1 00:00:06,833 --> 00:00:09,366 [ Birds calling ] 2 00:00:12,433 --> 00:00:17,333 ♪♪ 3 00:00:17,433 --> 00:00:19,966 Woman: It was a strange atmosphere. 4 00:00:22,166 --> 00:00:23,900 When you're on a boat, 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,166 that sort of feels like vacation. 6 00:00:27,266 --> 00:00:29,233 But on the other hand, 7 00:00:29,333 --> 00:00:33,733 you were really sailing into a black hole. 8 00:00:33,833 --> 00:00:38,266 You didn't know what in God's name awaits you there. 9 00:00:38,366 --> 00:00:40,800 I wondered, 10 00:00:40,900 --> 00:00:43,466 would any of us ever be alright again? 11 00:00:43,566 --> 00:00:52,166 ♪♪ 12 00:00:52,266 --> 00:01:00,933 ♪♪ 13 00:01:01,033 --> 00:01:09,633 ♪♪ 14 00:01:09,733 --> 00:01:11,100 Bar-Gal: I took myself the same tour 15 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:12,966 I will deliver to you this morning, 16 00:01:13,066 --> 00:01:14,733 and I find the whole story fascinating 17 00:01:14,833 --> 00:01:16,666 because we do not get to learn at all 18 00:01:16,766 --> 00:01:18,066 about the Jews from the Far East, 19 00:01:18,166 --> 00:01:19,400 the Jews from China. 20 00:01:19,500 --> 00:01:21,433 Everything that I will tell you in the next 4 hours, 21 00:01:21,533 --> 00:01:24,033 completely new to me when I arrive Shanghai. 22 00:01:28,100 --> 00:01:30,666 There was no other city in the world that during the Holocaust, 23 00:01:30,766 --> 00:01:34,133 getting to save so many Jewish lives like Shanghai did. 24 00:01:34,233 --> 00:01:36,900 Most of them lived right in this neighborhood here, 25 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,133 and my question to you will be,"PourquoiShanghai?" 26 00:01:40,233 --> 00:01:41,666 You live in Germany, you live in Austria, 27 00:01:41,766 --> 00:01:44,666 you live in Poland -- why are you coming to here? 28 00:01:44,766 --> 00:01:53,866 ♪♪ 29 00:01:53,966 --> 00:02:03,100 ♪♪ 30 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:12,166 ♪♪ 31 00:02:12,266 --> 00:02:14,233 Sasson: I was born in Vienna, Austria. 32 00:02:14,333 --> 00:02:16,300 It was 1938. 33 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:17,633 My parents, prior to that, 34 00:02:17,733 --> 00:02:20,733 had a very comfortable life in Vienna, 35 00:02:20,833 --> 00:02:23,100 and I used to hear stories about the music 36 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:24,966 and the pastries and the chocolates 37 00:02:25,066 --> 00:02:27,666 and going to the mountains on weekends. 38 00:02:30,366 --> 00:02:33,633 Marcus: I was a skier and I was an ice skater. 39 00:02:33,733 --> 00:02:37,800 I was in Vienna from 1 to about 11 years, 40 00:02:37,900 --> 00:02:40,266 and it was the perfect life. 41 00:02:40,366 --> 00:02:42,933 Silberberg: My dad owned a furniture store in Berlin. 42 00:02:43,033 --> 00:02:44,600 It was a large family. 43 00:02:44,700 --> 00:02:47,700 My father was one of nine. 44 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:49,166 The family was close. 45 00:02:49,266 --> 00:02:50,900 We kids played, 46 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,233 and it was just like a regular childhood. 47 00:02:55,333 --> 00:02:57,833 There was absolutely nothing 48 00:02:57,933 --> 00:03:00,566 to warn of what was going to happen. 49 00:03:00,666 --> 00:03:04,133 ♪♪ 50 00:03:04,233 --> 00:03:06,166 [ Car horn honks ] 51 00:03:06,266 --> 00:03:11,166 Hirsch: The Jews were very proud to be German. 52 00:03:06,266 --> 00:03:11,166 Hirsch: The Jews were very proud to be German. 53 00:03:11,266 --> 00:03:13,733 At first, there were people, 54 00:03:13,833 --> 00:03:16,066 including my father, 55 00:03:16,166 --> 00:03:17,933 who thought that, well, you know, 56 00:03:18,033 --> 00:03:20,066 "I fought in World War I. 57 00:03:20,166 --> 00:03:22,066 Surely, they will leave me alone." 58 00:03:22,166 --> 00:03:25,266 Well, [chuckles] that -- that... 59 00:03:25,366 --> 00:03:26,933 that did not happen. 60 00:03:27,033 --> 00:03:30,266 [ Soldiers chanting ] 61 00:03:30,366 --> 00:03:34,600 Tobias: There was a period beginning when I was about 4, 62 00:03:34,700 --> 00:03:37,300 when I felt in relatively constant danger 63 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,333 growing up in Berlin. 64 00:03:39,433 --> 00:03:43,166 And then the worst period was Kristallnacht. 65 00:03:43,266 --> 00:03:47,166 Silberberg: Which is known as Night of the Broken Glass. 66 00:03:47,266 --> 00:03:49,366 And that's when everybody started saying, 67 00:03:49,466 --> 00:03:53,500 "Oh, this is getting bad." 68 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:56,100 Blumenthal: My mother had a store, and the store was wrecked 69 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:58,333 and taken away from her. 70 00:03:58,433 --> 00:04:03,500 Most of the Jewish men between the ages of 18 and 60 71 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:06,100 that the Nazis could find that night 72 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,766 were arrested -- my father was arrested -- 73 00:04:08,866 --> 00:04:11,766 were taken to concentration camps. 