Curator’s Speech

 By Mr. Chen Jian 陈 俭馆长
Curator of Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

We’re delighted to present this exhibition in the United States.
During the second World War, in order to escape the Holocaust, about 18,000 European Jews fled to Shanghai, and spent the darkest years together with the local Chinese. Most of them settled in Hongkou,
where there are a lot of evidences of that history.
In 2007, the Hongkou District People’s Government renovated the Ohel Moshe Synagogue, the spiritual center of the Jewish refugees, and turned the synagogue into the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum.
For 6 years since then, the Museum has received visitors from about 80 foreign countries and regions and a lot of them are from the USA.
Since 2011, Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum has exhibited the history of the Jewish Refugees in Shanghai in Germany, Israel and the USA. During our tour to these countries we have met with a number of Jews who had taken refuge in Shanghai, and obtained a number of valuable evidences of history. We have also told the stories of this fading history to the people of their communities.
This is a history of love and tolerance. We hope, by reviewing this history, people in other parts of the world would understand the Chinese people better.
We sincerely wish the same tragedy never happen again, and everyone in the world enjoy a peaceful life.
We are indebted to Rockefeller Center of New York, AJC of Chicago, and UCLA for their help, without which this exhibition would not have been possible.
We look forward to your visit to Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum.