Digital Studies of The Holocaust
This collaborative research project aims to introduce the process of data analysis to Holocaust studies to create new ways of seeing and remembering the Holocaust.
Holocaust Victims on the Periphery:
The Jewish Refugees Who Perished in Shanghai
By Yannis Soonjung Kwon, Undergraduate Research Apprentice
posted April 29, 2024
During the earlier years of World War II, individuals rapidly moved across Europe in search of refuge in Western Europe and beyond the continent. Major European port cities emerged as pivotal locations which facilitated the departure of thousands of refugees. In the far East, Shanghai, China, opened its docks for arriving Jewish refugees to find sanctuary. The effort to transport thousands of refugees to Shanghai was notably supported by Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese vice-consul in Lithuania, and Ho Feng Shan, a Chinese diplomat stationed in Vienna. Shanghai had already been under Japanese occupation since 1937, but it boasted cosmopolitan autonomous trade districts under French, British, and American influence, which fostered an environment generally tolerant of immigrants. By 1939, approximately 4,000 Russian Jews who had fled from Lenin’s regime in 1917 had established a thriving community in Shanghai, and a group of Iraqi and Sephardic Jews in the British districts are also known to have been well adjusted to a re-settled life in Shanghai.
Estimates suggest that around 20,000 Jewish refugees found sanctuary in Shanghai—with the majority, 17,000, being German and Austrian Jews, 2,100 Polish Jews, and the remaining individuals coming from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia. As the data indicates, however, Shanghai also housed Jewish refugees from Italy, Turkey, and British Malaya. While the majority of refugees survived the war and subsequently resettled in the United States or Israel, this cause study is concerned with 1,476 refugees who perished in Shanghai during the years of WWII.
In their journey to re-settle in a safer place, the refugees listed in this study departed mainly from Genoa, Venice, or Naples on voyages that could span up to four weeks. Survivors recall that refugees came from all economic backgrounds, and by the time that these ships departed, many of the men seeking refuge had already been interned at Dachau for brief sentences. Jews from middle- and upper-class backgrounds especially struggled with the new conditions in Shanghai even before ghettoization in 1942, but the conditions in Shanghai would far surpass the conditions that would characterize the ghettos in Europe.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 marked a turning point in the war and an exacerbation of Shanghai’s overcrowding and scarcity. As American resources were directed toward the war effort and American-Jewish charity and aid organizations lost access to occupied Shanghai, the resettled Jewish communities lost a significant flow of funds, medical supplies, and food. In early 1942, Japanese authorities responded to the escalation of the war by imposing strict security measures and concentrating the Jewish refugees to the Hongkew District, known commonly as the “Shanghai Ghetto.” Within the new confines of their designated area, refugees suffered from not only overcrowding and vulnerability to infectious diseases, but also from reduced access to food, employment, and medical attention. Despite these adversities, Chinese neighbors are remembered to have extended kindness to the Jewish refugees, and the pre-existing Russian Jewish community provided further support by establishing and maintaining communal kitchens and shared facilities for laundry and cleaning.
Deaths by viral, bacterial, or fungal infections were recurrent during the war years. Still, there is a notable increase following the establishment of the ghetto in 1942 with fatalities most prevalent during the late summer and early autumn months. Individuals under the age of 19, faced heightened vulnerability to infection or contamination-related deaths; however, this demographic was also the least vulnerable to malnutrition-related deaths or deaths described as general weakness, likely due to parents’ efforts to sustain their children’s lives at the expense of their own.
Within the recorded deaths at Shanghai, Men over the age of 40 were the most represented demographic, accounting for over 80%. Though most recorded deaths stemmed from health issues caused by living conditions, many people arrived in Shanghai with chronic pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, chronic heart disease, or cancer. Without proper medical attention available in Shanghai, they eventually perished. It is of note that there are relatively few war-related deaths recorded in this dataset and those that happened in conjunction with a single air raid launched by American forces on July 17, 1945. Suicides, however, were recurrent from 1939–1945 without distinct trends related to the year, though some cases indicate personal reasons. The suicides of Elise and Paul Krebs provide one example of this as they committed suicide together on January 19, 1942. From the evidence found in the dataset and the history of this community, we know that they endured the death of their child on October 20, 1940 as well as the displacement which came from forced ghettoization in 1942.
Refugees in Shanghai made consistent efforts to preserve a sense of normalcy by establishing synagogues, community institutions, and seeking employment. Though they evaded the horrors unfolding in Europe, the individuals who perished in Shanghai can still be counted among the Holocaust’s victims as their deaths came because of their involuntary displacement and forced confinement which resulted in starvation, disease, and limited access to medical attention.
[1] Wood, Philip. “Boredom and Excitement at Sea: Jewish Refugees’ Experiences on Shanghai-bound Ships,” USC Shoah Foundation.
[2] “Polish Jewish Refugees in the Shanghai Ghetto, 1941–1945,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
[3] Avraham Altman and Irene Eber. “Flight to Shanghai, 1938–1940: The Larger Setting,” Yad Vashem.
[4] McGreevy, Nora. “Europe’s Jews Found Refuge in Shanghai,” Smithsonian Magazine.
[5] “Lists concerning Jewish nationals who died and were buried in Shanghai during 1939–1948. Name, first name, date of birth, date and cause of death are given,” Compiled by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Digitized for the Arolsen Archives.
[6] “Translation of Cause of Death’ Field in the Łódź Ghetto Hospital Death Records,” Jewish Gen, The Museum of Jewish Heritage.