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October 2001 - August 2002 |
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| Jewish Refugees from Central
Europe
“How can you take your children to the
wilderness of China?”
1938 was the point of no return for the Jews of Central Europe. Only half of Germany’s 500,000 Jews had left after five years of Nazi rule. In March the Nazis annexed Austria, bringing another 200,000 Jews under their control. After Kristallnacht on 9 November, and the accompanying pogrom, the Jews of Germany and Austria became desperate. Some were arrested, some sent to concentration camps, but most were frantically seeking permits to emigrate. Yet the doors of the world were largely closed. Even Palestine, the promised Jewish Homeland, was almost impossible to enter because of British restrictions. Where were they to go? One of the few possibilities was Shanghai. No visa was required and a trickle of refugees had already found haven there. By 1941, 18,000 Central European refugees would reach Shanghai overland or by sea. Polish Jewish Refugees “Even a hunter cannot kill a bird
that flies to him for refuge.”
Polish Jews arrived in Shanghai in 1941 via a circuitous route. When Germany invaded western Poland in 1939, 300,000 Jews escaped into Soviet-occupied east Poland. Tens of thousands made their way north to Vilna in still-independent Lithuania. There they found short-term sanctuary. Fearing persecution after the Soviet takeover of Lithuania in1940, they again had to flee. Few countries would take them in and permits to leave were difficult to obtain. The Dutch Honorary Consul, Jan Zwartendijk, and the Japanese Consul, Chiune Sugihara, made courageous decisions. One provided permits to Dutch Curacao, the other transit visas via Japan, enabling refugees to cross the USSR from Lithuania to Kobe in Japan. About 4,000 people benefited from their boldness. In 1941, over 1,000 Polish Jews – unable to go elsewhere - were expelled by the Japanese to Shanghai, before Pearl Harbor. |
| Object:
Lender: Notes: |
Apothecary
scales Gunsberger, F & R Metal & horn From Vienna; weighed colours for margarine in Shanghai |
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| Object: Lender: Notes: |
Apothecary
weights Gunsberger, F & R Wood; metal From Vienna |
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Certificate (exit visa) Sapir, P (SJM) 1939-40 Paper Lithuania, Sugihara |
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ID card Jellineck, G 1944 Paper From Vienna; 'J' pass stamped over it; with fingerprints |
No image
available
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Letterhead of Fritz Gunsberger Chemiker
Gunsberger, F & R Paper From Vienna; took them to Shanghai as evidence to get work in Shanghai |
No image
available
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Menu from SS Scharnhorst Nash, P 1939 Paper Travelled first class |
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Oskar Kokoschka Portrait of George Pisk
Pisk, G Framed |
No image
available
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Passport from Germany Pisk, G 1939 Paper Passports for his parents |
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Postcard Sapir, P (SJM) Paper From father to, Jakob in Lithuania; censored by Nazis |
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Postcard Sapir, P (SJM) Paper From father to, Jakob in Lithuania; censored by Nazis |
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Release certificate Marish, G Paper Allowed Ernst Maehrischl to exit the Buchenwald concentration camp |
No image
available
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Train tickets Nash, P 1939 Paper Shanghai |
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