Characteristic IV of the “Chinese Pattern”: Jewish Refugees Having a High Level of Cultural Literacy

Abstract

European Jewish refugees in China, generally speaking, were well-educated. They had managed to overcome so many challenges and survived the tough years and then succeeded in rebuilding their homeland after the war mainly because of their education background.

Appendices

Shanghai Jewish Chronicle was a German newspaper founded by Jewish refugees in Shanghai. It was originally published weekly and later published daily from May 5, 1939. After the end of World War II, it was renamed the Shanghai Echo in November 1945 and continued the publishing until the Shanghai Liberation in 1949, known as the longest German-language Jewish newspaper. Ossie Lewin was the editor of the newspaper.

Annex 1: Social Function and Historical Significance of “Shanghai Echo”

Shanghai Jewish Chronicle was a German newspaper founded by Jewish refugees in Shanghai. It was originally published weekly and later published daily from May 5, 1939. After the end of World War II, it was renamed the Shanghai Echo in November 1945 and continued the publishing until the Shanghai Liberation in 1949, known as the longest German-language Jewish newspaper. Ossie Lewin was the editor of the newspaper.

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What did Shanghai Jewish Chronicle bring to the restricted Ghetto in Hongkou? How did this happen from the communication perspective? Through an analysis of the content of Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, it can be concluded that Shanghai Jewish Chronicle was an embodiment of the awareness of Jewish identity in the Ghetto, the opinion leader of Jewish refugee autonomy, and a window for the Jewish refugees to look outside. It was also an important part of life in the Ghetto.

1.1 Embodiment of the Awareness of Jewish Identity in Shanghai Ghetto

Wilbur Schramm, an American scholar on mass communication, once said, “Communication is the tool that makes societies possible. It is no accident that communication and community have the same word root. Without communication, there would be no communities; and without community, there could be no communication.” Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, a Jewish refugee newspaper, represented the Jewish refugee community. It reinforced the identity consciousness of the Jewish refugees and promoted their shared tradition. It was a cohesive connecting the Jewish community.

An important prerequisite for communication is that there must be a common ground between two parties. In a narrow sense, this common ground refers to the same language used by both parties. Broadly speaking, it means that two parties share a similar life experience and a common cultural background. The German and Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai, as a social group, not only used the same language, German, but also shared the same sufferings. So, they were a community speaking the same language. The most essential feature of this community is the awareness of their Jewish identity.

Jews are known for their strong identity consciousness. In the first years of Judaism, the minimum quorum for praying to God was ten. When ten people prayed together, God would be among them. Judaism believes that in the eyes of God, Jews are a whole body. Instead of using the singular first person “I”, Jews use the plural first person “we” when they pray. When any Jew violates God’s “law”, God’s punishment is often imposed on all Jews. In the history of Jewish diaspora, it’s very often that the entire Jewish quarter would be affected when one Jew was found guilty. The Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938 was just caused by the incident that a young German Jew named Herschel Grynszpan shot a secretary of the German Embassy in France. As a result of internal cohesion and external oppression, the consciousness of Jewish identity and collective responsibility became a strong and tenacious ethic bond that connected Jews.

On the basis of their identity consciousness, Jewish refugee newspapers in Shanghai thrived. They created a strong Jewish ambience in the Jewish refugee community and produced a set of values, code of conduct or shared social language for binding the refugee community. It was especially true in the Ghetto because of the high density of residents and the external oppression. Shanghai Jewish Chronicle tried to arouse the national sentiments of the Jewish refugees and revive their identity consciousness. It stimulated Jewish refugees’ national pride and sense of responsibility through stories of national heroism when they were weak and fragile. Without Shanghai Jewish Chronicle or the belief it created that Jewish refugees were living in a “community with a common future”, the autonomy of Ghetto and the relief work in the Ghetto would not have lasted.

When the Jews faced ethnic cleansing, the highest manifestation and spiritual prop of the Jewish diaspora was Zionism. When the future of Zionism was still bleak and the Jewish refugees were in despair, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle gave a strong voice to Zionism and reported the activities of Zionism in other countries like Palestine, as well as those in Shanghai Ghetto.

Considering the historical and cultural background of the German and Austrian Jews, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle tried to reveal the harmful effects of the “assimilation” on the Jewish diaspora. It carried opinions on anti-Semitic theories and policies to warn the Jews to abandon their illusions and let them better understand the past and future of the Jewish nation. It also echoed the Zionist movement, inspiring the Jews in Shanghai to join in the great struggle for Jewish rejuvenation. Therefore, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle was really a banner for Jewish rejuvenation among Shanghai Jews.

As an embodiment of Jewish identity consciousness in Shanghai Ghetto, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle epitomized the ideology of Jewish refugees and enhanced their social cohesion significantly.

1.2 Opinion Leader of Jewish Autonomy in Shanghai Ghetto

At that time, the Jewish refugees had a unified governing body, a restructured Jewish communal association, which supported Jewish autonomy in the Ghetto. As an information hub in the Jewish refugee community, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle became the advocacy platform for Jewish autonomy in Shanghai Ghetto, mobilizing, organizing and managing social events in the Ghetto.

As a special social group formed under the pressure of social disruptions, the Jewish refugees had much more individual differences than any other social groups, in terms of occupation, social class, cultural background and social experience. The disruption of life brought strangers together. “We are a community united by a common destiny!” Shanghai Jewish Chronicle had tried to spread this message, on the basis that they shared the same history, faith, environment and sufferings. This message became their common public opinion supported by facts.

