Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum
In all the times we have gone to Shanghai, we had never yet visited the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. It is housed in an old synagogue, Ohel Moshe, in what was the Jewish Quarter from the 19th century until after World War II. Today it houses a museum chronicling the years that Jews escaping Antisemitism in Europe found a safe haven in Shanghai, with a particular focus on the those fleeing the Nazis.
More after the jump
We had never been to this historical site before, but we were especially motivated this Shanghai trip by Myles' recent studying World War II.
The Holocaust is a necessary part of learning about World War II, but it is very difficult (at least for me) to discuss in depth with young children. I don't want to gloss over it, but I also don't want to introduce the horrors too early to them and they end up desensitized to the images and descriptions. The Jewish Refugees Museum helped get us started on some of these discussions--like why the Jewish people were so desperate to leave Europe and the Nazis.
After we bought our tickets, we had a little time to wander around before the English-speaking tour was scheduled to start. We entered at the ground-floor, putting plastic coverings over our shoes to protect the interior floors, original to the early twentieth-century construction. I glanced over at Myles and his bare head, and asked if he needed something for that, too. The woman at the door waved me off, telling me there weren't any rituals that day, so no. The Museum does occasionally host important Jewish events, like weddings and bar/bat mitzvah, so many of the Museum employees are apparently familiar with some Jewish customs. Later our guide would describe some of the weddings that had been there, noting only when the couple was strict Orthodox were female guests and employees sent to the women's gallery.
We walked upstairs to the women's gallery, which now holds a large table and a few shelves of plaques and commemorative gifts to the Museum.
We could look out across to the former Jewish quarter from a 2nd floor balcony.
We also walked up the to the third floor which housed an exhibit dealing exclusively with the Holocaust. I glanced around, and then brought the kids up to the top of the stairs. I showed them a few things they should be able to identify with the Holocaust, like the train tracks, the gate to Auschwitz (Arbeit macht frei) and a typical uniform of a concentration camp inmate. It was enough for them to understand why it was so important that Shanghai was a place where they could find refuge.
By this time, our guide was ready to meet us. She gathered us at the table in the women's gallery. She began by asking us if we knew when the first Jewish people arrived in China. I hesitated; I didn't want to contradict some accepted version of history, and I wasn't sure what in this case it might be.
"Uhhhh," I said,"sometime over one thousand years ago? Before they settled in Kaifeng?"
She was surprised, asking me if I were Jewish. I told her that I just liked Chinese history, and I also had Jewish friends that had been there. She continued then about the later waves of Jewish immigration to China. In the late nineteenth century Jewish families from Russia began arriving, escaping the tsar's pogroms and later the Bolsheviks. The synagogue Ohel Moshe was built by Russian Orthodox Jews.
The next large wave of immigrants were Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied countries. These people, and their survival, were the focus of the museum.
After her intorductory remarks, we went downstairs to see the bimah and the ark.
From there we left the synagogue through the actual front door and walked out to some smaller buildings that housed the museum exhibits, comprised of photographs, artifacts, news clippings, films and recordings about the Jewish settlement during World War II. The emphasis was on the hospitality and generosity shown by the local Chinese population toward the refugees. At times this idea felt a little overplayed, but it was important to recognize that there were so few places for Jews to go then time, and Shanghai did not refuse their entry.
There were heroes, of course. One in particular who was celebrated was a Chinese diplomat, Ho Feng-Shang. Ho was stationed in Vienna, and he signed thousands of visas for Jews trying to leave Austria after Kristallnacht.
There were also every day heroes, local Shanghaiese who helped the Jewish refugees adapt to living in China.
The galleries were full of photos, recordings, and artifacts to help understand how the Jewish refugees lived during that time, and what influence living in China may have had on them later after they left.
Among the artifacts of the Jewish community that once was were a few business signs that had been recovered during demolition around the neighborhood. This one, for a Sandwich shop had been found rather recently under other signage at a hardware store. It was carefully removed and brought to the museum where it now hangs above their refreshment stand.
The film and other interpretive media helped me get closer to answering a lingering question I have had for years---how did the Japanese occupiers of Shanghai allow the Jews to continue on there, even after they had waged war upon the Allies and interred so many other foreigners in camps outside the city? Earlier in war, the Jewish population, both existing and newly arrived, was more spread-out in Shanghai, around one of the six synagogues (of these only Ohel Moshe and Ohel Rachel still stand). Once Japan occupied Shanghai, they imposed restrictions on the Jews, forcing all of them that had been living throughout the city to live in the small area around Ohel Moshe. The Jews' comings and goings were also controlled by the occupiers, but they were permitted to remain in China and live. The official name for the Jewish Ghetto was the "Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees," so this status coupled perhaps with the Japanese distrust of the Nazis may have been why the Jews remained in the city.
