Jewish refugee born in “Shanghai Ghetto” offers her memories on Holocaust Remembrance Day
Jews around the world marked Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday.
It’s a day to commemorate the death of six million Jews during World War II at the hands of the German Nazis.
Among the Holocaust survivors were tens of thousands who escaped to Shanghai, China. CGTN's Stephanie Freid met a Shanghai-born Jewish refugee who says her family was lucky to make it to safety in China.
PM Netanyahu Visits Ohel Moshe Synagogue in Shanghai
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the Ohel Moshe Synagogue in Shanghai, which was dedicated in 1927 and served the war refugees who fled the persecutions of the Holocaust.
Jewish refugee cafe reopens in Shanghai
A popular cafe built by Jewish refugees in Shanghai during the late 1930s has been rebuilt just a block away from its original location. The new White Horse Cafe opened on Wednesday at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, where a new statue was also unveiled.
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Jews in Shanghai: A Home Away from Home
September 1 marks the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. In this episode of the “Come Together” series, CGTN looks at the little-known Jewish history of Shanghai where some 20,000 European Jews fled from the Nazi regime to the last place in the world that would welcome them as refugees. #ComeTogether #Shanghai #Jews #WWII
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Survivor stroy: Jewish refugees in Shanghai
From 1933 to 1941, Shanghai became a modern-day Noah's Ark accepting thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust in Europe. In the designated area for stateless refugees in Tilanqiao area of Shanghai, about 20,000 Jewish refugees lived harmoniously with local citizens, overcoming numerous difficulties together. By the time the Second World War ended in 1945, most of the Jewish refugees had survived. Jony Markman, one of the last survivors of the Jewish refugees in Shanghai told us his story.
The Shanghai Jews. Michael Blumenthal, Rachel DeWoskin, and Civitas Ensemble
The Shanghai Jews: Risk and Resilience in a Refugee Community. Faculty member and novelist Rachel DeWoskin hosts a keynote by W. Michael Blumenthal, former Secretary of the Treasury and a Holocaust survivor who grew up in Japanese-occupied war-time Shanghai. Blumenthal delivers a keynote on the life of a community of more than 18,000 Jewish refugees who survived WWII in Shanghai, identifying intersections between that past and our present context.
Following his keynote is a concert performed by Civitas Ensemble's violinist Yuan-Qing Yu; cellist Kenneth Olsen; clarinetist J. Lawrie Bloom; and pianist Winston Choi, of classical music composed by Jewish refugees and Chinese composers inspired by collaborations with refugees or by the musical legacies of the Shanghai Jews. Yuan-Qing Yu introduces the pieces and composers, telling stories of their connections to Shanghai, the war, and each other. She plays on a plays on a bow stamped with a Star of David and believed to date from WWII and soon to be added to a touring collection described in the documentary Violins of Hope. The pieces Civitas Ensemble performs here include Alexander Tcherepnin's Selections from Piano Etudes, Ode for Cello and Piano, and Sonata in one moment for clarinet and piano as well as Otto Joachim's L'Eclosion for Solo Piano; Jacob Avshalomoff's Sonatine for clarinet and piano; Wolfgang Fraenkel's Variations and Fantasies on a Theme by Arnold Schoenberg Sang Tong's Fantasia for Cello and Piano Fantasia; and Ding Shan-De's Piano Trio.
W. Michael Blumenthal's keynote was made possible by support from the Joyce Z. and Jacob Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies; The Franke Institute; The Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS); the Departments of Anthropology, East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC), and History; the Program on Creative Writing; and a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The concert by Civitas Ensemble was sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies.
Holocaust survivors recall their days in Shanghai
China's Shanghai provided a haven for tens of thousands of Jews during World War Two. When most countries closed their borders, China was one of few countries to receive Jewish refugees. On Holocaust Memorial Day, Israeli survivors recall their days in Shanghai.
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70 years on, Jewish refugees return to Shanghai
A group of Jewish people recently made a special visit to Shanghai, where their families found refuge during World War II.
The visitors recalled the difficulties they faced while fleeing the Nazis and the friendship Chinese people offered at that time.
Jewish refugees' wall of names unveiled in Shanghai
A wall engraved with the names of more than 13,000 Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai to escape persecution by the Nazis during World War II was unveiled Wednesday.
Jewish Refugees In China
Jewish refugees swell the numbers in Shanghai's International settlement.
