The Checkpoint of HongKew Ghetto

The Jewish people in the isolated area must show their “passports” every day to enter or leave the area. Besides, issuance of the “passport” is completely controlled by two Japanese named Ghoya and Yiliang, who issued a “passport” entirely according to their mood. They often created difficulties and abused the Jewish people. Some of them lined up and waited for several hours only to be humiliated and beaten cruelly, let alone the “passport”. In that period, the Jewish people were trapped by layers of wire netting. They had no freedom and life was harsh and difficult for them.

Oil painting, The Checkpoint of HongKew Ghetto (Photo Credit: CC – BY Zhang Ping, Chinese Jewish Cultural Foundation)

Caricature of Ghoya (Photo Credit: CC – BY Kaminski, Gerd and Unterrieder, Else, Von Oesterreichern und Chinesen, Wien, 1980)

Special thanks to Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum for providing the sources of literature and photo on this topic. Further contact with Chinese Jewish Cultural Foundation (CJCF) via email:postmaster@cjcf.org.cn‍.