74 00:04:11,866 --> 00:04:14,533 Tobias: The next morning, after Kristallnacht was over, 75 00:04:14,633 --> 00:04:17,433 in the center of the courtyard of our synagogue 76 00:04:17,533 --> 00:04:21,433 was a mountain of simmering ashes. 77 00:04:21,533 --> 00:04:23,333 And in the center of the mound, 78 00:04:23,433 --> 00:04:27,233 I could see the handles of the Holy Torah scrolls. 79 00:04:27,333 --> 00:04:30,666 And that was perhaps the most frightening moment of all. 80 00:04:30,766 --> 00:04:34,300 I suddenly realized that there was no safety for us anywhere. 81 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,166 [ All chanting ] 82 00:04:37,266 --> 00:04:41,166 ♪♪ 83 00:04:41,266 --> 00:04:43,066 Marcus: Many people were giving up. 84 00:04:43,166 --> 00:04:46,400 There were suicides, people were leaving. 85 00:04:46,500 --> 00:04:47,966 We were in terror. 86 00:04:48,066 --> 00:04:52,233 My aunt and uncle knew that the time had come -- 87 00:04:52,333 --> 00:04:54,700 we get out now, or we don't get out. 88 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:59,566 That's really all I know. 89 00:04:59,666 --> 00:05:03,133 Marcus: Then came this terrible time 90 00:05:03,233 --> 00:05:07,166 when my father went from consulate to consulate 91 00:05:07,266 --> 00:05:09,666 to see if we could be accepted. 92 00:05:09,766 --> 00:05:11,333 Blumenthal: The problem was that 93 00:05:11,433 --> 00:05:13,566 while there was a lot of sympathy in the world 94 00:05:13,666 --> 00:05:18,566 for us as victims and refugees, 95 00:05:18,666 --> 00:05:22,300 very few countries wanted to accept us. 96 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:25,400 My father, who was a career diplomat, 97 00:05:25,500 --> 00:05:28,233 was posted to Vienna, Austria, 98 00:05:28,333 --> 00:05:29,933 to the Chinese legation there 99 00:05:30,033 --> 00:05:32,233 in the spring of 1937. 100 00:05:34,700 --> 00:05:37,266 He was fluent in German. He was very social. 101 00:05:37,366 --> 00:05:39,466 He had very many Jewish friends 102 00:05:39,566 --> 00:05:43,966 because Vienna was really the cultural hub of Western Europe. 103 00:05:44,066 --> 00:05:48,166 And as soon as Hitler came in, the persecution was so public, 104 00:05:48,266 --> 00:05:49,833 so humiliating. 105 00:05:49,933 --> 00:05:52,666 My father said it's daily, 106 00:05:52,766 --> 00:05:55,866 you know, you see it every single day. 107 00:05:55,966 --> 00:05:58,200 He just couldn't stand by. 108 00:05:58,300 --> 00:06:03,566 So he came up with a very ingenious strategy. 109 00:06:03,666 --> 00:06:06,833 Word began to spread about this place called Shanghai, 110 00:06:03,666 --> 00:06:06,833 Word began to spread about this place called Shanghai, 111 00:06:06,933 --> 00:06:08,633 which again, perhaps the refugees 112 00:06:08,733 --> 00:06:10,900 have seen in a movie once or read about it in a book, 113 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,966 but it was this faraway, exotic place. 114 00:06:15,066 --> 00:06:17,800 Newsreel narrator: Situated near the mouth of the Yangtze River, 115 00:06:17,900 --> 00:06:21,500 it is the biggest city in China. 116 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:23,566 As the largest seaport in the Far East, 117 00:06:23,666 --> 00:06:27,266 it dominated the commerce and foreign trade of China. 118 00:06:27,366 --> 00:06:29,233 And through its great docks and channels 119 00:06:29,333 --> 00:06:32,300 passed most of the wealth of the Orient. 120 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,433 In Shanghai, truly, the East met the West. 121 00:06:38,133 --> 00:06:39,466 Kaufman: So, what happened to Shanghai 122 00:06:39,566 --> 00:06:41,633 was that it was essentially divided up. 123 00:06:41,733 --> 00:06:44,566 Different imperialist powers would go in. 124 00:06:44,666 --> 00:06:48,166 It started with the British in 1840, after the Opium War. 125 00:06:48,266 --> 00:06:50,966 Then the Americans came in. They got a part. 126 00:06:51,066 --> 00:06:52,900 Later, the French arrived, 127 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:54,900 and they said, "We want part of Shanghai, too, 128 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,800 that we can control with our government." 129 00:06:57,900 --> 00:07:01,033 And then starting in the 1930s, you have the Japanese. 130 00:07:03,266 --> 00:07:04,200 Newsreel narrator: From North China 131 00:07:04,300 --> 00:07:05,900 down the coast of Shanghai, 132 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:07,933 grow the storm clouds of war, 133 00:07:08,033 --> 00:07:11,433 bringing terror to the hearts of the city's people. 134 00:07:11,533 --> 00:07:13,833 Kaufman: The Japanese began invading China 135 00:07:13,933 --> 00:07:15,233 in the early 1930s, 136 00:07:15,333 --> 00:07:17,433 and they start in the north in Manchuria 137 00:07:17,533 --> 00:07:19,533 and gradually come closer and closer. 138 00:07:19,633 --> 00:07:21,366 Newsreel narrator: China was to be the giant back 139 00:07:21,466 --> 00:07:25,833 on which Japan would ride to world conquest. 140 00:07:25,933 --> 00:07:28,633 Kaufman: The Japanese occupy more and more of China, 141 00:07:28,733 --> 00:07:30,133 and in 1937, 142 00:07:30,233 --> 00:07:32,300 they gradually are closing in on Shanghai. 