Ghetto Shanghai

After the Nazis took power, Heppner, a member of a privileged middle-class German Jewish family, suffered from constant anti-Semitism. But Kristallnacht, in November 1938, introduced a new level of Nazi horror: Heppner and his mother used the family’s resources to escape to Shanghai, the only city in the world that did not require a visa. Heppner was taken aback by experiences on the ocean liner that took him and other refugees to Shanghai: he was embarrassed and confounded when Egyptian Jews offered worn clothing to the Jewish passengers, he resented the edicts against Jewish passengers disembarking in any ports on the way, and he was unprepared for the poverty and cultural dislocation of the great city of Shanghai. But being self-reliant, energetic, and clever, Heppner found niches for his skills that enabled him to survive in a precarious fashion in Shanghai’s ghetto. In 1945, after the liberation of China, Heppner found a responsible position with the American forces in Nanjing. He and his wife, a fellow refugee he had met and married in Shanghai, arrived in the United States in 1947 with only eleven dollars but boundless hope and energy. “This inspiring memoir is a story of survival... The unique and traumatic experiences of tens of thousands of Jews who managed to escape for the ‘temporary’ haven of Shanghai are described with objectivity and clarity.” — Leonard H. D. Gordon, Shofar “The author describes in detail the sights and sounds of his adopted environment, the mingling of Jews and many nationalities, the choking stench and the humidity, the decadent, exotic underworld of criminals and beggars, the terror of air raids and Japanese guards, the rampant poverty and disease. The general tone, however, is positive, even inspiring, and behind all the experiences lurks a sense of adventure and simple good luck.” — Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter “A fascinating and moving memoir that begins with [Heppner’s] childhood in Nazi Germany and moves briskly from one compelling scene to the next.” — Forward “Ernest G. Heppner’s Shanghai Refuge fills in the fragments... of this little-known Jewish community... His story is an odd mixture of defiance, courage, endurance and survival. His experience [is] fascinating.” — Michael Berenbaum, Director, U.S. Holocaust Research Institute “An important addition to the historical record of World War II, an autobiography of a remarkable man’s formative years, and a testimony to the power of community and human perseverance.” — Indianapolis Star “Heppner’s descriptions... ring true and carry conviction, especially when he recalls in evocative detail his day-to-day experiences in Nazi Germany. Similarly, his recollection of Shanghai, with its small, telling details of privations, indignities, anxieties, and horrors make maximum impact—from the rat in the bakery that he lifted up by its tail to the carnage following an American air raid.” — Bernard Wasserstein, author ofThe Secret Lives of Trebitsch Lincoln

Memoirs of the author, born Eveline Popielarz, in 1930, in Breslau. She and her parents managed to leave Nazi Germany in February 1939 for Shanghai. In 1947 they settled in the USA. Pp. 11-69 describe their life in Nazi Germany. The author's father was interned in Buchenwald after the "Kristallnacht" pogrom in 1938, and only his being a World War I veteran got him out of the camp. Pp. 71-145 describe their life in Shanghai. Between 1943-45 the family was enclosed in the ghetto area of Hongkew in Japanese-occupied Shanghai.

The Tilanqiao neighborhood of the Hongkew district in Shanghai, China had become in the mid-1940s, as a result of European discrimination against the Jews, a Noah's ark for sheltering Jews and contained a large number of elite Jewish people from Central Europe, endowing it with cultural prestige. This illustrated collection of remembrances, and history of the neighborhood's contemporary reconstruction, puts the Shanghai Jewish experience into multiple perspectives. Due to its historical and cultural position, and its historic architectural style, the Hongkew Ghetto has been listed as one of twelve historical and cultural areas in Shanghaiâ "the smallest in geographical size yet holding an outsized historical legacy.

Shanghai, China is a strange place for a young Jewish girl from ViennaÉ But that is where Lily Toufar finds herself in 1938. She and her family have left their home to find safety far away from Europe, where Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party are making life unbearable for Jews. TheyÕve had to travel fast Ð Lily even had to leave behind most of her toys and books Ð but here she feels free from danger. Despite their hopes, it quickly turns out that all is not safe in Shanghai. Now that the area is controlled by Japan, whose leaders support Hitler, the local government orders Jewish refugees, including Lily and her family, to move into a ghetto in an area of the city called Hongkew. Once again Lily wonders what will happen next. Life changes for Lily and her family when they are forced to the over-crowded ghetto. There is little food to eat, and many people become sick. Lily remains hopeful, but when rumors begin to circulate that Jews may be in as much danger here as they were in Europe, she wonders if she will ever feel truly safe and at home again. Based on a true story.

This gripping historical novel is based on true stories. It has been longlisted for the 2022 Guernica Prize for Literary Fiction. The sweeping saga narrates a Jewish girl, Nina, goes through many wars by six mighty rivers in six countries. Nina is born by the Rhine River in Germany. She is only eight when the notorious Kristallnacht occurs on November 9, 1938. Immediately after, Nina escapes from Nazi Germany to London alone by British Kindertransport program, and lives near the Thames River in UK. Nina never knows she will struggle and grow up in the Shanghai ghetto by the Huangpu River in China during WWII. Nina can't imagine she will confront more deadly wars in Israel, US, and Canada. Even though she experiences the romance from her first love to faulty love, to true love all in extraordinary ways, does Nina survive those serious life or death challenges? Nina’s fascinating life coincides with some of the major historical events of the twentieth century, from WWII to the attack of 9/11. The Girl From Shanghai Ghetto is like a cinematic epic legend, which looks back at history and shows humanity’s glory that transcends hatred and pursues peace.

Unlike many Holocaust books, which deal primarily with the concentration camps, this book focuses on Jewish life before Jews lost their autonomy and fell totally under Nazi power. These essays concern various aspects of Jewish daily life and governance, such as the Judenrat, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, religious life, housing, death, smuggling, art, and the struggle for survival while under siege by the Nazi regime. Written by survivors of the ghettos throughout Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, this collection contains historical and cultural articles by prominent scholars, an essay on Holocaust theatre, and an article on teaching the Holocaust to students.