Ossie Lewin, chief editor of Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, explained the concepts of collective, group and community in New Year—Turning Point of Destiny: “The attitude of individuals towards the collective indicates his or her level of morality. Whoever does not participate in beneficial cooperation should be jointly responsible for the misfortune of the vulnerable. Solidarity is a powerful weapon with which people may blaze a trail for the group at the most difficult moment. In today’s grim situation, no one doubts the significance of solidarity to us Jews: each of us has a great obligation to the collective. Only by fulfilling these obligations can we create new value and rise again from disappointment.”¹⁶

Another contributor to the Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, Manfred Rosenfeld, stated in his article Heroism—Jews’ Outlook on Life: “Heroism is the highest form of idealism. Collective idealism, or loyalty to the nation, is heroism, while self-centered idealism is opportunism.” About the nature and significance of group, he said, “Each group has both heroism and opportunism, while the key is which plays a dominant role when the group faces critical moments. Looking back at history, it is difficult to find a pure opportunistic group. Opportunism is completely opposite to collectivism. Pure opportunists cannot form or maintain a group. A group consisting of opportunists is likely to fall prey to other groups and is despicable. Only an ethnic group, a religious group, or any group where members are willing to sacrifice their lives to fulfill its goals can last in peace and order. Opportunism has never ruled the Jews. Wherever it appears, the group falls.”¹⁷

In order to control our own destiny, the common destiny of Jewish refugees, a unified leadership is essential. Shanghai Jewish Chronicle has spared no effort to emphasize the importance and authority of the Jewish communal association for the autonomy of the Jewish refugee community. It has communicated to all that “a reliable governing body is indispensable to our life”. The Jewish communal association was the independent representative of Jewish refugees’ interests, representing all Jewish refugees in Shanghai. The restructuring of the Jewish communal association proves that the refugees can handle their own affairs”. Shanghai Jewish Chronicle called on Jewish refugees to cooperate with the governing body, pointing out that all Jewish refugees are obliged to cooperate with the Jewish communal association at this historic moment. It demanded Jewish refugees to “maximize their obedience to the association and behave and think in line with the overall interests of the group. Only every Jewish refugee is aware of their shared destiny and acts accordingly can he or she ask the Jewish community to satisfy their needs.” Ossie Lewin said in his article Calling for Cooperation: “I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize that the Jewish association has developed into a sound and strong organization in few months though critical voice is still loud. People have to admit the achievements of the association and it is qualified to be recognized as a spokesperson for Jewish refugees now. In the past, this organization did not fully play its role, mainly due to the lack of cooperation between groups which, however, is indispensable for an organization representing the Jewish community.”¹⁸ Shanghai Jewish Chronicle also emphasized the integrity of the Jewish refugee community and that everyone was connected in some way to the community. “Everyone is a spoke on this big wheel,” said an article on Shanghai Jewish Chronicle. For the sake of the autonomy of the Jewish refugee community, “not only the refugees should trust their leaders, but the leaders also need to believe in the refugees, as they believe in their fate. At this critical moment, each member of the community should translate the word ‘unity’ into real action.”¹⁹

Shanghai Jewish Chronicle was not only the mouthpiece of the governing body, but also a forum for Jewish refugees to express their opinions. Essential to the concept of “a community with a shared future”, freedom of speech also underlined the autonomy of the Jewish refugee community. As an information platform for the whole Jewish community, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle published the opinions, wishes and demands of Jewish refugees, as well as the communal organization’s administrative information. The newspaper encouraged readers to express their opinions and write letters to give advice on public affairs in their communities and allowed individual refugees to publish advertisements to communicate their emotions. As a result, the newspaper enhanced mutual understanding and communication between the Jewish refugees and organizations and among Jewish refugees, highlighting their call for solidarity.

Information exchange, including exchange of opinions and views, was essential to achieve autonomy in the Ghetto. Shanghai Jewish Chronicle enabled information exchange and social interactions in the Ghetto by communicating and coordinating social activities in all aspects, such as relief, economy, education and culture. Without Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, it would have been impossible for the Ghetto with around 17,000 Jewish refugees to achieve autonomy.²⁰

Through Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, the slogan of building “a community with a shared future” became an agreement among the Jewish refugees. Therefore, the Jewish community could cope with the challenges as a whole under the unified leadership. There were various evidences to support this claim, including the proclamations and appeals issued by the Jewish communal association, its plans and their implementation projects, the number of free meals provided by the Kitchen Fund, criticism and suggestions from Jewish refugees, the curriculum for young adult education, art performances to energize Jewish refugees, the heated assemblies, the amount of contributions during the “Winter Aid”, the independent trials and enforcement practices by the arbitral tribunal, the orderly work of Jewish Pao Chia, the prayer services on the Jewish New Year and the observance of the Sabbath. In short, the aim to build “a community with a shared future” is very well grounded and has a big drive for the solidarity of Jewish refugees.

Jewish autonomy was one of the basic goals of the Zionist movement. The Basel Program, which was adopted at the First Zionist Congress in 1897, set out the goals and guidelines for Zionists all over the world:²¹

• (1) The promotion of the settlement of Jewish farmers, artisans, and manufacturers in Palestine (Eretz-Israel);

• (2) The organization and uniting of the whole Jewry according to the laws of each country;

• (3) The strengthening and fostering of the Jewish national sentiment and national consciousness.

• (4) Preparatory steps towards obtaining the consent of governments, where necessary, in order to the goals of Zionism.

The Basel Program remained the guiding post for Zionists all over the world before the establishment of the State of Israel. It unequivocally encouraged the organization of all Jews into local or general groups according to the laws of each country. The autonomy of the Shanghai Jewish refugee community was based on this policy.

In Shanghai Ghetto, autonomy meant mutual assistance. Through the relief contributions from international Jewish organizations and the effective work by Jewish refugees themselves, the basic needs of 17,000 people in this refugee community were met, which guaranteed the mental health and stability of these refugees. For these Jews, when they were faced with the deadliest crisis in history, survival meant success. The subsistence of the Shanghai Jewish refugee community was a support for the global Zionist movement. Led by Jewish refugee organizations, 17,000 Jewish refugees worked in solidarity and sustained the hope of Zionism during the war. After World War II, around 5000 Jewish refugees in Shanghai migrated, or returned, to the State of Israel. Their goal was realized.²²

Shanghai Jewish Chronicle was fully aware of the crisis that concerned the survival of the Jewish nation and assumed the responsibility for the autonomy of the Jewish refugee community by serving a platform for these refugees to express opinions.

1.3 Window for Jewish Refugees to Look Outside

The existence of the Shanghai Ghetto not only meant physical isolation from Jewish refugees but also cut off external information. Due to language barriers, limited movement, economic distress and disruption of communication, they became isolated and almost blind and deaf to the outside world.

