed September 25, 2021.
- 2.
“Netanyahu in China Says Jews Capable of Self-defense,” The Times of Israel, May 7, 2013 (online edition), www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-in-china-says-jews-capable-of-self-defense/. Accessed July 20, 2013.
- 3.
Shan Yingwen, “Shanghai Youtai nanmin jiuzhu yu shijie fanfaxisi yantaohui jin juxing.” [The Conference on Shanghai Refugees Relief and the World Anti-Fascism is held at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum today.] Weihuibao, September 1, 2020.
- 4.
On March 23, 2013, Xi Jinping made the international debut of his idea of “a community of a shared future for mankind” during his speech at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. It has become a main ideology upheld by the party and the government. See Zhang Jilong, “Guonei xuejie guanyu renlei mingyun gongtongti sixiang yanjiu shuping” [A Research review of the Community of Common Destiny for all Mankind Thought in Domestic Academia], Shehui zhuyi yanjiu 6 (2016): 165–172.
- 5.
Ernest G. Heppner, Shanghai Refuge: A Memoir of the World War II Jewish Ghetto (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1993); Sigmund Tobias, Strange Haven: A Jewish Childhood in Wartime Shanghai (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008); Edith Shafer, Mary Munson Murphy, and Sara Sillars, Shanghai Deliverance: A Holocaust Survival Story (United States: Shafer Publishing, 2013). For a collection of interviews with former refugees, see Steve Hochstadt, Exodus to Shanghai: Stories of Escape from the Third Reich (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
- 6.
See, for example, Irene Eber, Voices from Shanghai: Jewish Exiles in Wartime China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008). The late Irene Eber wrote extensively on her own experience as a Jewish refugee in Europe, on religions in China, and on the Shanghai Jews. She also played a significant role in the documentary Shanghai Ghetto, directed by Dana Janklowicz-Mann and Amir Mann (2002; New York: Docurama, distributed by New Video Group, 2004). See also Hochstadt, Exodus to Shanghai.
- 7.
“Zhewei youtai nanmin weihe hui jiaru Zhongguo Gongchandang?” Wenhuibao, June 24, 2021.
- 8.
Chen Jian (Curator, SJRM), in discussion with Yun Xia. September 2019.
- 9.
Doris Fogel, “Talk at Valparaiso University.” Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN, February 23, 2014.
- 10.
Shan Yingwen, “Shanghai Youtai nanmin jiuzhu yu shijie fanfaxisi yantaohui jin juxing.” [The Conference on Shanghai Refugees Relief and the World Anti-Fascism is held at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum today.] Weihuibao, September 1, 2020.
- 11.
“Renlei zenmyang xiqu lishi jiaoxun bimian leisi beiju chongyan?”
- 12.
Zhan Yongxin, Keynote speech at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum International Advisory Board Seminar (speech, Shanghai, December 8, 2020).
- 13.
Ibid.
- 14.
Pan Guang, “Keynote speech at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum International Advisory Board Seminar” (speech, Shanghai, December 8, 2020).
- 15.
“Zhewei youtai nanmin weihe hui jiaru Zhongguo Gongchandang?” Wenhuibao, June 24, 2021.
- 16.
Ibid.
- 17.
“Jiaoyubu deng liubumen guanyu shishi jichuxueke bajian xuesheng peyang jihua de yijian.”
- 18.
“2020 Shanghai dali tuijin wuda zhongxin jianshe” [Shanghai strives to construct “five centers” in 2020], January 15, 2020, http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-01/15/content_5469526.htm. Accessed May 20, 2021.
- 19.
Professor Pan has numerous publications on this topic. See, for example, Pan Guang, The Jews in China (Beijing: China Intercontinental Press, 2004) and Pan Guang, The Jews in Shanghai (Shanghai: Shanghai Pictorial Publishing, 2005).
- 20.
Ke Youhui, Xiang youtairen yiyang sikao [Think Like a Jew] (Harbin: Harbin chubenshe, 2010); Jin Zecan. Youtairen chenggong zhidao [Keys to Jewish Success] (Hohhot: Neimenggu wenhua chubanshe, 2010).
- 21.
In 1943, the Soviets were winning the battles with Germany. Germany appeared to be losing the war. Japan was faced with pressure from the international community which condemned the German massacre of the Jews, as well as pressure from the United States. They then decided to establish the Designated Area to take the Jews hostage rather than kill them. Interview with Scholars at the Center of Jewish Studies Shanghai, June 18, 2013.
References
Eber, Irene. 2008. Voices from Shanghai: Jewish Exiles in Wartime China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Heppner, Ernest G. 1993. Shanghai Refuge: A Memoir of the World War II Jewish Ghetto. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.
Hochstadt, Steve. 2012. Exodus to Shanghai: Stories of Escape from the Third Reich. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Jin, Zecan. 2010. Youtairen chenggong zhidao [Keys to Jewish Success]. Hohhot: Neimenggu wenhua chubanshe.
Ke, Youhui. 2010. Xiang youtairen yiyang sikao [Think Like a Jew]. Harbin: Harbin chubenshe.
Pan, Guang. 2004. The Jews in China. Beijing: China Intercontinental Press.
Pan, Guang. 2005. The Jews in Shanghai. Shanghai: Shanghai Pictorial Publishing.
Shafer, Edith. Mary Munson Murphy, and Sara Sillars, Shanghai Deliverance: A Holocaust Survival Story. United States: Shafer Publishing, 2013.
Shan, Yingwen. 2020. Shanghai Youtai nanmin jiuzhu yu shijie fanfaxisi yantaohui jin juxing. [The Conference on Shanghai Refugees Relief and the World Anti-Fascism is held at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum today.] Weihuibao, September 1.
Tobias, Sigmund. 2008. Strange Haven: A Jewish Childhood in Wartime Shanghai. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Zhang, Jilong. Guonei xuejie guanyu renlei mingyun gongtongti sixiang yanjiu shuping [A Research review of the Community of Common Destiny for all Mankind Thought in Domestic Academia], Shehui zhuyi yanjiu 6 (2016): 165–172.
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Xia, Y., Ostoyich, K. (2022). The Shanghai Jewish Refugees: History and Commemoration. In: Ostoyich, K., Xia, Y. (eds) The History of the Shanghai Jews. Palgrave Series in Asian German Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13761-7_10
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