143 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:33,800 They encircle it. 144 00:07:33,900 --> 00:07:39,833 ♪♪ 145 00:07:39,933 --> 00:07:43,666 Ho: When Japan routed the Chinese government, 146 00:07:43,766 --> 00:07:47,600 they left and they left the port of Shanghai with nothing -- 147 00:07:47,700 --> 00:07:50,666 you know, with no immigration, no passport control, nothing. 148 00:07:50,766 --> 00:07:52,700 The reason the Japanese 149 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:54,966 didn't take immediate control of the port 150 00:07:55,066 --> 00:07:58,800 was because the other foreign powers didn't want them to. 151 00:07:58,900 --> 00:08:04,366 So my father seized on that opportunity to issue visas 152 00:08:04,466 --> 00:08:07,800 to the one place that didn't require visas, Shanghai. 153 00:08:07,900 --> 00:08:09,566 It helped people get out. 154 00:08:09,666 --> 00:08:12,300 I mean, the Germans and the Austrians didn't know. 155 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,300 Right, they see this visa for Shanghai -- 156 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:16,800 "Okay, you're going to Shanghai, we'll let you go." 157 00:08:16,900 --> 00:08:19,866 Marcus: Somebody says, "You know, there's a long line 158 00:08:19,966 --> 00:08:22,733 standing in front of the Chinese consulate. 159 00:08:22,833 --> 00:08:24,133 Why don't you go there?" 160 00:08:24,233 --> 00:08:27,433 And my father went to that long line, and he stood in line, 161 00:08:27,533 --> 00:08:30,266 and within five minutes, he had a visa. 162 00:08:30,366 --> 00:08:33,933 And he came out and said, "See! We can always go to Shanghai!" 163 00:08:34,033 --> 00:08:35,300 That's all he knew. 164 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:36,766 Ho: So all of a sudden, 165 00:08:36,866 --> 00:08:39,133 Shanghai caught on like wildfire. 166 00:08:39,233 --> 00:08:44,066 It became a failsafe for the Jews in Germany, 167 00:08:44,166 --> 00:08:47,066 who didn't have access to Vienna, to those visas, 168 00:08:47,166 --> 00:08:50,233 who heard, "Oh, my gosh, there is a place 169 00:08:50,333 --> 00:08:54,033 where you don't need any papers to go to." 170 00:08:54,133 --> 00:08:56,866 It put Shanghai on the map. 171 00:08:56,966 --> 00:09:06,333 ♪♪ 172 00:09:06,433 --> 00:09:08,500 Silberberg: Our parents couldn't tell us much. 173 00:09:06,433 --> 00:09:08,500 Silberberg: Our parents couldn't tell us much. 174 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,000 They didn't know what this was gonna be like. 175 00:09:11,100 --> 00:09:12,966 [ Laughing ] You know, they were just as clueless 176 00:09:13,066 --> 00:09:14,566 as we children were. 177 00:09:14,666 --> 00:09:20,266 They were going into a totally foreign atmosphere. 178 00:09:20,366 --> 00:09:23,366 Marcus: My mother was terrified of Shanghai. 179 00:09:23,466 --> 00:09:26,700 She said, "Isn't this where they kill white people?" 180 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:28,600 That's how much we knew. 181 00:09:28,700 --> 00:09:33,066 Fogel: In their wildest dreams, they never thought, 182 00:09:33,166 --> 00:09:35,066 "I'm gonna be living in Shanghai." 183 00:09:35,166 --> 00:09:37,266 I don't think that ever entered anybody's mind, 184 00:09:37,366 --> 00:09:39,066 until it happened. 185 00:09:42,100 --> 00:09:44,466 Woman: When I read about the faraway land, 186 00:09:44,566 --> 00:09:47,466 I saw lovely pictures of dainty Chinese ladies 187 00:09:47,566 --> 00:09:49,733 in long, silken gowns 188 00:09:49,833 --> 00:09:52,233 strolling in beautiful gardens... 189 00:09:52,333 --> 00:09:54,866 Butterflies fluttered about the snowy-white heads 190 00:09:54,966 --> 00:09:57,166 of huge chrysanthemums. 191 00:10:00,133 --> 00:10:04,566 And then the anchor dropped, the engines stopped, 192 00:10:04,666 --> 00:10:08,733 the gangplank came down and connected us to our new world. 193 00:10:08,833 --> 00:10:10,900 And what a world it was. 194 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:18,033 ♪♪ 195 00:10:18,133 --> 00:10:25,133 ♪♪ 196 00:10:25,233 --> 00:10:32,266 ♪♪ 197 00:10:32,366 --> 00:10:35,966 Marcus: Shanghai was chaos, dirty, unmanaged. 198 00:10:36,066 --> 00:10:39,400 From here to here, you weren't walking alone. 199 00:10:39,500 --> 00:10:41,266 There was always one line of people, 200 00:10:41,366 --> 00:10:43,133 another line, another line, 201 00:10:43,233 --> 00:10:48,833 probably with some goats and pigs slithering between you. 202 00:10:48,933 --> 00:10:52,000 Blumenthal: We loaded our belongings on rickshaws. 203 00:10:52,100 --> 00:10:54,500 They pulled us to a fleabag hotel 204 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,933 where we made the acquaintance with the scourge of Shanghai -- 205 00:10:58,033 --> 00:11:01,533 bedbugs, mosquitos, rats. 206 00:11:01,633 --> 00:11:04,166 Marcus: But there were no guns! 207 00:11:04,266 --> 00:11:06,833 Nobody shot at us! 208 00:11:06,933 --> 00:11:08,733 Blumenthal: The people who got off those ships, 209 00:11:08,833 --> 00:11:10,533 many of them had no money at all. 210 00:11:10,633 --> 00:11:13,866 They came with 10 marks in their pocket from Germany. 