However, the Jewish refugees’ appetite for information was voracious. Their tragic circumstances made them anxious about the future of the world and their own destiny, and craved for external information.

As the only newspaper targeting the refugees at that time, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle was a channel for Jewish refugees in the Ghetto to keep in touch with the outside world, which meant a great spiritual relief to them.

In his book Public Opinion, Walter Lippmann told a story: There was an island in the ocean where in 1914 a few English, French, and Germans lived. No cable reached that island, and the British mail steamer came but once in sixty days. In mid-September, they learned that for over six weeks now those of them who were English and those of them who were French had been fighting on behalf of the sanctity of treaties against those of them who were Germans. For six strange weeks they had acted as if they were friends, when in fact they were enemies. The lack of information kept them away from the reality.

Thanks to Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, the Shanghai Ghetto was not cut off from the outside world. In the Ghetto, Jewish refugees were strictly prohibited from listening to shortwave radio. Shanghai Jewish Chronicle was the only newspaper in the Ghetto and the only authoritative source of external information for the Jewish refugees. The content of the newspaper, including international and local news and information about their relatives and friends, kept them in touch with the world outside the Ghetto. Although the coverage of international and local accounts was restricted by the pro-Japanese collaborationist Chinese, this daily newspaper still opened a window to the outside world for Jewish refugees in the ghetto.

Some Jewish refugees were concerned about the war in Europe where they came from and their families still lived. They looked forward to going back to their homeland. Some Jewish refugees paid close attention to the situation in the United States, as the relief funds for the Jewish refugee community came mostly from the United States. Many of them dreamt of going to the United States one day. Some Jewish refugees were concerned about Palestine. It was the front line of the Zionist movement and carried the hope of building a Jewish state. Jewish refugees were also concerned about the conditions in Shanghai, because their fate had already been linked to this city. “They had strong interest in the war. Although most news came through the Japanese media, Jewish refugees could know when the Allies won by instinct.”²³ They expected the Allies to win the final victory but weren’t sure whether they could live to that day. In the Ghetto, hearsay was one of the main “trades” in the Jewish community. Chushan Road in Hongkou, the business center of the Ghetto, was known as “a road of hearsay”.²⁴ Jews were dispersed all over the world, so they had sources all over the world. Based on the information they collected, they contemplated the future of their nation and themselves and tried to figure out solutions.

As a newspaper targeting mostly refugees, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle understood the psychological needs and concerns of Jewish refugees. Although the source of news during the war was strictly controlled and restricted, the newspaper still managed to provide information as the Jewish refugees desired. Based on their personal experience, correspondents from Shanghai Jewish Chronicle overcame the barriers set up by the puppet troops. Keenly aware of the needs and circumstances, they delivered reports on the war and the international situation in a neutral manner. They also presented contrasting opinions and provided the supporting facts. In this way, Jewish refugees were able to learn about the progress of the war and the changes in the outside world.

Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international relief organizations were the major channels for Jews to connect with their relatives and friends in other parts of the world. For the Jews in the Ghetto, those news meant the comfort, pleasure and courage they needed to live in exile.

Even for modern people, newspapers are a necessity of life, let alone those who faced desperate difficulties. Newspapers were of even greater value to Jews. Communication studies have shown that adequate access to information is fundamental for people and social groups to maintain mental health. In the turmoil of the Great World War, Jews were exiled from their homeland. As refugees in China, they faced a language barrier and lived under the Japanese control. News reported by Shanghai Jewish Chronicle was necessary for Jews to assess their circumstances and adjust their survival strategy. In short, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, the only Jewish newspaper in Shanghai during World War II, was the mouthpiece of Jews, a bond between the Jews in the Ghetto and the outside world, and a window for the Jews in the Ghetto to look outside.

1.4 An Indispensable Part of the Economy of Jews in Shanghai Ghetto

Shanghai Jewish Chronicle was an indispensable part of the Jewish economy in Shanghai Ghetto.

The smart and diligent editors of Shanghai Jewish Chronicle recognized the significance of business development for the Jewish community, and pointed out that “well-functioning economy was critical for guaranteeing the basic needs of so many people in the current social environment…. This is not only about fame and dignity, but also survival!”

The role of newspapers in business development was also recognized. An article entitled “Intercourse and Connection Are Productive Forces” published on the extra edition of Shanghai Jewish Chronicle on August 29, 1943 explained the role of newspapers in Jewish economy in Shanghai Ghetto.

Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, 6th Ed. Sunday, August 29, 1943

1.5 Intercourse and Connection Are Productive Forces

Intercourse was not good word by the standard of the Bible. In Genesis, there were Adam and Eve in this word, so intercourse referred to the sexual relationship. However, the word contains a profound wisdom. For thousands of years, mankind has been aware of and tested its correctness every day. In Aristotle’s concept, all humans are “social creatures”. In other words, people live in a certain social context. In order to survive, people depend on their relationships and intercourse with other people. Living alone is rare in the animal world and it is even less likely in the human society.

People had already realized in ancient times that production activities involved contacts and connections. Intercourse between ethnic groups and people-to-people interactions within groups preconditions for production activities. Indeed, intercourse does not only bring benefits; it is also a catalyst and a stimulant in the simplest form. The Roman culture was destined to fall, because it only took over the form of Greek culture without getting its essence. For either groups or individuals, intercourse has a certain risk. As the Bible says, bad company corrupts good character.

However, accidents have not caused people to dismiss railways, so intercourse cannot be dismissed for the risks it contains. Intercourse is a key driver in human life. The demand for intercourse is the most powerful inner drive. Deprivation of intercourse, such as solitary confinement, is seen as the most common and yet inhuman punishment.

In this sense, the media is of great importance. Books and newspapers play an important role in human life as a spiritual medium. A German proverb says that roads enable traffic, so we can also say that newspapers enable intercourse. Newspapers publish initiatives, recommendations, warnings, and their ads directly for material exchange. Where there is intercourse, there is life; where there are communication media, there are active exchange and production. It is true for both spiritual life and material life. Intercourse is creative. It creates new value and also adds value to the original value.