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Karen Woods on Shanghai's Jewish refugees
To learn more about Shanghai's Jewish refugees, CGTN's Mike Walter spoke with Karen Woods. She's a senior associate with Solstice Public Affairs and is active in the Chinese community, writing for two influential Chinese newspapers.
Shanghai museum unveils Holocaust memorial
The Shanghai Refugees Museum has unveiled a Holocaust memorial dedicated to the 13,700 Jews who had sought refuge in the city during WWII. It comprises statues symbolizing the 6 million Jews killed during the war & a wall inscribed with names of the refugees.
'Jews in Shanghai’ : a timely reminder of the global refugee problem
It's a true love story forged in the crucible of war - that between a Jewish refugee and a local Chinese girl in Shanghai. Now, 70 years after the conclusion of World War Two, the story is retold in the form of a musical. It serves as a timely reminder of the global refugee problem that ensued during the conflict.It will be staged four times in Shanghai before going on a tour that includes Israel, Italy, the US, and the UK.
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The refugees of Shanghai during WWII
The Shanghai Ghetto in China is about two and a half square kilometers in size. A small area to be sure, but which played an important role during World War II. It provided shelter for thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis during the war. A documentary featuring interviews with survivors has been released and diplomats from both China and Israel watched the screening together. CCTV's Zhao Yunjie filed this report.
Israeli video says thank you to Shanghai for keeping Jewish refugees
Israel’s foreign ministry made a short film dedicated to the people of Shanghai. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also featured in the film. It features hundreds of Israelis holding signs, saying Thank You in Chinese. Shanghai was home to over 20-thousand Jewish refugees during the holocaust.
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Jews in Shanghai paintings exhibit in Jerusalem
A painting exhibition marking Jewish refugees in Shanghai during WWII is underway in the international conventional center of Jerusalem.
CHINA: SHANGHAI: JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE ARRIVE
Mandarin/Eng/Nat
During the second World War, the Chinese city of Shanghai was a haven for many Jewish refugees escaping the Holocaust from Europe.
Now some 50 years later, Jewish people have come back to Shanghai to pay their respects.
The New York based Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (J-D-C), a social service organisation, has arrived in Shanghai to provide training and resources for some of the city's elderly and mentally disabled.
This plate reads Sunshine House Institute.
It was unveiled for the inauguration of this new institute in the Hongkou district of Shanghai in China last week.
The Sunshine House is part of a three year program aimed to improve social services and to provide training and resources to Shanghai's elderly and mentally disabled.
It is financed by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (J-D-C).
The people behind this aid project are on an historical mission.
They have come back to pay their debts to the people of Shanghai on behalf of their relatives who found refuge in the Chinese city escaping Nazi persecution.
SOUNDBITE (Mandarin)
A lot of Jewish friends are saying that they will never forget the help given to them by the people of Shanghai at their hardest time. However, Shanghai people think that the hardest time for the Jewish people was also that of people in Shanghai, so actually we were helping each other.
SUPER CAPTION: Kitty Xia, Foreign Affairs office, Shanghai municipal government
At the beginning of the Second World War Shanghai was an open port and, despite being under occupation by the Japanese, it was one of the few cities in the world to accept the Jewish refugees.
The Jewish refugees settled in the Hongkou district -- one of the poorest in Shanghai.
In these houses, more than 20-thousand Jewish refugees, mostly from Germany, Austria, Poland and Russia took refuge between 1938 and 1952.
They stayed in Shanghai for around 20 years.
After the war, the Chinese Communist regime rose to power and most of the refugees left, however, their presence can still be felt in these Shanghai back streets.
Many of the older residents in the district remember their Jewish neighbours well.
SOUNDBITE (Mandarin)
We were getting along very well. On the street where I used to live, Jewish people had a place for praying, a synagogue. I remember its doorman was a guy named Hans Malone - we were good friends.
SUPER CAPTION: Gu Ningxing, 72, Hongkou district resident
Ohel Moshe synagogue still stands on Chanyang Road.
It is now a Jewish museum.
And this old building on Zhou Shan Road was where the J-D-C opened an aid centre for the Jewish community in 1938.
Today the J-D-C is back, but this time to aid the Chinese community.
SOUNDBITE (English)
This is not to pay a debt. This is simply to say thank you and to renew the long term friendship between the Jewish and Chinese people which I hope will last for a very long time. A debt can never be repaid, it can only be remembered and to be thankful about it, but it cannot be repaid. A human life cannot be repaid.