211 00:11:13,966 --> 00:11:16,233 Fogel: The Nazis did not allow you 212 00:11:16,333 --> 00:11:19,200 to take any money or jewelry. 213 00:11:19,300 --> 00:11:21,200 You had the clothes on your back, 214 00:11:21,300 --> 00:11:24,200 plus what you could carry in one bag -- 215 00:11:24,300 --> 00:11:25,433 that's it. 216 00:11:25,533 --> 00:11:28,700 Sasson: And how much could that possibly provide? 217 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,766 And here they are trying to find a place to live. 218 00:11:31,866 --> 00:11:35,200 Marcus: My mother began to cry, and my father said 219 00:11:35,300 --> 00:11:38,200 "We'll get you out of here, we'll get you out of here." 220 00:11:38,300 --> 00:11:44,300 ♪♪ 221 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:47,466 Woman: I closed my eyes against the light. 222 00:11:47,566 --> 00:11:50,966 I tried to shut out the busy noises around me. 223 00:11:51,066 --> 00:11:55,400 And right there, young and as green as I was, 224 00:11:55,500 --> 00:11:56,833 I made up my mind 225 00:11:56,933 --> 00:12:01,900 that I would have as little as possible to do with China. 226 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,800 Shanghai would serve as a waiting place, 227 00:12:04,900 --> 00:12:08,566 a place to go from a place of "home." 228 00:12:04,900 --> 00:12:08,566 a place to go from a place of "home." 229 00:12:08,666 --> 00:12:11,933 I would think of myself as a girl Robinson Crusoe -- 230 00:12:12,033 --> 00:12:16,266 shipwrecked on an island, waiting for a ship to rescue me 231 00:12:16,366 --> 00:12:18,933 and bring me back home. 232 00:12:19,033 --> 00:12:21,933 [ Yao Lee's "Rose, Rose, I Love You" plays ] 233 00:12:22,033 --> 00:12:27,433 ♪♪ 234 00:12:27,533 --> 00:12:30,100 Kaufman: It was called the Paris of the Orient. 235 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:35,600 It was vibrant, cosmopolitan, international. 236 00:12:35,700 --> 00:12:38,566 It really put cheek by jowl this incredible wealth 237 00:12:38,666 --> 00:12:41,933 and this incredible poverty. 238 00:12:42,033 --> 00:12:43,700 The Jewish community of Shanghai 239 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,133 was actually very diverse by this point. 240 00:12:46,233 --> 00:12:47,466 There were the Jewish refugees 241 00:12:47,566 --> 00:12:50,433 coming from Vienna and from Berlin. 242 00:12:50,533 --> 00:12:52,133 There was also a Russian Jewish community, 243 00:12:52,233 --> 00:12:56,533 Russian Jews who had come after the Russian Revolution. 244 00:12:56,633 --> 00:12:58,533 But the first wave are the Baghdadi Jews 245 00:12:58,633 --> 00:13:00,233 who come in the 19th century. 246 00:13:00,333 --> 00:13:02,200 All of the Baghdadi Jews who came 247 00:13:02,300 --> 00:13:04,566 were global financiers already. 248 00:13:04,666 --> 00:13:06,866 They were dealing with India, they were dealing with London. 249 00:13:06,966 --> 00:13:10,666 And they end up taking over the opium trade. 250 00:13:10,766 --> 00:13:14,633 Jacob: My parents are Orthodox Iraqi Jews from China 251 00:13:14,733 --> 00:13:17,033 who worked for an opium dealer. 252 00:13:17,133 --> 00:13:19,200 In some ways, it was like they were not in China -- 253 00:13:19,300 --> 00:13:21,566 they were in their own little bubble. 254 00:13:21,666 --> 00:13:26,833 Shanghai in the '30s was a place of immense wealth, 255 00:13:26,933 --> 00:13:31,200 and the Baghdadi Jews were a huge part of the wealth. 256 00:13:31,300 --> 00:13:35,066 Families had servants, and there were dance halls. 257 00:13:35,166 --> 00:13:39,600 They had horses at the racetrack. 258 00:13:39,700 --> 00:13:42,233 Once the refugees started arriving, 259 00:13:42,333 --> 00:13:45,233 it was overwhelming for our Jewish community. 260 00:13:45,333 --> 00:13:48,666 And my mother was quite astonished by their condition 261 00:13:48,766 --> 00:13:52,800 and said that she had never met a poor Jew before. 262 00:13:52,900 --> 00:13:54,633 Kaufman: "We're the wealthy Jews of Shanghai." 263 00:13:54,733 --> 00:13:58,166 Like, "Who are these folks suddenly giving us a bad name?" 264 00:13:58,266 --> 00:14:01,433 I think ultimately what the wealthy Jews realize is, 265 00:14:01,533 --> 00:14:04,433 is that their fate is tied to these refugees. 266 00:14:04,533 --> 00:14:07,000 They can't turn their back on them. 267 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,200 Victor Sassoon, who is really the king of Shanghai -- 268 00:14:14,300 --> 00:14:16,533 he's a billionaire, very influential. 269 00:14:16,633 --> 00:14:19,233 The Japanese appoint a man named Inuzuka 270 00:14:19,333 --> 00:14:21,533 to be in charge of the Jewish question. 271 00:14:21,633 --> 00:14:25,266 He really believes, in this kind of anti-Semitic way, 272 00:14:25,366 --> 00:14:28,266 that Victor Sassoon controls everything 273 00:14:28,366 --> 00:14:30,400 because he's a wealthy Jew. 274 00:14:30,500 --> 00:14:33,266 Victor Sassoon understands that, and so what happens 275 00:14:33,366 --> 00:14:35,466 over the next year and a half, two years, 276 00:14:35,566 --> 00:14:37,866 is this ballet that goes on, 277 00:14:37,966 --> 00:14:40,033 or you could call it a con job, 278 00:14:40,133 --> 00:14:44,100 where Victor Sassoon encourages the Japanese to believe 279 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,400 that, yes, he's talking to the British government, 280 00:14:46,500 --> 00:14:48,200 he's talking to the Americans, 281 00:14:48,300 --> 00:14:50,333 he'll think of investing in Japan. 