This issue of Shanghai Jewish Chronicle is a good start. It is more than a publication; it is part of economy and life. It has at least made possible the establishment of new relations and the restoration of old relationships lost in the turmoil of relocation. After we settled down, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle took the responsibility for establishing new economic relationships in the Jewish area. From now on, we Jews in exile must adapt to such relationships. It is the Refugee Board’s intention to form new relationships and contacts through relocation. As mentioned above, we hope that intercourse will not only be seen as getting together or for its own sake, but also a means to create new opportunities. Exiles living together allows for convenient and simpler contacts. If the exiles take care of each other, new economic opportunities will be generated. It has proved effective where compatriots live together, in any period of history. It is especially true for us immigrants. One must recognize this possibility and use it correctly. This issue of Shanghai Jewish Chronicle gives extremely valuable tips in this regard.

To the Jews who had lost their homes, the prophet Jeremiah urged them to build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. This preach applies to Jews in all ages and everywhere, as well as to refugees in the Ghetto. Economic and cultural exchanges will certainly empower them and create value, which is the guarantee of their future prosperity and a contribution to the prosperity of Shanghai. Then, if we observe correctly, what’s the difference between life and movement? Intercourse is a movement, and intercourse means the same as life. Experience always tells us where there is intercourse, there is life, where intercourse is interrupted, the fire of life will go out. Precisely because the possibility of intercourse declined, the medieval material and cultural life was much less active than the classical age. Also due to the lack of demand for intercourse, the North American Indians had not produced a commendable culture.

Intercourse is creative and sustained, while abused intercourse often produces negative mutual influence. However, in general, intercourse is beneficial and moral. Intercourse is the productive force to guarantee human survival.

Manfred Rosenfeld

This article borrowed and extended the concept of “intercourse” from Karl Marx and Frederick Engels’ “German Ideology”. In German Ideology, their first book to expound their materialist conception of history, Marx and Engels argued that intercourse was the precondition for human production. The German word “Verkehr” has multiple meanings: traffic, intercourse, circulation, sex and activity. With this word, Marx and Engels embraced almost all meanings: social intercourse, including both material and spiritual, is the precondition for human production activities. Shanghai Jewish Chronicle accurately grasped this materialist viewpoint and made its own interpretation in both theory and practice: “Books and newspapers are the key material and spiritual media. As the German proverb says that roads enable traffic, we can also say that newspapers enable intercourse. Newspapers release initiatives, recommendations, warnings, and their ads directly stimulate material exchange. Where there is intercourse, there is life; where there are communication media, there are active exchange and production. This is true for both spiritual and material life. Intercourse is creative. It creates new value and also adds value to the original value.”

Based on the understanding that intercourse is productivity and that newspapers play an important role in business exchanges and material production, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle is committed to promoting economic exchanges and building ties within the Jewish refugee community. “This issue of Shanghai Jewish Chronicle is a good start,” Manfred Rosenfeld said. “It is more than a publication; it is part of economy and life…. It took the responsibility for establishing new economic relationships in the Jewish area…. Economic and cultural exchanges will certainly empower them and create value, which is the guarantee of their future prosperity and a contribution to the prosperity of Shanghai.”

From this extra issue, the plans, proposals, appeals, and overall strategy for economic development in the Ghetto released on Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, the economic guidelines advertised on the newspaper for registering refugee companies, and the creative and inspiring articles on economic development, we can see Shanghai Jewish Chronicle’s efforts to build economic connections and intercourse and the Jewish business instincts.

So long as there is a possibility, Jews would do business. That’s why this extra issue of Shanghai Jewish Chronicle focused on economic development. About the special meaning of this choice, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle explained:

We try to do business in the designated area. By establishing economic organizations, we’ve demonstrated an overwhelming courage for life. We’d tell them that under the new circumstances, we should use our spiritual power and unremitting efforts to create the hope of survival. Today, we call it business.²⁵

As key source of information in Shanghai Ghetto, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle is also a very commercial newspaper.

1.6 Testimony to the Faith and Courage of Jewish Refugees in the Ghetto

Another key theme of reports on Shanghai Jewish Chronicles is SURVIVAL. It is a key aspect of life in the Ghetto. Whether they depended on external relief, strived to develop economy in the restricted sector, tried to derive power and faith in life from entertainment, or promoted “the best thing”—youth education and continuation of Jewish culture and tradition, the Jews in the Ghetto had shown extraordinary would power to survive.

Shanghai Jewish Chronicle transmitted the message of survival in every issue.

As the mouthpiece of Jewish revival, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle gave the strongest voice of the Zionist movement; the belief of national survival; as a public opinion leader of Jewish refugee autonomy in the Ghetto, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle exercised propaganda, organization, management and service functions, bringing Jewish refugees together in strong solidarity under the Jewish communal association in the Ghetto; Also as the information hub of the Ghetto, Shanghai Jewish Chronicle showed extraordinary economic keenness, which is the embodiment of the Jewish nation’s resilience and their strong will to survive. Their divided and sometimes contradictory attitude towards the Japanese military authorities is also a manifestation of this will to survive under the pressure.

In short, survival is a predominant theme of Jewish life during World War II.

When the Jewish refugees in Shanghai fought for survival in the Ghetto, their European compatriots were dying in concentration camps. Shanghai Ghetto was an oriental equivalent, or replica, of the concentration camps in Europe. Between 1941 and 1944, the Nazis deports millions of Jews from Germany and occupied territories to concentration camps, or death camps. In the death camps, the Jews’ will to survive did not bend.

On August 2, 1943, the first Jewish uprising occurred in Treblinka death camp. In the riots, the Jews opened the arsenal. They shouted DEATH, and if the other answered SURVIVAL, they would give him a gun and some bullets. Soon, the concentration camp was enshrouded in shouts DEATH and SURVIVAL. The shouts resounded throughout the camp.

On October 14, 1943, another uprising occurred in the Sobibor death camp.

