"Chinese Schindler" Honored at Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum
In 1938, when no one else in Vienna would issue visas to fleeing Jews, this Chinese diplomat defied orders and saved many of the city's Jews.
(Shanghai, China)—Shanghai's Jewish history is being spotlighted this year as the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum honors the late Ho Fengshan, the "Chinese Schindler."
Ho Fengshan was a Chinese diplomat in Vienna who, at his own peril, issued thousands of visas to Austrian Jews. Even when he was directed to cease issuing the visas, he continued to do so in defiance of the order, issuing visas from a smaller facility for which he paid all the expenses himself. (Photo: Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum)
According to JTA News, after Austria's annexation by Germany in 1938, many of its 185,000 Jews needed safe passage out of Europe. One Jewish man recalled visiting 50 foreign consulates in Vienna before obtaining 20 Chinese visas for himself and his family from Ho.
The report states Ho's heroism was unrecognized during his lifetime, but in 2001 he was named "Righteous Among the Nations" by the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.
In June, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution honoring Ho.
At the Shanghai ceremony, Martin Gold, a member of the U.S. preservation commission, praised Ho by pointing out that 70 years ago most nations, "including my nation, rebuffed the Jews." He added that all the Jewish recipients of Chinese visas lived, with many eventually settling in America.
"Dr. Ho's life was itself a bridge between China and America," said Gold. "No relationship in the world is more important."
