Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1994-07-21

              'THF
Ohio Hist.Society Li.br
198^ Velma Ave*.
Columbus, Ohio,
t\ 3 211
^(y:""Sennw„'Cotumbtt$ aiy& the Central Ohio'
..-,' «*' "-     Jewish Community since 1882, j
VOLUME 72
NUMBER 29
Senate Meats measure
restricting troops to Golan
page 2
Goldman's family turns
to community for comfort
Mezznzali ceremony at
lexley Heritage Apartments
-•/1\,yT,    „'.,''     > »    page5-
laocal cantor is quoted
in* Jernsaleii Post'article
■>; *. *:   - *■  ■ -       '•  -Page 6'
ft Garlikov, H. Lehv to chair
?E^stijition continning
:|or|lJGC AMt MM-School
;}g>"A.a©OT
,5ii^oitie,of,the78^500 refugees in Shanghai, circa,
. li>41? were fed twice daily through funds provided
*\0& mC Photo from JfoC Archives.
.jTjiar 21,1994
13 AV 5754
FEATURE
Shanghai — A shelter for Jews fleeing the Holocaust
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Over half a century ago,
when many countries were
closing their doors to Jewish
refugees fleeing the Holocaust,
Ellen Lewis came to the exotic
refuge ofShanghaj, the only
city in the world that 'did' not
require apassport. This Chinese port city becameajbaven
to Iiewis arid to 30,000'other
European 'Jews, seeking an es-
. cape -from -Nazi persecution.
The first European refugees
arrived in Shanghai in March
of 1938 from Austria, after, the
Anchluss, when Austria was
annexed by Germany. These
new arrivals had been warmly
welcomed and accepted by the
Chinese. In 1938, the Committee for the Assistance of
European Jewish Refugees in
Shanghai (CAEJF),chaired by
Michael Speelman and the :
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) assisted the refugees.
Lewis, who arrived in
Shanghai with her parents in
1939, still has the two Army/
Navy blankets that JDC gave
her and her late husband on
their way to the United States
in 1947. "Over the years, as
one usually does, we have given away clothing and other
items. But we never parted
with these blankets. ... the
blankets still represent security and caring," she said.
Lewis, a resident of New
York City, noted that JDC
provided a daily meal and sent
food to Shanghai during the
holidays, especially Passover.
Lewis added that she still uses
Manischewitz matzah today,
the same brand that JDC sent
her over 50 years ago. "JDC
lent a sense of security to the
people in Shanghai. There was
always the Joint to run to if
things got really rough and it
was the Joint who kept us
alive," said Lewis.
Indianapolis resident Ernest
Heppner, author of Shanghai
Refuge: A Memoir of the
World War, If Jewish Ghetto,
arrived in Shanghai in March
of 1939 with only 80 cents in
his pocket. He and his mother
left Germany to escape Nazi
persecution, via Italy, on the
Potsdam ocean liner. Hep-
pneir's father and sister stayed
behind in Breslau.
After arriving in Shanghai,
all new arrivals were brought
to emergency shelters and issued a blanket and bedsheets,
a tin dish, a cup, and a spoon,
said Heppner in a recent interview. "Nothing demonstrated
more clearly the drastic
change that had taken place in
our lives than the sight of us
dressed in our good heavy European clothing, the women
still wearing fashionable hats -
and gloves, waiting in line
with tin pots in hand for our
next meal," he said. Heppner
and his mother only stayed in
the shelter, called the Embankment building, for two
weeks. They later rented a
room in a house located in the
north end of Hongkew.
Life in Shanghai was hard
for the refugees, especially the
elderly who had a difficult
time adjusting to the new surroundings. However, young
people were active in various
Jewish groups such as the Ha-
verim youth group the Thirteenth Rovers of the British
Boy Scout Association, to.
which Heppner belonged.
The refugees consistently
tried to maintain normal lifestyles, Lewis added. The Jewish community frequented coffee houses, restaurants, theaters
and dances, she recalled. The
community also established a
Jewish Police Force and several Jewish schools, she said.
According to Heppner, in
1938 the Jewish Communal
Association, or Judisch Ge-
meinde, was formed and succeeded in establishing an organization of persons elected to
represent the interests ofthe
Jewish community, providing
for the religious and secular
needs of the Orthodox, Conservative and liberal. "Later it
was expanded to provide basic
Jewish educational services,
and most important, a legal
department that operated an
arbitration court," he noted.
Heppner added that since the
legal requirements for a mar-y
riagei ceremony; according' to'
Chinese law did not correspond
to Jewish law, "the Judisch Ge-
meinde also provided its
members with a civil ceremony as required by Chinese civil
code, performed by one of its
lawyers, and a religious ceremony performed by a rabbi."
About 18,000 Jews from
Central Europe came to Shanghai between 1938 and 1941.
The community needed to be
organized, and their needs had
to be met. As food and employment grew Scarce and difficulties surfaced with the local Jewish leadership, Heppner noted that in May 1941,
"JDC sent one of its most capable staff, members, Laura
Margolis, to assist the American consulate in Shanghai and
try to speed up applications
for immigration to the United
States." Margolis was also responsible for investigating refugee complaints and reporting
on the general situation. A second JDC representative, Manuel Siegel, joined Margolis
on the eve of Pearl Harbor.
Under the Japanese occupation Margolis and Siegel were
classified as enemy aliens.
They were permitted to remain free until February 1943
when they were interned and
sent to a POW camp. By then,
they had succeeded in organizing a system of emergency relief and had found locally the
heavy equipment essential to
running steam kitchens capable of feeding 10,000 people
per day. These kitchens kept
the refugees alive for the duration of the war. "There is no
doubt in my mind that without the professionalism, the
dedication, the persistence,
and the nerve — the chutzpa
— displayed by Laura Margolis, thousands of refugees would
have slowly starved to death,"
stressed Heppner. Margolis
was repatriated in September
1943, but Siegal was not freed
until V-J Day, in August 1945.
"According to"Heppner, at
the end of 1952 about 570
people remained in Shanghai,
those who were ill or had no
one to care for them. Their
care was made possible by
JDC, which also assisted the
last member ofthe European
Jewish community of Shanghai, who passed away in 1982.
"We must not forget that
while in Europe, when the
lights were turned off and the
gates to shelters were slammed
shut one after the other, said
Ambassador Milton A. Wolf,
President ofthe JDC, "Shanghai was an oasis of tolerance to
the needs of Jews fleeing the
Holocaust."
Editor's Note: Activities of
the JDC are funded by the regular campaigns ofthe United
Jewish Appeal and federations throughout the United
States, including the Columbus Jewish Federation.
Israel offers aid
NEW YORK (JTA) — Israel has informed the United
Nations that it is ready to offi?r
medical aid to Victims ofthe
strife in Rwanda.
This assistance would be in
addition to the food and medicine Israel has already sent.
For some months now, Israel has been discussing with
U.N. officials the possibility
of sending a mobile medical
unit to assist U.N. efforts in
Africa. This is part of Israel's
attempts to integrate itself
fully within United Nations
activities, following the decline of anti-Israel rhetoric at
the world body.
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