On October 7, 1944, riots occurred in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

For two thousand years, in fact, the history of Jewish diaspora is all about survival. Jews had to struggle for survival. They had been expelled, deprived, and slaughtered once in a while. They had to migrate and then settle in different countries and deal with different ethnic groups. A ghetto is the relic of a civilization that has all but disappeared, but, nevertheless, the Jewish nation has not died out. About this, Arnold Toynbee said,²⁶

To date, the Jews still exist as a special nation, while the Phoenicians and the Philistines have long lost their original face. Their ancient Syrian neighbors have been forged into a new nation and acquired a new name, while the Israelites have remained safe from this kind of “metallurgy”, the countless country and church reunifications and migrations.

Historical metallurgy follows the rule of survival of the fittest, and the resilience of the Jews is a valuable spiritual asset of human civilization.

Shanghai Ghetto is the last ghetto in the history of Jewish diaspora for over two thousand years. In the battle over survival, Shanghai Jews were the winners. When World War II ended, they tore down the signs marking the restricted sector for stateless refugees (the Ghetto) and shook hands with whoever they met and danced in the streets of Shanghai which became so bright for them. When the State of Israel was founded, they saw the Star of David flying over their homeland, which they had seen in their dreams for thousands of years.

Meanwhile, they were shouting in their heart: The Israelites are still alive! It was so good to be alive when this day finally came.

Finally, justice defeated evil, reason overcame madness, and survival overwhelmed death. Shanghai Jewish Chronicle which recorded their solidarity and efforts to survive became a monument to the faith and will to survive of the Jews in exile in Shanghai Ghetto.

(Rao Lihua is a scholar known for her studies on Jewish publications in Shanghai. When she was working for Ph.D. degree at Renmin University of China, her doctoral dissertation was Newspaper of the Exiles: A Research on Shanghai Jewish Chronicle. When it was published as a book by Xinhua Publishing House in 2003, the title became The Spiritual Home of the Exiles: A Study of Shanghai Jewish Chronicle. This annex is an excerpt that book, except for a few corrections and revision to the text, subtitles, and notes.)

Annex 2: Knowledgeable Refugees in China

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So long as he or she could get a French or Italian transit visa and a $540 ticket, any Jewish refugee could get to Shanghai, China, aboard a liner in Trieste or Genoa that travelled through the Suez Canal or passing the Cape of Good Hope, via Mumbai, Singapore, Hong Kong after a four-week voyage. In any case, this route was open to refugees before Italy entered the war on June 10, 1940. But after that day, the fleeing refugees could only travel by land. That means that he must first enter the Soviet Union, and then took a train in Moscow crossing Siberia to Harbin and then to Dalian where ships could take them to Shanghai.

Why do Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany hope to travel more than 7000 miles to a country that is difficult for most Westerners to understand its culture and language? Why were these refugees willing to come to a city where a poor foreigner was very unlikely to achieve economic success? The answer is: these Jewish refugees couldn’t find a refuge in Europe and the United States, but if they didn’t flee the Nazis, they would be transported to concentration camps and get killed there. Shanghai, luckily for them, did not require a visa, or police certification, or a health certificate, or a certificate of economic self-sufficiency or moral innocence or political party membership, let alone a Nobel Prize winning certificate. The city didn’t impose any immigration quota. This oriental city was truly free from prejudices against skin colors, religious or political convictions, and was the only place which refugees from any country could enter at will.²⁷

The Jewish refugees in Shanghai mainly came from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. They came in three waves.

The first wave began soon after 1933. They were mostly professionals like doctors, lawyers and technicians from Germany. Their number was not big, about 300. They were very well accommodated by the Jewish community²⁸ in Shanghai and also received a lot of help and support from the sympathetic local people in Shanghai. Moreover, these knowledgeable refugees managed to bring along some cash and assets, because they fled Nazi Germany earlier. So, they were able to make ends meet for some time. They were also often able to find a job which allowed them to live a decent life. Since Shanghai was different from European and American cities that also received some refugees, there was no requirement for exiled doctors and lawyers to pass a medical qualification examination. The certificate of practice license obtained in Germany was also valid in Shanghai, so they could open a clinic or find a position in any hospital. Photographer Fritz Hoffmann who came to China in 1931 described this condition in his memoir: “When I arrived in Shanghai in 1931, there were only 10 Central European Jewish families here. In the first four years after 1933, the first batch of refugees from Hitler’s Germany were about 300 doctors, lawyers and technicians. They had managed to bring some money with them. The Jewish community in Shanghai was generally wealthy. They also set up a small relief committee for those refugees, but before 1936, only two families asked for financial support.”²⁹

The second wave occurred after the Kristallnacht³⁰ and peaked in early 1939. Since most countries had closed their doors to them, nearly 17,000 Jewish refugees migrated to Shanghai from Germany and Austria. Compared with the first wave of Jewish refugees, these refugees had more difficulties in settling in Shanghai because they were mostly ordinary refugees, rather than professionals, except for a few less known and poor public artists. Shanghai’s Jewish community did not keep these newcomers out, but in general they were less welcome.

The third wave began in August 1939. Due to the heavy economic burden on both the local people and the Jewish Community in Shanghai, quota was imposed on the number of new refugees entering Shanghai. After November 1, 1939, Shanghai stopped the entry of refugees. However, shortly after Hitler’s invasion of Poland, a number of Jewish refugees from Poland fled eastward through the Soviet Union aboard the Trans-Siberian Railway. After they arrived in Vladivostok, a small number of them entered Harbin where lived many Russian Jewish refugees, and most of them reached Kobe in Japan by boat. The land route was eventually closed due to Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. In autumn 1941, a few months before the Pearl Harbor Attack, the Japanese authorities needed to make room for secret military training for a new war, so they sent over 2000 Polish Jews who had just arrived in Kobe and over 1000 Jewish refugees holding visas to the United States and Canada, who had arrived in Japan before the outbreak of the European War, to Shanghai. Of the last batch of 3000 Jewish refugees arriving in Shanghai, most were Eastern European Jews, including over 1000 Polish Jewish university students³¹ and over 250 Lithuanian Jewish university students.³²