282 00:14:50,433 --> 00:14:53,233 "Just keep on protecting these Jews who are coming in, 283 00:14:53,333 --> 00:14:57,166 and I'll make sure things work out." 284 00:14:57,266 --> 00:15:01,233 And so the Baghdadi Jews begin to find the refugees housing, 285 00:15:01,333 --> 00:15:05,066 to feed them, helping them pay for things. 286 00:15:05,166 --> 00:15:08,900 Marcus: There were one or two Jewish families, very wealthy, 287 00:15:05,166 --> 00:15:08,900 Marcus: There were one or two Jewish families, very wealthy, 288 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:13,700 and one of them sent some cattle trucks to pick us up 289 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:18,433 and bring us to some home in one of the Chinese areas. 290 00:15:18,533 --> 00:15:24,033 ♪♪ 291 00:15:24,133 --> 00:15:25,533 Fogel: You walk down the alley 292 00:15:25,633 --> 00:15:29,333 and you see laundry hanging out everywhere, 293 00:15:29,433 --> 00:15:33,033 and you're living practically on top of each other. 294 00:15:33,133 --> 00:15:36,033 Hirsch: We lived in this little house 295 00:15:36,133 --> 00:15:39,566 of about 200 to 250 square feet, 296 00:15:39,666 --> 00:15:42,066 and a family of four. 297 00:15:42,166 --> 00:15:46,166 Tobias: We lived in a house on the lane on 737 Broadway, 298 00:15:46,266 --> 00:15:48,600 and I believe almost all the houses 299 00:15:48,700 --> 00:15:52,066 except for one or two were also occupied by other refugees. 300 00:15:53,966 --> 00:15:55,866 One of the things that was absolutely shocking 301 00:15:55,966 --> 00:15:58,733 is that they would have a toilet in the room, 302 00:15:58,833 --> 00:16:00,000 they would have buckets. 303 00:16:00,100 --> 00:16:02,400 Anybody who doesn't know what the honey bucket is, 304 00:16:02,500 --> 00:16:05,933 it's the toilet that gets picked up every day 305 00:16:06,033 --> 00:16:07,933 by a big wagon, 306 00:16:08,033 --> 00:16:12,133 and the wagon gets filled and got drawn through the lane, 307 00:16:12,233 --> 00:16:13,866 and it used to spill a little bit 308 00:16:13,966 --> 00:16:16,733 [laughing] of the stuff on the road. 309 00:16:16,833 --> 00:16:20,900 The living conditions were way more primitive 310 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:25,166 than in other parts of Shanghai. 311 00:16:25,266 --> 00:16:27,366 Sasson: Our parents, they never let on 312 00:16:27,466 --> 00:16:31,000 that they were making any sacrifices. 313 00:16:31,100 --> 00:16:34,666 And when I think about it now, it really saddens me. 314 00:16:34,766 --> 00:16:36,500 If there was a little bit of food, 315 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:38,333 being the baby in the family, 316 00:16:38,433 --> 00:16:40,500 I'm the one that actually got it. 317 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:42,333 The rest went hungry. 318 00:16:42,433 --> 00:16:45,933 Hirsch: We had almost nothing. 319 00:16:46,033 --> 00:16:49,100 We did not have a kitchen. 320 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:53,500 My mother, she had what we call a Chinese stove. 321 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:58,466 You could not do it indoors or you'd die from noxious fumes. 322 00:16:58,566 --> 00:16:59,966 My mother... 323 00:17:00,066 --> 00:17:02,200 [ Sighs ] 324 00:17:02,300 --> 00:17:03,833 [ Sniffles ] 325 00:17:05,466 --> 00:17:09,533 ...was such a wonderful cook. 326 00:17:09,633 --> 00:17:14,333 She made all kinds of stuff on this dinky little stove. 327 00:17:16,833 --> 00:17:19,733 Kaufman: Hongkou was the worst part of Shanghai. 328 00:17:19,833 --> 00:17:23,266 As it turned out, several of the wealthy Jewish families 329 00:17:23,366 --> 00:17:26,466 owned a lot of property there, so they were able to say, 330 00:17:26,566 --> 00:17:30,366 "Well, you know, we'll kind of move these refugees there." 331 00:17:30,466 --> 00:17:32,800 It was a poor community. 332 00:17:32,900 --> 00:17:35,300 There were a lot of bombed-out buildings. 333 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,900 The Chinese themselves had often been refugees. 334 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:39,766 They'd come from the countryside. 335 00:17:39,866 --> 00:17:41,700 They'd come to Shanghai. 336 00:17:45,666 --> 00:17:48,033 [ Speaking Chinese ] 337 00:18:02,700 --> 00:18:04,700 Tobias: Hongkou, where the refugees lived, 338 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:08,666 had been occupied by the Japanese in 1937. 339 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:08,666 had been occupied by the Japanese in 1937. 340 00:18:10,733 --> 00:18:12,766 [ Speaking Chinese ] 341 00:18:35,933 --> 00:18:37,333 Tobias: In general, it was very frightening 342 00:18:37,433 --> 00:18:38,933 because you'd see Japanese soldiers 343 00:18:39,033 --> 00:18:41,266 who had been drinking too much walking along the street. 344 00:18:41,366 --> 00:18:44,666 But I remember an older Chinese woman walking on the street 345 00:18:44,766 --> 00:18:46,333 and a Japanese soldier accosting her 346 00:18:46,433 --> 00:18:49,500 and feeling between her legs, and I was shocked. 347 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:51,800 [ Speaking Chinese ] 348 00:18:56,500 --> 00:19:00,600 Silberberg: Sometimes, you could see these little straw packages. 349 00:19:00,700 --> 00:19:04,400 And we all knew those were dead babies, 350 00:19:04,500 --> 00:19:08,900 who had died over the night of starvation and things like that. 351 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,966 I was stunned by that. 352 00:19:13,066 --> 00:19:16,800 And not only that I would have a sense of empathy 353 00:19:16,900 --> 00:19:18,766 for the difficulties of the Chinese, 354 00:19:18,866 --> 00:19:21,200 which were the same as ours, 355 00:19:21,300 --> 00:19:24,466 surviving in a very difficult environment. 356 00:19:24,566 --> 00:19:27,466 But I guess underneath that was also the fear 357 00:19:27,566 --> 00:19:29,966 that that could happen to me. 358 00:19:30,066 --> 00:19:32,633 And I realized it was one world. 359 00:19:32,733 --> 00:19:39,333 ♪♪ 360 00:19:39,433 --> 00:19:46,033 ♪♪ 361 00:19:46,133 --> 00:19:47,833 Bloch: My father was deaf. 362 00:19:47,933 --> 00:19:51,500 He was an orphan, and he was poor. 363 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:53,233 In Germany, he had 364 00:19:53,333 --> 00:19:57,633 a whole completely different social circumstance. 365 00:19:57,733 --> 00:20:00,633 So when he got to Shanghai, he was a bird that could soar. 366 00:20:00,733 --> 00:20:01,966 He was on equal footing 367 00:20:02,066 --> 00:20:04,066 with every European in Chinese culture, 368 00:20:04,166 --> 00:20:05,833 'cause no one knew the language. 369 00:20:05,933 --> 00:20:09,133 So that deafness actually became an attribute 370 00:20:09,233 --> 00:20:11,166 because he'd communicate as he always did 371 00:20:11,266 --> 00:20:14,000 through his life, by using sign. 372 00:20:14,100 --> 00:20:16,633 [ Humming ] 373 00:20:18,866 --> 00:20:21,533 These are the boxes of my father's artwork. 374 00:20:21,633 --> 00:20:23,666 These are his woodcuts. 375 00:20:25,466 --> 00:20:27,466 It's hard to see, but this is 376 00:20:27,566 --> 00:20:30,633 one man's lifetime of work. 377 00:20:30,733 --> 00:20:33,266 Look at his artwork. You can see what he heard. 378 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,400 [ Indistinct conversations, bells dinging ] 379 00:20:37,500 --> 00:20:42,900 ♪♪ 380 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,900 He heard the heights of beautiful things 381 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,633 and the incredible pain and suffering 382 00:20:48,733 --> 00:20:52,000 of those people who lived out in the street, 383 00:20:52,100 --> 00:20:55,966 of the beggars who had parts missing, who were starving, 384 00:20:56,066 --> 00:20:58,033 to the children who were innocent bystanders 385 00:20:58,133 --> 00:21:01,433 of all this unkindness, if you will. 386 00:21:01,533 --> 00:21:08,066 ♪♪ 387 00:21:01,533 --> 00:21:08,066 ♪♪ 388 00:21:08,166 --> 00:21:10,733 He didn't let them die and just go away. 389 00:21:10,833 --> 00:21:12,333 He honored them. 390 00:21:12,433 --> 00:21:15,333 He gave them voice. 391 00:21:15,433 --> 00:21:17,500 Even though he was deaf, 392 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:20,133 he had this amazing ability 393 00:21:20,233 --> 00:21:21,966 to understand life 394 00:21:22,066 --> 00:21:26,166 on a very profound and deep level. 395 00:21:26,266 --> 00:21:30,300 He is them, they are him. 396 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:32,933 Silberberg: The Chinese were very, very gracious 397 00:21:33,033 --> 00:21:34,433 to the immigrants. 398 00:21:34,533 --> 00:21:37,933 We lived amongst them, they were poor, 399 00:21:38,033 --> 00:21:41,300 and they accepted us. 400 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:46,133 There was definitely compassion for each other. 401 00:21:46,233 --> 00:21:48,200 For the Jewish refugees, 402 00:21:48,300 --> 00:21:51,633 when they had fled Germany and had fled Austria, 403 00:21:51,733 --> 00:21:53,466 their neighbors, their non-Jewish neighbors, 404 00:21:53,566 --> 00:21:54,533 hated them. 405 00:21:54,633 --> 00:21:57,433 In China, everyone was kind of equal. 406 00:21:57,533 --> 00:21:59,000 They were living so close together 407 00:21:59,100 --> 00:22:00,900 that if they heard a baby crying, 408 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,500 they would offer some of their food to the family with a baby, 409 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:05,433 whether they were Chinese or Jewish. 410 00:22:05,533 --> 00:22:07,966 Fogel: They had nothing to give us, 411 00:22:08,066 --> 00:22:10,433 any more than we had to give them, 412 00:22:10,533 --> 00:22:14,566 other than friendship and being together. 413 00:22:14,666 --> 00:22:22,233 ♪♪ 414 00:22:22,333 --> 00:22:26,200 Blumenthal: How do you feel if you are marginalized, 415 00:22:26,300 --> 00:22:28,800 if what you want doesn't matter, 416 00:22:28,900 --> 00:22:32,033 if you don't have a government to protect you, 417 00:22:32,133 --> 00:22:35,700 if you think nobody even knows you exist? 