介绍:
In 1951, American singer Frankie Laine, one of the most classical voices in the pre-rock'n'roll period, recorded a song titled "Rose, Rose, I Love You". Once released, this lovely, catchy ditty reached number 3 on the Billboard magazine music charts.
When you are drunk on its bright swing tone and Mr Rhythm's manly baritone, it is easy to believe that the song is as American as apple pie. Yet according to Pu Zukang, a veteran journalist based in Shanghai, this oldie is actually Chinese by birth.
"The song was originally written by a Shanghai composer named Chen Gexin. He wrote many pieces in the 1930s. Around that time, there were many Jewish refugees seeking asylum in Shanghai. Some of them were world-class musicians. One of them once caught Chen humming 'Rose, Rose, I Love You' and then recomposed the song, which makes it more acceptable to western ears. Nowadays, this melody is well-known among foreigners, particularly Austrians. Its popularity should attribute to those Jewish refugees in Shanghai."
Since the early 1930s, fuelled by Hitler's anti-Semitic ideas, Germany started to impose segregation and racial hatred against its Jewish population, as the scapegoat for all the "misfortunes" befallen on the country.
In 1938, the expulsion and violence against Jewish people reached new high. The Nazis used the assassination of a German diplomat as an excuse to intensify their persecution. All over Europe, Jewish citizenships were revoked. Stripped of their identities and properties, hundreds of thousands of stateless Jews were either forced into exile or put into concentration camps.
Under the Nazi policy of that time, there was only one way out: getting a foreign visa and looking for a new home.
However, just like American congressperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz once said, it was nearly impossible for Jewish immigrants to find a welcoming destination in the late 1930s, when the whole world was under the threat of looming war and economic crisis.
"During the Holocaust and the years when Jews were fleeing prosecution in Eastern Europe, nations were closing their doors, sadly, including this one. And the people of China and Shanghai specifically did the opposite. They opened their doors. "
Though not ideal, Shanghai was one of few available options for desperate refugees. Half a world away from the dire terror of Europe, the city was a blend of east and west. In the mid-19th century, this once minor port was forced to open to westerners under the Treaty of Nanjing. Thus many territorial concessions were built, which were solely run by western powers. In 1937, Imperial Japan invaded China and occupied Shanghai. Since then, the city became a no man's land. For the next two years, no certificate was required for entry.
In a way, visa-free Shanghai became the Noah's Ark in the Orient.
Pu Zukang, the executive editor-in-chief of the book series, Jewish Refugees in Shanghai, elaborates.
"When Hitler staged the Holocaust, the Chinese were the first to react. Intellectuals such as Madam Soong Ching-ling, Lu Xun, and Lin Yutang came to the German Consulate General in Shanghai to protest against the atrocities against the Jewish people. Their act didn't take hold but their endeavour was proved by history. Dr Ho Feng-shan, the then Chinese Consul General to Vienna, also issued visas to thousands of stranded Jews. Around that time, there were roughly 30 thousand Jewish people landed in Shanghai. Nearly 20 thousand of them sought asylums in Hongkew District."
However, life in Shanghai wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.
"Germans exerted pressures onto the Japanese. (They wanted to eradicate Jews in Shanghai). So the Japanese authority set up a restricted sector as a compromise. The ghetto was a mix of Jewish refugees and local Chinese. The living conditions there were really bad. Chinese residents were having a tough time as well. But they supported each other through the time of difficulty. Both Chinese and Jewish shared each other's joy as well as woe. Many heart-warming stories of this neighbourhood remained untold."
Thanks to the meticulous, transcontinental investigations conducted by Pu and his fellow journalists, over a hundred soul-stirring tales finally dust off the cobwebs of history and are collected in the book, "Jewish Refugees in Shanghai". Embedding themselves into these long-gone memories, readers seem to be able to travel back through time and empathize with those displaced families.
Fresh off the boat, people were shocked. Chaya Small was only seven when she came to Shanghai with her Rabbi father in 1941. In the book, she recalled:"Life was hard in the ghetto…there were 40 people in the building sharing one toilet. Food was scarce and disease was rampant there. People fell dead on the street from time to time. There were also thousands of homeless Chinese in Hongkew fleeing the Japanese raids."
Yet thanks to the assistance of the Russian and Sephardic Jews who settled in China much earlier, refugees managed to survive in this strange land, despite the language barrier. The Mosberg family from Austria opened a White Horse Inn, which later became the spiritual sanctuary of many homesick Jews. Others started their own business in the neighbourhood. In the 1940s, the area in Hongkou, where Jewish people took shelter, was called Little Vienna or Heime, which means "homes" in German.
As Holocaust historian Dr David Kranzler once described in one of his interviews, within the Jewry's greatest tragedy, Shanghai was a miracle, a rare bright spot in that dark era. Flipping through the pages, we get to know David Bloch, a deaf-mute Jewish painter who found true love in Shanghai and married a local girl. Then we experience the unusual friendship between young Vera and her Shanghainese neighbours. Afterwards, we become acquainted with the Lin family and learn how three generations have kept their promise and taken care of two thousand books left by a Jewish principle. Last but not least, we look back on the fond childhood memory of the famous American artist Peter Max, who was taught by his Chinese nanny to draw.
Yet for survivors, there are much more to tell.
"I served an apprenticeship as a mechanic and I was working with Chinese workmen. They were great friends. There was no anti-Semitism. It was very harmonious relationship. It was wonderful. They saved our lives."
"Every time I go back, I feel like I am coming home. Because I grew up there, I learnt English there, I went school there, I worked over there and I met my husband there. It was my home."
"I always tell my grandchildren in New York where I live for the last sixty years, that if it wouldn't have been Shanghai and the Chinese people, I would not be here and neither were they. I will not forget my eight years in Shanghai and will be always grateful to Shanghai and Chinese people."
"I lived in Shanghai for eight years during the Second World War and the Chinese people were wonderful to us. I will never forget them, never! Poor and rich, the Chinese people, till the very end when we were able to leave Shanghai, they were always there for us."
In 2015, "Jewish Refugees in Shanghai", a five-volume book that recounts those Jewish refugees' experiences was published. One year later, a compact edition got translated into three other languages, including English, Hebrew and German.
Michal Schwartz is the Director of Culture, Academic and Provincial Affairs from the Embassy of Israel in China.
"I think what the Chinese people did for the Jewish people should be remembered, not just for the past, but also for the future. I think it's important that not for Chinese people or Jewish people, but for the whole world to see the human kindness that can happen in those dark times. I think we have something very important to learn from it."
Elie Wiesel, winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize and the Holocaust survivor, once said: "The past is in the present, but the future is still in our hands." Life could be shattered and events may slip from memories, but Shanghai, this once harbour for tens of thousands of homeless Jews, will remain a valid record of struggle, resilience and human spirit in our history.
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