SUPER CAPTION: Henryka Manes, Shanghai J-D-C Project Director
J-D-C experts train staff in this child welfare institute.
Lena Richter is a special education teacher and is teaching Chinese nurses about looking after mentally disabled children.
Another important part of the J-D-C three year program is the introduction of educational equipment.
30-year-old Arleen Lipin has come from Israel to train staff to use a special computer programme specially designed for disabled children.
She hopes their efforts will be used as a model for other organisations.
SOUNDBITE (English)
SUPER CAPTION: Arleen Lipin, J-D-C Training Expert
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Shanghai, the Warmest Memory in My Life
In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria (the Anschluss). As a result, about 180,000 Jews in Austria were faced with imminent Nazi persecution, and the only way to survive was to leave the country. It was very difficult for a Jew to get a visa from any of the consulates in Vienna. Dr. Ho Feng Shan rejected this anti-Semitism and decided to issue numerous visas to the Jews seeking to escape Austria after the Anschluss. With his help, thousands of Jewish refugees managed to flee Austria for safe haven in Shanghai.
Shanghai unveils wall honoring Jewish refugees
During the 1930s to 1940s, a huge number of Jewish refugees fled to Shanghai to escape the Holocaust. To honor their years in the city, a wall of names listing each Jewish refugee has been unveiled at the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum.
Play tells story of Chinese helping Jewish people during WW2
(30 Mar 2012) AP Television
Shanghai - 24 March, 2012
1. Various of Zhou Xiaowei in the role of 'Ying' and character 'Shana' played by Emilie Ohana during play
2. Various of character Shana playing violin
3. Close of character of Ying
4. Ying singing
5. Audience watching play
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Emilie Ohana, 'Shana' :
When you read the stories, when you know about what happened really, how life went on here, how the Chinese people helped 30,000 Jews to live, to survive, and that there was life, there was music, there was dancing, there was love, there was all this important beautiful things that make what life is life. That's what touched me the most.
7. Close up of character Songyao, played by actor Wang Jiajian
8. Mid of Shana singing
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Leibenluft, Co-director of North Bank Suzhou Creek :
Because of the extreme circumstances there was this very unusual bond between the Jewish people and the local Shanghainese, even beyond language and culture.
10. Ying singing, pull out and tilt down to her throwing water on Shana
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Leibenluft, Co-director of North Bank Suzhou Creek :
Literally I was translating or somebody was translating for me as I directed, and I would find that sometimes they would be working on a scene in Chinese and they would be working differently from when I directed the scene in English. So we found as we went along, and it was a challenge, but we found sort of how to navigate those different cultures and let them both be in the room.
12. Wide of play
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Zhou Xiaowei, 'Ying' :
Everything about war, people should not forget about it. And it's also very unique history for Chinese people, because I feel Shanghai, the city, is blessed. Why? Maybe because they covered and protected so many Jewish people.
14. Various of brick houses in former Jewish ghetto of Shanghai
15. Buildings, tilt down to tourist group led by Dvir Bar-Gal in ghetto
16. Mid of group
17. Group walking in narrow ghetto lane
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Dvir Bar-Gal, Tour guide :
Although the lords of the city at the time, the Japanese, did not mind them, to the request of the Nazis they forced them to live in this neighbourhood. And this neighbourhood became the only ever Jewish ghetto in the Far East. And everyday visitors are coming to visit around here because of this part of history.
19. Various of ghetto buildings
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Dvir Bar-Gal, Tour guide :
So the story is more known, the people of Shanghai, of China that for 50 years were detached from this historical foreign past are now more connected to it, through the Jewish point of the story. And definitely can be more attempts to preserve, definitely there can be more things to do.
21. Wide of group in park
22. Close of commemorative plaque reading (in English) Designated area for stateless refugees
23. Wide of Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, former Ohel Moshe synagogue
24. Close of former synagogue fa�ade showing Star of David
25. Interior museum, Chinese visitor looking at exhibit
26. Close of 'Shanghai Jewish Chronicle' issue for December 11, 1943
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Sichel, Co-director of North Bank Suzhou Creek :
30,000 Jews who were here, and right here, in this neighbourhood, and we decided to make this production here, in this temple, now it's the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, but to do that makes it even more meaningful.
28. Various of cast doing Sabbath ceremony of praying and sharing bread and wine
LEADIN
A play showing in Shanghai remembers the tens of thousands of Jewish refugees who were given safe haven in the city during World War II.
STORYLINE :
Emilie says the play is very inspiring.
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