On August 1, the themed exhibition "Shanghai, Former Homeland - Jewish Refugees and Shanghai" opened in New York, United States. This exhibition is sponsored by the Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Shanghai Fosun Public Welfare Foundation, undertaken by the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, and supported by the Chinese Consulate General in New York, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Information Office, and the Hongkou District People's Government. More than 200 people from the Jewish community, business, financial, academic, cultural, and overseas Chinese representatives in the United States participated in the event.
The exhibition is the first overseas tour of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum after its expansion and opening in 2020, and all the items displayed are from its new furnishings. Detailed historical materials will once again present to the American people the history of Jewish refugees and the Chinese people living together and overcoming difficulties. Many former Jewish refugees and their descendants visited the scene and told the attending representatives about the past that happened in Hongkou, Shanghai.
Huang Ping, Consul General of the Chinese Consulate General in New York, attended the event and said that the Chinese people have a willingness to help others. The story of the Jewish people in Shanghai and their interaction with the Chinese people should be made known to more people. We need more people to stand up and work hard to build a community with a shared future for mankind, to carry forward the glory of human nature, and to push the relationship between China and the United States back to a healthy and correct track.
At the opening ceremony, American Jewish religious leader Rabbi Arthur Schneier delivered a deeply emotional speech, recounting his personal experience as a Holocaust survivor and speaking as a Jewish community leader about the shelter provided by Shanghai to Jews during the Holocaust. At the same time, he emphasized the important role of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum in preserving the public's important lessons and memories of World War II.
The representative of New York Mayor Adams brought a certificate of honor and expressed great appreciation for the exhibition presented at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. It reads, "By commemorating the victims of the Holocaust and sharing the stories of survivors, this excellent institution promotes communication, advocates tolerance, and inspires hope for the future. I pay tribute to all who brought such a captivating exhibition to New York, an international metropolis. Let us work together to create a brighter, fairer, and more inclusive future for all.”
The themed exhibition "Shanghai, Former Homeland - Jewish Refugees and Shanghai" consists of six parts, such as Going to Shanghai, Starting a New Life, and Homeland Changes, with a replica of nearly 30 precious cultural relics, over 200 photos, documentary videos, and other precious historical materials, which tell to overseas audiences the story of Shanghai's acceptance of Jewish refugees. The exhibition will continue at the Fosun Tower in New York until August 14, and the English version of the documentary "Chasing the Jewish Legacy in Shanghai" will be aired during the exhibition period.
Chinese featured marriage certificates, flight tickets to escape Europe, and documentaries by Jewish artist David Ludwlg Bloch... The on-site exhibits complement the oral stories of former Jewish refugees and their descendants. Lili Black, a Jewish woman born in Shanghai in 1942, said that although she settled in the United States with her family in 1950, she returned to Hongkou more than ten times to explore her former residence. "The history between Chinese people and Jews is very worth recounting. Unlike other parts of the world, Chinese people always welcome Jews very much, and Chinese people have never discriminated against them.”
Chen Jian, director of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, introduced that the museum is committed to protecting, researching, and disseminating the history of "Jewish refugees and Shanghai". It aims to tell the world that historical tragedies cannot be repeated, and calls for human love and kindness in any difficult time.
To help more people understand the history of Jews in Hongkou, there will be various activities held in the United States in the days to come. The oratorio Émigré tells the story of Jewish refugees fleeing to Shanghai to avoid the Holocaust. The work will premiere in Shanghai on November 17 and later in the United States from February 29 to March 1, 2024, in New York.
Huang Ping, Consul General of China in New York, Jing Ying, Vice President of the Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Chen Xiaojie, Deputy District Governor of Hongkou District, and Rabbi Arthur Schneier, leader of the American Jewish community, attended the opening ceremony.