418 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:38,733 It's a feeling I've never forgotten. 419 00:22:38,833 --> 00:22:42,066 And that's how the refugees felt. 420 00:22:42,166 --> 00:22:44,700 Silberberg: You just think, "What will I do tomorrow? 421 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:45,866 What's gonna be tomorrow?" 422 00:22:45,966 --> 00:22:47,333 Not "what's gonna be next year," 423 00:22:47,433 --> 00:22:50,333 because we don't know. 424 00:22:50,433 --> 00:22:52,833 Kaufman: You have to remember these were families and children 425 00:22:52,933 --> 00:22:55,700 who had came from middle-class families in Berlin and Vienna. 426 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,633 They had been going to school, they played sports. 427 00:22:58,733 --> 00:23:00,200 They had had a normal life. 428 00:23:00,300 --> 00:23:03,466 Suddenly, they were uprooted and thrown into conditions 429 00:23:03,566 --> 00:23:05,933 of terrible poverty, disease. 430 00:23:06,033 --> 00:23:08,266 But it was also completely unstructured. 431 00:23:08,366 --> 00:23:10,766 These children were roaming the streets during the day. 432 00:23:10,866 --> 00:23:13,300 They were forming gangs. I think for the parents, 433 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:15,566 this was the most heartbreaking thing. 434 00:23:15,666 --> 00:23:17,733 They thought, "My children have no future. 435 00:23:17,833 --> 00:23:19,400 My children have no hope." 436 00:23:19,500 --> 00:23:21,500 What I think really changed that for them 437 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:23,833 was the Kadoorie School. 438 00:23:23,933 --> 00:23:28,166 Fogel: A very wealthy Jewish man by the name of Horace Kadoorie 439 00:23:28,266 --> 00:23:31,133 opened a school for the Jewish kids. 440 00:23:35,066 --> 00:23:38,833 Silberberg: Life at the Kadoorie School was, for me, 441 00:23:38,933 --> 00:23:41,833 one of the most important things of Shanghai. 442 00:23:41,933 --> 00:23:44,233 It gave me the education I had. 443 00:23:44,333 --> 00:23:46,600 Fogel: Our school had a wonderful principal -- 444 00:23:46,700 --> 00:23:48,000 Lucie Hartwich. 445 00:23:48,100 --> 00:23:50,166 I can see her in front of me right now. 446 00:23:50,266 --> 00:23:52,133 She wore her hair with a wave. 447 00:23:52,233 --> 00:23:53,633 Always made-up. 448 00:23:53,733 --> 00:23:59,133 She was a no-nonsense person who insisted that we learn English. 449 00:23:59,233 --> 00:24:02,733 Silberberg: The idea of us not talking German in school was just that 450 00:24:02,833 --> 00:24:05,733 we didn't like the Germans, and second of all, 451 00:24:05,833 --> 00:24:08,166 if you graduated from our school, 452 00:24:05,833 --> 00:24:08,166 if you graduated from our school, 453 00:24:08,266 --> 00:24:11,866 you automatically could enter the University of Cambridge 454 00:24:11,966 --> 00:24:15,200 because they followed that program. 455 00:24:15,300 --> 00:24:19,300 This school also had a lot of activities. 456 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,300 It wasn't just come to school, learn, go home. 457 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:23,700 Fogel: I danced. 458 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:25,900 Mister Erstein, he was our teacher. 459 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:27,266 I don't know how I'm remem-- 460 00:24:27,366 --> 00:24:29,933 at 85, I'm remembering all these names. 461 00:24:30,033 --> 00:24:34,033 Hirsch: There was this gym teacher, Leo Meyer, 462 00:24:34,133 --> 00:24:36,433 and he was a holy terror. 463 00:24:36,533 --> 00:24:40,500 I'm convinced that he ate nails for breakfast. 464 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:42,600 Fogel: I have memories of doing 465 00:24:42,700 --> 00:24:45,266 what you would consider normal things 466 00:24:45,366 --> 00:24:48,733 under un-normal circumstances. 467 00:24:48,833 --> 00:24:52,633 And you made lifelong friendships 468 00:24:52,733 --> 00:24:55,633 because you were all in the same boat. 469 00:24:58,100 --> 00:25:01,033 Silberberg: We had Jewish youth organizations, 470 00:25:01,133 --> 00:25:03,666 and we had theatrical plays. 471 00:25:03,766 --> 00:25:08,733 It was always to a Jewish theme, all the time. 472 00:25:08,833 --> 00:25:12,900 We were taught, "You are Jews, no matter what." 473 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,633 And that sticks. 474 00:25:15,733 --> 00:25:18,833 Tobias: My parents joined a synagogue called Ohel Moshe, 475 00:25:18,933 --> 00:25:21,700 and our Hebrew school, called the Talmud Torah, 476 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,100 was also there on the third floor. 477 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:26,766 The fact that I was reading the holy language 478 00:25:26,866 --> 00:25:30,033 was a source of great comfort to my parents and to me. 479 00:25:30,133 --> 00:25:34,333 Studying the sacred texts really meant that Judaism was alive, 480 00:25:34,433 --> 00:25:38,366 and therefore that I was alive. 