The Blogs: The hope in silence

In late autumn of 1938, a massive anti-Semitic parade event – “Kristallnacht” was outbroken in Germany. With the “broken glass” of “Kristallnacht”, the Jews’ last glimmer of hope of Germany was disillusioned. Meanwhile, Nazis officially started an organized massacre of Jews. In Europe which was shrouded by the misgiving and suspicion of the war, people in all countries closed their doors, shunning the Jews who were already in calamity. In despair, the Jews saw the last ray of daylight from the darkness in the East- Shanghai. Having hardly recovered from the shock, the Jews began to flock to this last “Ark”. Totally about three million people fled from the claws of the Nazis and arrived in Shanghai with both excitement and apprehension.

Oil Painting, The Hope in Silence (Photo Credit: CC - BY Zhang Ping, Chinese Jewish Cultural Foundation) — Oil Painting, The Hope in Silence (Photo Credit: CC – BY Zhang Ping, Chinese Jewish Cultural Foundation)

Jewish Refugees disembarking (Photo Credit: CC - BY Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum) — Jewish Refugees disembarking (Photo Credit: CC – BY Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum)

Special thanks to Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum for providing the sources of literature and photo on this topic.