After the three waves of migration, by autumn 1941, there were 25,000 Jewish refugees in China, including Jewish refugees from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, and the Russian Jews who were driven south from Harbin by the Japanese after the Mukden Incident of 1931.³³

How did these newly arriving refugees manage to live in Shanghai? To answer this question, it is essential to understand the social conditions of Shanghai after 1933. At that time, Shanghai had 4 million Chinese and 10 thousand foreigners, including 29,000 Japanese, 15,000 Russians, 9000 British, 5000 non-Jewish Germans and Austrians, and 4000 Americans. There were five universities, several academic research institutions, an excellent symphony orchestra, an English theatre, some premium restaurants, as well as many opium houses in Shanghai. There were also many prostitutes, beggars, cheaters and hungry rickshaw drivers. On a winter night in 1935, hundreds of people slept on the streets and were frozen to death. In 1935, 20,746 died on the streets and most of them were Chinese.³⁴

At that time, Shanghai was somewhat like the city of Mahagonny in the opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by the famous German exile playwright Bertolt Brecht and the famous German composer Kurt Weill, where even tiny disputes over very little money could lead to severe crimes. The overwhelming majority of the poor in Shanghai were exploited by foreign interest representatives who controlled the city. Domestic wars and Japanese oppression made their survival even more difficult than those refugees. Many early-arriving Jewish refugees could afford to hire a Chinese servant, while the Jewish refugees who arrived later had to clean rooms and make lunch for some wealthy Chinese families to make a living. Due to the extremely low living standards of the vast majority of local Chinese people, foreign refugees were often robbed on the streets.

Before the War of Resistance breaking out in 1937, Shanghai was a relatively rich city, because the world economic crisis that began in the United States in 1929 actually created a development opportunity for Shanghai, and many Western investors turned to Shanghai. Therefore, during that period, Shanghai had ample supply of consumer goods. Foreign goods were not taxed and most traded goods were textiles, food and cotton in place of tea, raw silk and opium. Cheap labor and convenient inland waterway transportation made up for the shortage of energy and raw materials. Products were usually manufactured in private workshops and the electricity cost was low. In short, only a very small number of residents in the city could benefit from the economic boom. However, the Japanese invasion cut off the city’s ties with the hinterland of China. As Western investors began to look for other investment destinations, Shanghai’s economy deteriorated rapidly. After 1939, Shanghai was no longer an economically prosperous city.

The early European refugees could afford to live in the three areas for foreigners, namely the International Settlement,³⁵ the French Concession, and the Japanese-controlled zone dubbed “Little Tokyo”, while the late-arriving refugees had to live in Hongkou, the rundown northeastern part of Shanghai, where the rental of lane houses was 75% lower than other places in Shanghai and food was much cheaper.

The period from 1939 to 1941 was a relatively good time for most Jewish refugees in Shanghai. They were still full of hope, optimism and shared future, which led to positive actions. During this period, the key values of European Jews were introduced to Shanghai. With the financial support from Jewish relief organizations in the United States and their own efforts, Jewish refugees rebuilt the shabby streets in Hongkou, set up shops, restaurants and cafes, turning the area into a “Little Vienna”. They also set up their own schools and kindergartens, built a Jewish synagogue, established their own football club and a boy scout troop, and published five German-language newspapers, among which Shanghai Jewish Chronicle was³⁶ the most famous. They also had an adult education center to teach Jewish history, Chinese poetry, Greek influence on Europe and other subjects, although a course had only attracted about ten students.³⁷

During that period, there were as many as 271 exiled artists from the German-speaking world in Shanghai, whose exquisite art works of European style were very popular in Shanghai. It is important to mention the professional musicians who were the most active artists. They held many concerts and organized many other music events in Hongkou. They were proud to have their own indoor orchestra. There were also some active amateur musicians. For example, doctor Erich Marcuse was also an outstanding band conductor, and doctor Arthur Wolf had been a popular composer when he was still in Germany. They all showed their talents during their exile in Shanghai.

From 1939 to 1947, Jewish refugees staged about 60 German plays or dramas of famous playwrights, including Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, Theodore Lessing and August Strindberg. The performers were mainly exiled artists from Berlin and Vienna. Although there was a Yiddish theater in Hongkou, there were far fewer Yiddish audience than the German-language audience.

The Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany created and displayed their own art in Shanghai, but they had not influenced the local cultural environment very much, as those Jews had little direct communication with the local people. Painter Hans Jacoby had more contacts with the Chinese, relatively speaking. As he later recalled, he had painted many portraits for the Chinese citizens. He once tried to live in the residential quarter for local residents, but later he had to move back to the foreigners’ quarter as crimes were frequent there. The refugees’ works had rarely touched the Chinese theme, as most of them did not learn Chinese. However, several exiled writers later argued that the Jewish cultural community in Hongkou had shaped the Chinese music, which was probably true. Chinese scholar Pan Guang argued in his research that “the artists among the Russian-Jewish and German-Polish-Jewish refugees, especially musicians and medical professors, had influenced the Chinese in their own ways. The Chinese students they had trained are still active in the music and medical circles in China.”³⁸

However, the good time of Jewish refugees in Shanghai suddenly ended due to the outbreak of the Pacific War. First, relief funds began to dry up, especially the remittance from American Jewish relief organizations. Second, influenced by Germany, Japan became more hostile towards the Jews in Shanghai, so their business cooperation with the United States and the United Kingdom was forced stop, and exports to all Japan’s enemy countries were also stopped. Third, the war had caused severe inflation. All this had made it difficult for Jewish refugees to get money to install stage lighting, and to buy paper, nails and even the cheapest costumes. Even worse, the heating facilities were not available for rehearsals in winter. As a result, most exiled artists became silent and light tunes did not match the heavy social ambience.

