Shanghai Walks- Jewish Museum

After Eric read an article about a Jewish man telling the experience of his family during World War II when they fled the Nazis and came to Shanghai, we were both interested to learn more about this little piece of history. We learned that apparantly Shanghai did not require visas and had no quotas on the number of Jews that could come- unlike most other countries at the time. Between 1933 and 1941, over 30,000 Jewish refugees from Europe escaped to Shanghai.

We then discovered that there is a museum in Shanghai dedicated to telling their story. So of course, we set out to find it. It is in the Ohel Moshe Synagogue which was built while the Jews were staying here.


A really beautiful doorway leading into part of the museum.

Inside the synagogue.

This might be a little hard to see, but it is a Star of David with a chapter from Genesis etched in Chinese on it.

This man's name is Dr. Feng Shan Ho. He was the Chinese Consul General to Austria from 1938-1940. He was very instrumental in helping Jews go to Shanghai.

Eric and I like this drawing- it is a pair of elderly Jewish men walking in front of a Chinese temple in Shanghai.

These are some of the buildings the Jews lived in while in Shanghai. It was sometimes called 'Little Vienna.'


Here is a link if you want to read more. Ghosts of Shanghai