Preserving the memory of Shanghai's Jews

By Sam Riley  |   2008-7-18  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

Despite suffering from Japanese occupation during World War II, Shanghai still managed to open its arms to thousands of Jewish refugees. Now an historical database recording the names of those who found sanctuary here is being compiled, writes Sam Riley.

The names on the list each have their own story - a watchmaker, an architect and a teacher are just some of the thousands of professions represented.

A 1-year-old child is another name and another life saved on a list of almost 15,000 lucky escapees from the Nazi death camps and other horrors of the World War II Holocaust.

The list is a remarkable addition to a new database of Jewish refugees who were provided shelter in Shanghai in the 1930s-40s.

Earlier in the year, the Israeli Consulate General in Shanghai put a global call out for information to help compile the Shanghai Jews Database which will record information on approximately 30,000 Jewish refugees.

Despite suffering under Japanese occupation, Shanghai took in thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe at a time when many countries were denying their entry.

Shanghai's Hongkou District Government, with the help of the Israeli Consulate, is compiling the database. The database kicked off with 600 names in early June, but just two weeks later a list of almost 15,000 names was received from the Israeli Consulate in Austria.

Kate Hass and her husband Henry are an example of the huge network of people around the world who have offered to provide information for the database.

The couple live in Tacoma, Washington, the United States. In 1938, when Henry was three months old, his parents fled Berlin. Henry's 94-year-old mother Gerda still lives near the couple and they have documented her escape from Europe and her life in Shanghai.

The Hass family spent more than a year trying to find a way out of Europe, before sailing from Marseilles in France to Shanghai.

The couple have since returned to Shanghai and visited the one-room home in Hongkou where Henry and his family lived.

"When my husband arrived he could not speak a word for five minutes," Hass writes in an e-mail. "Additionally, the woman living in the room, with her husband, told us that in 1947 her parents had taken over the room from the white people who had been living there.

"When my husband told her that he had lived there with his parents the woman burst into tears with joy that she was meeting the 'little boy' who had lived there."

Shanghai government will also search a variety of local historical documents to find information on the city's Jewish community.

"The database is something very unique. It doesn't exist in many places around the world and it preserves the memory of a community that is no longer here," says Israeli Consul General Uri Gutman.

"Nowadays Jews that live here are expatriates and newcomers and professionals who came in the last 10 years or so, and there is no collective memory. We hope that this database will become a unique historical document," he adds.

The database will list the age, country of origin, profession and the route the person took out of Europe. It will also provide information on where they lived in Shanghai and the country in which they later settled. Gutman says he hopes the database will eventually be available on the Internet.

Three waves of Jews came to Shanghai. The first arrived in the mid-19th century and were mainly Iraqi Jews. The next wave arrived in the early 20th century from Russia and included the family of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who settled in Harbin in northeastern Heilongjiang Province.

The already established Jewish community in Shanghai made it an attractive choice for the third wave of Jews fleeing persecution in Europe in the late 1930s-40s.

In addition to the 15,000 names, Gutman says he also received information from Jews from around the world, including communities in Australia, the US and Europe.

The database is one of a number of cooperative projects between the Israeli Consulate General and the Hongkou government.

Last year the consulate renovated an activity center in Huoshan Park for the elderly, providing a range of gym equipment, a library, musical instruments and some new facilities.

Money was donated by Israeli businesses to an aged care facility in the northern part of the district, including flat-screen televisions and air-conditioning units.

"This is a way of us repaying the generation who absorbed the Jewish refugees, lived side by side with them and made them feel welcome," Gutman says.

In a cooperative effort with local officials, the Ohel Moshe Synagogue has been painstakingly restored and earlier in the year hosted its first wedding.

The synagogue and surrounds will house the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, which will include the database.