The Jewish Refugee Museum is a very important attraction, a must visit. This part of history could have easily been overlooked, lost in the upheavals that followed: the post-war chaos for the refugees, the end of the Chinese Civil War, and the push for a bigger, brighter, shinier Shanghai. Having a museum and the use of the synagogue honor the courage of the refugees and they who helped them survive.
More after the jump
We had never been to this historical site before, but we were especially motivated this Shanghai trip by Myles' recent studying World War II.
The Holocaust is a necessary part of learning about World War II, but it is very difficult (at least for me) to discuss in depth with young children. I don't want to gloss over it, but I also don't want to introduce the horrors too early to them and they end up desensitized to the images and descriptions. The Jewish Refugees Museum helped get us started on some of these discussions--like why the Jewish people were so desperate to leave Europe and the Nazis.
After we bought our tickets, we had a little time to wander around before the English-speaking tour was scheduled to start. We entered at the ground-floor, putting plastic coverings over our shoes to protect the interior floors, original to the early twentieth-century construction. I glanced over at Myles and his bare head, and asked if he needed something for that, too. The woman at the door waved me off, telling me there weren't any rituals that day, so no. The Museum does occasionally host important Jewish events, like weddings and bar/bat mitzvah, so many of the Museum employees are apparently familiar with some Jewish customs. Later our guide would describe some of the weddings that had been there, noting only when the couple was strict Orthodox were female guests and employees sent to the women's gallery.
We walked upstairs to the women's gallery, which now holds a large table and a few shelves of plaques and commemorative gifts to the Museum.
We could look out across to the former Jewish quarter from a 2nd floor balcony.
We also walked up the to the third floor which housed an exhibit dealing exclusively with the Holocaust. I glanced around, and then brought the kids up to the top of the stairs. I showed them a few things they should be able to identify with the Holocaust, like the train tracks, the gate to Auschwitz (Arbeit macht frei) and a typical uniform of a concentration camp inmate. It was enough for them to understand why it was so important that Shanghai was a place where they could find refuge.
By this time, our guide was ready to meet us. She gathered us at the table in the women's gallery. She began by asking us if we knew when the first Jewish people arrived in China. I hesitated; I didn't want to contradict some accepted version of history, and I wasn't sure what in this case it might be.
"Uhhhh," I said,"sometime over one thousand years ago? Before they settled in Kaifeng?"
She was surprised, asking me if I were Jewish. I told her that I just liked Chinese history, and I also had Jewish friends that had been there. She continued then about the later waves of Jewish immigration to China. In the late nineteenth century Jewish families from Russia began arriving, escaping the tsar's pogroms and later the Bolsheviks. The synagogue Ohel Moshe was built by Russian Orthodox Jews.
The next large wave of immigrants were Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied countries. These people, and their survival, were the focus of the museum.
After her intorductory remarks, we went downstairs to see the bimah and the ark.
From there we left the synagogue through the actual front door and walked out to some smaller buildings that housed the museum exhibits, comprised of photographs, artifacts, news clippings, films and recordings about the Jewish settlement during World War II. The emphasis was on the hospitality and generosity shown by the local Chinese population toward the refugees. At times this idea felt a little overplayed, but it was important to recognize that there were so few places for Jews to go then time, and Shanghai did not refuse their entry.
There were heroes, of course. One in particular who was celebrated was a Chinese diplomat, Ho Feng-Shang. Ho was stationed in Vienna, and he signed thousands of visas for Jews trying to leave Austria after Kristallnacht.
There were also every day heroes, local Shanghaiese who helped the Jewish refugees adapt to living in China.
The galleries were full of photos, recordings, and artifacts to help understand how the Jewish refugees lived during that time, and what influence living in China may have had on them later after they left.
Among the artifacts of the Jewish community that once was were a few business signs that had been recovered during demolition around the neighborhood. This one, for a Sandwich shop had been found rather recently under other signage at a hardware store. It was carefully removed and brought to the museum where it now hangs above their refreshment stand.
The film and other interpretive media helped me get closer to answering a lingering question I have had for years---how did the Japanese occupiers of Shanghai allow the Jews to continue on there, even after they had waged war upon the Allies and interred so many other foreigners in camps outside the city? Earlier in war, the Jewish population, both existing and newly arrived, was more spread-out in Shanghai, around one of the six synagogues (of these only Ohel Moshe and Ohel Rachel still stand). Once Japan occupied Shanghai, they imposed restrictions on the Jews, forcing all of them that had been living throughout the city to live in the small area around Ohel Moshe. The Jews' comings and goings were also controlled by the occupiers, but they were permitted to remain in China and live. The official name for the Jewish Ghetto was the "Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees," so this status coupled perhaps with the Japanese distrust of the Nazis may have been why the Jews remained in the city.
The Jewish Refugee Museum is a very important attraction, a must visit. This part of history could have easily been overlooked, lost in the upheavals that followed: the post-war chaos for the refugees, the end of the Chinese Civil War, and the push for a bigger, brighter, shinier Shanghai. Having a museum and the use of the synagogue honor the courage of the refugees and they who helped them survive.
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