After the Pearl Harbor Attack, the Japanese completely controlled the whole of Shanghai. In February 1943, Japan designated an area of less than one square kilometer in Hongkou as the Designated Area for Stateless Refugees (the Ghetto), forcing all Jewish refugees who came to Shanghai after 1938 to move into this area. 100,000 local people who had already lived there had to share the slum with more than 16,000 Jewish refugees. As Dr. Kauffmann remembered, the Japanese also announced that Jews were only allowed to leave the Ghetto between 7 am and 7 pm if they had a job outside. In order to obtain permission, they must provide proof of the work of a registered company or institution. The Japanese also asked Jews to organize a security team (Pao Chia) to maintain public order in the Ghetto. As the Ghetto was surrounded by barbed wire, a small number of Japanese were enough to monitor the movement of people.³⁹

The years from 1943 to 1945 were really difficult for the Jews as well as the Chinese residents in the Ghetto. The Jews found it hard to continue to their business. As they had to struggle to survive, they had not much time, money or energy to engage in cultural and artistic activities. What’s worse, Hongkou often encountered Japanese air raids which killed at least 130 refugees. Alfred Dreyfuss, a Communist, taught at a university in Shanghai when he took refuge in China before returning to East Germany after World War II. He recalled that he had experienced an air raid when he was holding a family concert. When his band was playing Brahms’ String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, a bomb hit the house and broke a leg of a little boy. Despite the heavy toll, the Jewish refugees in Shanghai finally survived the war.

After the Japanese surrender in September 1945, Hongkou Ghetto was liberated, so were the Jewish refugees. With the support of the United Nations, they quickly returned to normal life. The vast majority of the Jewish refugees in Shanghai migrated to Israel and the United States after World War II, so the Shanghai Jewish community fell apart within a few years.⁴⁰ When the PRC government ordered all foreigners to leave China in 1954, there were only 12 former Jewish refugees in Shanghai. By April 1981, only one Jewish refugee Max Leibwitz still lived there. He was paralyzed by Parkinson’s disease and later died in Shanghai.

Not all Jewish refugees fleeing to China after 1933 were settled in Shanghai. Some Jews went to Harbin in Northeast China occupied by the Japanese. Violinist Hellmut Stern was one of them. Hellmut Stern had followed his mother to China, so he was a second-generation refugee. He was born to a poor Jewish family in Berlin in 1928. His mother, Wolf P. Annes, was a pianist. After the Kristallnacht, most rich Jews fled to other countries. Wolf P. Annes managed to get a job offer from a theater in Harbin and took her family to Harbin via Genoa, Port Said, Mumbai, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Dalian. Hellmut Stern was only 10 years old at that time. Because the Sterns were mistaken by the Japanese as Germanic, they were able to live peacefully in Harbin. During their exile in Harbin, Hellmut Stern attended a music school run by Russian Jews. He studied under the Russian Jew Vladimir Davidovich Trachtenberg, the world-class violinist and former concertmaster of the Mariinsky Orchestra. In order to make money for the family, he often accompanied the performances of Russian ballets and played for Chinese weddings. In Harbin, he held the first concert in his life. Hellmut Stern stayed in Harbin for 11 years, witnessing many major historical events in Northeastern China such as the occupation of Japan, the arrival of the Soviet army when World War II was coming to an end, the Chinese Civil War, and the establishment of the Northeast People’s Government. In 1949, he went to Israel with his parents and then to the United States. In 1961, he returned to West Berlin and became chief violinist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.⁴¹

In addition to Shanghai and Harbin, some Jewish refugees settled in other parts of China. They did not have such a large number to form a Jewish community as in Shanghai and Harbin. There were some scientists among them.

For German-speaking scientists, European and American countries, instead of China, were their preferred country of exile, mainly due to the language and cultural barriers between the East and the West, the relative backwardness of Chinese university education and scientific development, and the ongoing Chinese war of resistance against the Japanese aggression. German Sinologists were the exception, but still not many took refuge in China. Professor Martin Kern, a well-known Sinologist at Columbia University in the United States, published The Emigration of German Sinologists 1933–1945: Notes on the History and historiography of Chinese Studies in 1998. This article listed all the 29 German Sinologists who went into exile after 1933, including the second-generation refugees. Among them, 21 went to the United States and the United Kingdom and 8 came to China. They were Gustav Ecke, Walter Liebenthal, Rudoff Löwenthal, Franz Michael, Erwin Reifler, Ernst Schwarz, Hellmut Wilhelm, and Ernst Wolff. Among the 8 Sinologist sin China, only two came to Shanghai and the other 6 went to other Chinese cities.⁴² These people are important for studying the experiences of German-speaking intellectual refugees in China.

Gustav Ecke had a long working experience in China before he went into exile. Graduated with Ph.D. in 1922, he was a professor of Xiamen University (1923–1928) and then Tsinghua University (1928–1933). In 1933, he returned to Germany and stayed there for two years. He went to China again as a refugee and taught at Fu Jen Catholic University (1935–1948). In China, he co-founded Monumenta Serica. He also served as lecturer at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. In 1949, he became dean of Chinese Arts at the University of Hawaii.

Walter Liebenthal graduated with Ph.D. from Breslau University in 1933, and in the same year he fled to China as a refugee and first worked as an assistant at the Sino-Indian Institute of Yenching University in Beijing (1934–1935). In 1935, he became lecturer of Sanskrit and German language at Peking University. After the War of Resistance against Japanese invasion broke out in 1937, he followed the faculty of Peking University to Changsha and Kunming. From 1946 to 1952, he again worked in Beijing and moved to India in 1952.⁴³

Rudoff Löwenthal, who graduated Ph.D. in journalism from Berlin University in 1933, went to Beijing in 1934 where he joined the faculty of Yenching University as a lecturer in journalism. He also kept in touch with the German Sinologists in Beijing and provided them with translations of Russian scholarship. In 1947, he moved to the United States where he worked as a teaching assistant and research associate at Cornell University and then as an instructor at Georgetown University. He published a lot of works on the development of the press in China and also articles and books on China Jews.

Franz Michael received his Doctor in law from Freiburg University in 1933. In the same year, he was forced to flee to China because of his Jewish origin. From 1934 to 1938, he taught at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, retreating to the hinterland with the university after the Japanese invasion. In 1938, he went to the United States where he became a research associate at Johns Hopkins University and later was engaged as a professor at the University of Washington.

