Shanghai: A Last refuge from the Holocaust

In the late 1930s, as Nazi persecution of Jews intensified, the Chinese port city of Shanghai unexpectedly became a vital haven for those fleeing Europe. Between 1938 and 1940, approximately 18,000 Jewish refugees sought sanctuary within its borders, finding a temporary escape from the horrors unfolding across the continent. The very possibility of reaching Shanghai offered a lifeline to thousands facing certain death.

This influx occurred against the backdrop of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1931-45), a period of immense hardship for China itself. The story of Shanghai’s role as a refuge, largely untold for decades, began to emerge through the memoirs of Jewish survivors and the dedicated research of individuals like Ho Manli, whose father, Dr. Ho Feng Shan, played a crucial role in facilitating the escape.

The catalyst for the refugee crisis was the Anschluss in March 1938, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. As Dr. Ho Feng Shan witnessed Hitler’s triumphant entry into Vienna, he documented the escalating violence and persecution of Austrian Jews in his memoir, Forty Years of My Diplomatic Life, stating, “Since the Anschluss, the persecution of the Jews by Hitler’s ‘devils’ became increasingly fierce.The fate of Austrian Jews was tragic, persecution a daily occurence.”

The Nazis implemented increasingly stringent bureaucratic measures to force Jewish emigration, including economic expropriation and deportation. Adolf Eichmann, later a key architect of the “Final Solution,” refined these methods in Vienna in 1938, establishing a system that would be replicated throughout Nazi-occupied territories.

Desperate to escape, Jews sought visas to countries willing to accept them. However, obtaining entry proved incredibly difficult. The United States demanded affidavits of financial sponsorship and had already met its Austrian quota.those hoping to emigrate to Palestine discovered that Britain, responding to pressure from Arab interests, had drastically reduced the quota for Jewish immigrants.

Dr. Ho Feng Shan, serving as Consul General at the Chinese legation in Vienna after the downgrading of diplomatic missions following the Anschluss, recognized the dire situation. He began issuing visas for life to Jewish refugees, defying bureaucratic constraints and risking his career to offer a path to safety. His actions, and the welcoming nature of Shanghai, transformed the city into a crucial, and often last, refuge from the Holocaust.