Editor's Note: During the World War II, more than 30,000 Jews, under attack by the Nazis in Europe, fled to Shanghai, China and 16,000 of them took refugee in this city. Meanwhile, the local Shanghai people were also in an abyss of pain inflicted by the Japanese invasion.  Though the time was difficult, gratitude and mutual friendship lived on in the heart of the Jewish and Chinese people. The Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum and Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) launched a initiative early this year to present those touching stories in Chinese, English, German and Hebrew. This is one of the selected stories in the project to commemorate the history of Jews in Shanghai.

hun Bao, a leading Chinese newspaper, had paid close attention to the influx and the subsequent life of the Jewish refugees. Their stories, as the newspaper reported, were full of tears and toil.

In 1938, Germany and Austria were totally controlled by the Nazis, which meant an unprecedented disaster for the Jewish citizens. After WWII broke out, Nazi Germany invaded almost every country in Europe, spreading the disaster to Jews in many other countries and forcing them to take another exodus. As the most influential Chinese newspaper, Shun Bao followed up closely with their living conditions in their new haven, Shanghai.

Shun Bao especially made a list of the ships from Germany, Austria and Italy that took the Jewish refugees to Shanghai. There were “Noah’s Arks” bearing the hope of all Jews. On the Shun Bao issues published in 1938, there were also quite a lot of reports about the living conditions of the refugees, and the reports mostly appeared on the front page, indicating a close attention in the local community. In 1938, after the master orator and propagandist Joseph Goebbels spread the rumor about Jewish merchants, the Nazi German government took over the business of all German Jews by force. In May, the Nazis looted hotels in Berlin and arrested 335 people in which 317 were Jews, and a second movement took place within a month with more Jews arrested. The arrested Jews were sent to the police and tortured. Very soon, however, Shun Bao got all the figures and published them. Even though there were no comments, the newspaper showed a strong sympathy for the Jews in Nazi Germany.

Shun Bao had depended on foreign sources, of course, but it became a “News Eye” in China looking closely at the Holocaust in Germany. From 1938 to 1939, Shun Bao truthfully presented the persecutions of Jews in Europe, their flee and their life after arrival in Shanghai.

An article published in 1939 gave a detailed description of the influx of Jews from Germany and Austria. According to the article, after WWII broke out in 1939, 1,500 Jewish refugees arrived in Shanghai within a couple of months, and three organizations of the Jewish community offered them badly needed relief including food and lodging. 

The title of the article indicated that the Jewish refugees had intended only a short stay in China. But the subsequent arrival of more Jewish refugees complicated the problem. First, the number was running out of control. As the article mentioned, altogether 450 refugees had arrived, and it was expected that an American ship would bring 300 more in a few days, another ship from Italy would bring another 600, and yet some other ships from German and Italy was expected to arrive soon with hundreds of new refugees. At the same time, 12 ships were departing from ports in Europe and 2 of them carried 1,300 German Jews.

The second problem was the spread of diseases. The long journey in wet and hot confined cabins was causing quite a few diseases. According to a report on Shun Bao, a ship carrying 450 passengers arrived and many of them were stricken with scarlet fever. The sick refugees were taken to a hospital on Chaofoong Road (now Gaoyang Road). Another report said the number was 75, and other patients were also coming from refugee shelters in Hongkou, and most of them were adults. As the disease was infectious, a charity performance was cancelled. As the number of Jewish refugees arriving in Shanghai was reaching 4,000, the relief organizations were very troubled. They must try to accommodate them and check the spread of disease.

As a local newspaper, Shun Bao had shown apparent concern for the Jewish refugees, which was a proof that the Chinese people could very well understand the sufferings of the Jewish refugees and would like to share their fate.