Erwin Reifler⁴⁴ had not come to China as a refugee at first. Graduating with Ph.D. in political science from the University of Vienna in 1931, he came to Shanghai for business purpose in 1932. Here he became assistant to the Austrian League of Nations advisor (1932) and later professor of German at Shanghai Jiaotong University (1932–1937). After Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in March 1938, he went to Hong Kong as a refugee where he taught Chinese and German (1938–1940). Later, he returned to Shanghai and became a professor of German and Latin at the National Shanghai Medical College (1940–1941) and later at the Sino-French University (1941–1942). Because his father-in-law was the rabbi of the Sephardi Synagogue, Erwin Reifler was closely connected with the Shanghai Jewish community. From 1943 to 1947, he was professor of Sinology at the (French Catholic) Universite l’Aurore. In 1947, he went to the United States and became professor of Chinese language at the University of Washkington.⁴⁵

Ernst Schwarz, one of the second-generation Jewish refugees, fled from Vienna to Shanghai in 1938 as a student. In Shanghai, he began to learn Chinese and worked mainly as a sports instructor. After the Japanese surrender, he moved to Nanjing in autumn 1945, where he worked for the National Library and served as a secretary in the Ministry of Education. He taught at the Foreign Languages Department of Jinling University, after the university returned from Chengdu in autumn 1946. From 1947 to 1950, he worked as a secretary in the Austrian embassy in Nanjing. Later, he translated for the Chinese Foreign Languages Press in Beijing. He taught English language and literature at Hangchow University from 1958 to 1960. In 1960, he left for the German Democratic Republic and then taught at Humboldt University of Berlin.

Hellmut Wilhelm was born in Qingdao, China. His father was Richard Wilhelm, a famous German missionary and Sinologist. After World War I, he assisted his father at the newly founded China Institute in Frankfurt am Main. In 1932, he graduated with Ph.D. in Sinology from the Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Berlin, where he studied under famous Sinologist Otto Franke. He left Germany in 1933 to become a lecturer (1933–37) and, after some years of private research, a professor of German language and literature at National Peking University (1946–48). During his first year in Beijing, he also served as director of the Deutschland-Institut. In 1948, he moved to the United States and became a professor of Chinese history at the University of Washington.

Ernst Wolff was born to the family of a German Jewish merchant in Tianjin. In 1928, Ernst Wolff began to study law at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University and learned Chinese at the Seminar fur orientalische Sprachen. In 1933, he worked for a court in Berlin but due to his Jewish background he was soon dismissed from public service. He went back to Tianjin in 1936 and joined the Kailang Mining company in Tangshan and Tianjin where he worked until 1951. In 1951, he went to Tokyo via Hong Kong. In 1959, he joined the University of Washington as a research instructor for the Department of Far Eastern and Slavic Languages.

Most of these emigrant Sinologists moved from China to the United States after their exile, instead of returning to Germany. According to Martin Kern, three factors may have played a role here. The first is that the center of China studies had transferred from Germany to the United States where they found more favorable conditions to develop their new interests and methods of scholarship. The second is that most of the emigrants became professors in exile, so they were less likely to return to their homeland after the war. The third factor is that a German-language environment was probably less important for scholars in East Asian studies than in other fields.⁴⁶

Almost all the Jewish refugees who fled to China from the 1930s to the 1940s and survived the war left China, but they were very grateful to China and expressed their gratitude when they left. Those in Shanghai held a grand farewell ceremony. They made an artistic flower pattern to symbolize their gratitude to the city for sheltering them from the Nazis⁴⁷ Many refugees have remained indebted to China, always remembering the Chinese kindness they benefitted from during the hardest times. Helmut Stern was strongly attached to China. In October 1979, he revisited Harbin, the city he left 30 years ago, with a German chamber orchestra he formed for that special purpose. He finally realized his dream of returning to his second “homeland”.

In short, among the intellectual refugees during World War II, those who moved to the United Kingdom and Turkey were the luckiest. Although the United Kingdom later became the forefront of the Great War and implemented the wrong policy of internment on “enemy aliens” from Italy, Germany and Austria, the country had a higher level of education and science and keener eyes for talent. Therefore, when policy of internment was eliminated, intellectual refugees could still fulfil their talents. Turkey remained neutral during the war. Although its level of education and science was far below the United Kingdom, Turkey still showed positive attitudes to intellectual emigrants. The country had a strong desire to bring in and make use of foreign intellectuals, so it developed and implemented supportive policies towards intellectual refugees. As a result, it attracted a number of German intellectuals, but rejected ordinary refugees. Just like the United Kingdom, it took in a lot of intellectual wealth from Germany. On the contrary, as a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Canada implemented a weird policy: it preferred to receive manual labors rather than intellectuals. Therefore, intellectuals who fled to Canada or were deported by the United Kingdom under its policy of internment could rarely find any opportunity there. When the first intellectual refugees settled in Canada, their children went to schools in internment camps but have played a much bigger role in the development of the country than their parents. At that time, Switzerland was afraid of Nazi invasion which was an imminent threat, so it implemented strict policies towards Jewish refugees. Consequently, intellectual refugees meant little to the country’s science and culture. In Latin America, the first priority was to get the Jewish refugees to engage in agriculture, so intellectual refugees had no chance at all. China opened its door to Jewish refugees, but it didn’t benefit much from the arrival of a small number of intellectual refugees due to the gap between Eastern and Western cultures and the Japanese aggression.

In short, not all German-speaking intellectual refugees had exerted their influence on the development of culture and science in the host country. Whether they could exert their influence depended on not only these countries’ willing to accept refugees but also their policies towards refugees; it also depended on the security situation and the level of and commitment to education and science in the host countries. As a result, most German-speaking intellectual refugees flocked to the United States or Palestine after the war. The United States excelled all other countries in all the above aspects, whereas Palestine was the new homeland of Jewish refugees, the place where they wanted to realize their Zionist dream. The author didn’t list Palestine as a host country for Jewish refugees, because these Jewish refugees didn’t regard their immigration to Palestine as exile but it was going home for them.

(This is an excerpt from Kultur in der Emigration Studien uber die europaischen intellektuellen Emigrante by Li Gongzhen with some revisions.)