Jewish Quarter of Shanghai

I belong to an expatriate organization called Brits Abroad (there is no equivalent for Canadian women, and I am still thinking about membership with the American women) which has all sorts of activities and opportunities to meet people and make Shanghai home. Once per month, one of the members organizes a walk through one of the sections of Shanghai. The walk for June was through the old Jewish quarter. Since it is quite a ways from here, and therefore not on my normal path, and because it was actually quite a significant area in the history of Shanghai, I signed up with enthusiasm.


In order to get a sense of the area, we walked the perimeter of the old district. As we went along, our guide pointed out famous landmarks of bakeries, residences and other businesses that were owned and run by Jewish people. It is said that the area resembled some parts of European cities (it was called Little Vienna). There is certainly no sign of this now. The area has a jail (which was there in the original British concession), and lots of Chinese businesses and apartments. In fact, with the exception of the synagogue (which is now a museum) and the odd architectural detail ( see the stylized Star of David found on an apartment door- which I photographed and included for you), it looks pretty much like many of the other neighborhoods in this city.



The Shanghai ghetto was an area of approximately one square mile in the Hongkou District of Japanese-occupied Shanghai, where about 20,000 Jewish refugees[1] lived during World War II, having fled from Nazi Germany, Austria, Poland and Lithuania.
The International Settlement of Shanghai was established by the Treaty of Nanking. Police, jurisdiction and passport control was implemented by the foreign autonomous board. As a result of the Battle of Shanghai in 1937, the city was occupied by Imperial Japan. Under this regime, the port of Shanghai was the only place in the world that allowed entry with neither a visa nor a passport. This therefore made it a perfect refuge for Jews who needed to leave Europe quickly and without documents.


Historically, there were three separate groups of Jews who came to live in Shanghai. The first wave,the Sephardic wave, arrived from from Baghdad, Spain, Portugal and India in and around 1844. These wealthy Jews only numbered about 700 (at least according to a census around 1920). Known for their business and trading skills, they set up a number of important businesses in the city. Some of the notable families included the Sassoons, Hardouns and Kadoories.

The second group of Jews in Shanghai were those mainly from Russia. In 1906, Russia instituted pogroms to rid themselves of their Jewish population. Many Jews escaped from Russia to China mostly the northern part. The kidnapping of the son of a rich Jewish business man in the 1930's emphasized the growing problems with that area, and many Jews left for Shanghai. Until 1939, the Russian Jews numbered about 5,000 in Shanghai. Most of the members of this community mainly worked in restaurants, coffee houses, bread houses, fashion shops and book shops. They were also engineers, lawyers or musicians.

The third group can be identified as 'Ashkenasim'. They came from Germany, Austria, Poland and other European countries from 1933 to 1941, when Hitler came to power. They were about 20,000 people. They came in three waves. Several thousand came in the first wave from 1933 to 1934. Many were doctors, musicians and professors and all had come without the frantic urgency of the later arrivals, and so they brought more with them. They were able to start small enterprises, and actively participate in the art and professional communities of the city. The second wave was from August 1938 to August 1939 when 10,000 Jews came mainly from Austria and Germany. They left very quickly after 'Crystal Night.' The last wave occurred in 1939 when a few thousand Jews escaped from Poland when Germany attacked. The Jews who came from the last two high tide mainly lived in comparatively poor place - 'Hongkou' district.

On February 18, 1943, the Japanese authorities declared a "Designated Area for Stateless Refugees", ordering those who arrived after 1937 to move their residences and businesses into the one-square-mile area within three months, by May 15. The stateless refugees needed permission from the Japanese to dispose of their property; others needed permission to move into the ghetto. While the ghetto had no barbed wire or walls, a curfew was enforced, the area was patrolled, food was rationed, and everyone needed passes to enter or leave the ghetto. Despite being confined to a ghetto, they opened schools, organised playing teams, built up the moving library and they even started the band and football teams. It is worthwhile to mention that even under such hard conditions, the Jews unexpectedly published tens of newspapers and magazines.

In the following three months, about 1,000 Jewish families handed over 811 apartments, totalling 2,766 rooms which were owned by Jews. 307 enterprises were forced to close. All those Jews moved into the 'insulation area which measured less that 2 square kilometers, and the houses there were small and dirty. Their living condition deteriorated rapidly. Some even had to go begging on the street. Some went to work in Chinese mills. There were women registered for prostitution. The 'insulation area' lasted for 561 days. During W.W.II, there were 20,000 Jews exiled to Shanghai from Germany, Austria, Poland and few from Czechoslovakia and Hungary, plus earlier Sephardim Jews and Russian Jews, totalling 31,000 Jews lived in Shanghai.

The ghetto was officially liberated on September 3, 1945, after some delay to allow Chiang Kai-shek's army to take political credit for the liberation of Shanghai. After W.W.II, the doors opened again for the Jews in the Middle East and Europe. The Jews who lived in Shanghai started to leave Shanghai for Israel, USA, Canada, Australia and other countries. Until 1948, there were about 10,000 Jews still living in Shanghai. Since October 1949, the Chinese government started sending back the Jews to return to their hometown. In 1957, there were about only 100 Jews left in Shanghai. During the 10 years of cultural Revolution - the great disaster, they went away silently. In 1976, there were only about 10 Jews in Shanghai. The last Jewish old lady who was married to a Chinese, died in 1982. Hence, the 138 years' history of Jewish community in Shanghai closed.

Here is an interesting anecdote that might provide an insight as to why the Japanese ever thought to actively create a refuge for Jews. It is a bit odd that they protected them, so I tend to like this story as an explanation- nothing else I have ever read would suggest that they were sympathetic to the Jewish cause:
Warren Kozak describes the episode when the Japanese military governor of the city sent for the Jewish community leaders. The delegation included Amshinover rabbi Shimon Kalish. The Japanese governor was curious: "Why do the Germans hate you so much?"
"Without hesitation and knowing the fate of his community hung on his answer, Reb Kalish told the translator (in Yiddish): "Tell him the Germans hate us because we are Oriental." The governor, whose face had been stern throughout the confrontation, broke into a slight smile. In spite of the military alliance, he did not accede to the German demand and the Shanghai Jews were never handed over."

If you have a spare ten minutes in your day, have a look at this video. It is made by a quirky but interesting jewish young woman who is living in Beijing. She tells the story of her dad who was one of the jewish people in Shanghai. Please note that she has shamelessly copied the opening video moments from episodes of Sex and the City, but that this does not make the story any less interesting.