Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

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Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum
上海犹太难民纪念馆
Hongkou, Shanghai, 200082
Coordinates31°15′16″N 121°30′33″E / 31.254352°N 121.509196°E / 31.254352; 121.509196
Websitewww.shhkjrm.com
Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum
Hanyu Pinyin
Móxī Huìtáng

The Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum is a museum commemorating the Jewish refugees who lived in

Japanese occupation of Shanghai.[1]

Background

Main article: Shanghai Ghetto

The museum is situated in what was once the Jewish Quarter of Shanghai, which had had a Jewish community since the late 19th century, in

Hongkou District (formerly rendered as "Hongkew").[2][3]

After the 1937 Battle of Shanghai, Japan occupied the Chinese sections of Shanghai, but the foreign concessions—the Shanghai International Settlement and the Shanghai French Concession—were still under the control of the European powers.[3]

In the 1930s, Nazi Germany encouraged German and Austrian Jews to emigrate, but most countries closed their borders to them, Shanghai and the Dominican Republic being the only exceptions. 20,000 European Jews sought refuge in Shanghai, which did not require a visa to enter, the most of any city in the world.[3] The Ohel Moshe Synagogue was the primary place of worship for the Jewish refugees in Shanghai.[2]

Soon after Japan attacked

Communist Party in 1949, and almost all the Shanghai Jews emigrated by 1956.[3]

Ohel Moshe Synagogue

A closeup view of the synagogue

The Ohel Moshe congregation was established by Russian Jewish immigrants in Shanghai in 1907.[4] This Ashkenazi congregation was named after Moshe Greenberg, a member of the Russian Jewish community, and was first established in a rented space.[4] As the congregation grew to 250 families by the 1920s, Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi, Chief Rabbi of Shanghai, supported the creation of a new space for the congregation.[5] In 1927, the current structure was created by remodeling an existing three-story building in the Hongkou District, removing the second floor and adding a mezzanine.[2][4] The synagogue is situated on what was once Ward Road (now Changyang Road),[6] close to the Ward Road Gaol (now Tilanqiao Prison).

The synagogue was confiscated by the government after the communist takeover in 1949 and converted into a psychiatric hospital.[7] It was also used for office space.[8] It reopened in the 1990s.[9]

Ohel Moshe and Ohel Rachel are the only two Jewish temples of old Shanghai that still stand, out of the original six.[10] In 2004, the Ohel Moshe Synagogue was inscribed on the list of architectural heritage treasures of Shanghai.[1] In 2007, the Government of Hongkou District restored the synagogue to its original architectural style based on the original drawings in the municipal archives, and opened it as a museum commemorating the Jewish refugees.[1][8] Some of the residential buildings from the ghetto period still stand around the former synagogue, though most have been demolished. The museum itself, and the remaining historic structures, are preserved as part of the Tilanqiao Historic Area.[2]

Monument

In 2014 the museum unveiled a monument to the refugees, which includes more than 13,000 names and a memorial statue commemorating their experience. The memorial was designed by artist He Ning.[11]

Monument on display at the entrance to the museum, with Chinese flag.

Exhibits

A Jewish girl and her Chinese friends in the Shanghai Ghetto, from the collection of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

The Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum encompasses the Ohel Moshe Synagogue building, two additional exhibition halls, and a courtyard.

Torah scroll or prayer books, precluding its use for prayer services.[14]

The No. 2 Exhibition Hall, completed in 2007, displays more than 140 historical photographs and other artifacts including artworks, a refugee's passport, copies of the Shanghai Jewish Chronicle, and a stone tablet engraved with the words of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin during his visit to Shanghai. A documentary film about the refugees is also shown in the hall.[1] The No. 3 Exhibition Hall was completed in May 2008, and is used for temporary exhibits.[1]

In September 2014, a 34-metre (112 ft) long copper memorial wall was unveiled at the site, engraved with the names of 13,732 Jewish refugees harbored in China during World War II.[15][16]

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Overview". Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-11-26.
  2. ^ a b c d Hall, Casey (June 19, 2012), "Jewish Life in Shanghai's Ghetto", The New York Times, retrieved 2014-11-26
  3. ^ a b c d e f Griffiths, James (21 November 2013). "Shanghai's Forgotten Jewish Past". The Atlantic.
  4. ^ a b c Ember, Ember & Skoggard 2005, p. 157.
  5. ^ Falbaum 2005, p. 40.
  6. ^ Ristaino 2003, p. 67.
  7. ^ Peh-T'i Wei 1993, p. 58.
  8. ^ a b c "Shanghai remembers its Jewish past". JewishGen. 12 June 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  9. Christian Science Monitor
    . Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  10. ^ "Shanghai's Jews celebrate historic synagogue reopening". CNN. July 30, 2010.
  11. New York Times
    . September 3, 2014.
  12. ^ "An Introduction to Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum". Hongkou Shanghai. 2006. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  13. ^ Falbaum 2005, p. 44.
  14. ^ Keinon, Herb (7 May 2013). "PM tours Shanghai Jewish refugee museum". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  15. ^ "Jewish refugee list unveils bond with Shanghai 'safe haven'". Daily Times. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  16. ^ Jewish Telegraphic Agency (3 September 2014). "Shanghai museum unveils memorial to Jewish refugees". Haaretz. Retrieved 7 December 2014.

Sources

External links

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