481 00:25:38,466 --> 00:25:42,166 Silberberg: I wear the Star of David all the time. 482 00:25:42,266 --> 00:25:47,400 The day I can't wear it anymore, it's time to leave, 483 00:25:47,500 --> 00:25:52,533 because that means they don't want me wherever I am. 484 00:25:58,566 --> 00:26:01,866 Newsreel narrator: The savage blow unparalleled in infamy, 485 00:26:01,966 --> 00:26:06,033 Pearl Harbor, December the 7th, 1941. 486 00:26:06,133 --> 00:26:11,033 ♪♪ 487 00:26:11,133 --> 00:26:14,200 Woman: Yet a day promised intolerable suffering 488 00:26:14,300 --> 00:26:17,100 and sacrifices to so many nations, 489 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,366 and eventually presented Shanghai Jews 490 00:26:19,466 --> 00:26:24,700 with a whole new set of troubles and undiluted anguish. 491 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:27,033 Tribe: Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, 492 00:26:27,133 --> 00:26:28,900 and war was then declared 493 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,133 between the United States and the Allies 494 00:26:31,233 --> 00:26:33,733 and Japan. 495 00:26:33,833 --> 00:26:35,066 Tobias: After Pearl Harbor, 496 00:26:35,166 --> 00:26:38,066 suddenly the Japanese controlled most of Shanghai. 497 00:26:38,166 --> 00:26:40,000 Kaufman: They force all British citizens 498 00:26:40,100 --> 00:26:42,600 and all American citizens to put on labels 499 00:26:42,700 --> 00:26:44,100 identifying themselves, 500 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,200 and then they are put in internment camps. 501 00:26:47,300 --> 00:26:50,133 Tribe: My parents were Russian Jews. 502 00:26:50,233 --> 00:26:53,666 My father had become an American citizen, 503 00:26:53,766 --> 00:26:57,200 and so he was dragged off by Japanese soldiers 504 00:26:57,300 --> 00:27:00,366 and taken to a Japanese prison camp. 505 00:27:00,466 --> 00:27:05,400 I remember standing on some kind of a little box 506 00:27:05,500 --> 00:27:08,600 in the middle of the street, and I remember waving to him 507 00:27:05,500 --> 00:27:08,600 in the middle of the street, and I remember waving to him 508 00:27:08,700 --> 00:27:11,100 and asking my mother, "What did he do? 509 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:12,766 Why are they doing this to him?" 510 00:27:12,866 --> 00:27:15,233 and the sense of injustice. 511 00:27:15,333 --> 00:27:17,866 I knew that something unfair had happened. 512 00:27:17,966 --> 00:27:19,433 My father had done nothing wrong, 513 00:27:19,533 --> 00:27:23,833 and yet he was being taken away from his family. 514 00:27:23,933 --> 00:27:27,000 Kaufman: Some of the wealthy Jews were actually imprisoned 515 00:27:27,100 --> 00:27:30,500 and tortured by the Japanese because the Japanese believed 516 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:32,900 that they had been conspiring with the British 517 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,100 and the Americans against the Japanese. 518 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:36,766 Victor Sassoon has fled. 519 00:27:36,866 --> 00:27:39,666 These wealthy Jews who had protected the refugees, 520 00:27:39,766 --> 00:27:42,700 who had supported them, now were powerless. 521 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:44,700 The Japanese were now in charge, 522 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,700 and they're formally allies with the Germans. 523 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:49,866 ♪♪ 524 00:27:49,966 --> 00:27:52,166 [ Speaking German ] 525 00:27:55,433 --> 00:27:56,833 Tobias: The Germans, who were aware 526 00:27:56,933 --> 00:27:59,566 of 20-odd-thousand Jewish refugees 527 00:27:59,666 --> 00:28:01,133 living in Shanghai, 528 00:28:01,233 --> 00:28:04,000 sent Colonel Josef Meisinger, 529 00:28:04,100 --> 00:28:06,100 who was known as the Butcher of Warsaw. 530 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:08,466 He was apparently a brutal man, 531 00:28:08,566 --> 00:28:12,300 and he was sent to Shanghai to convince the Japanese 532 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,466 to impose the Final Solution of the Jewish problem on us, 533 00:28:15,566 --> 00:28:17,133 meaning to kill us. 534 00:28:17,233 --> 00:28:19,900 They had said the most efficient way 535 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,033 of liquidating our community 536 00:28:22,133 --> 00:28:25,266 was to put us on a bunch of rickety old junks, 537 00:28:25,366 --> 00:28:28,366 tow us out to the Yellow Ocean, and sink us. 538 00:28:28,466 --> 00:28:33,200 To their credit, the Japanese simply refused to do that. 539 00:28:33,300 --> 00:28:35,033 Tribe: We would all have been killed, 540 00:28:35,133 --> 00:28:37,100 and the fact that that didn't happen, 541 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:41,166 the fact that we were spared that fate 542 00:28:41,266 --> 00:28:44,533 was one of the closest calls, in retrospect, 543 00:28:44,633 --> 00:28:47,466 that I'm very grateful to have escaped. 544 00:28:47,566 --> 00:28:50,300 Blumenthal: In February of 1943, 545 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:54,533 suddenly, without any warning, 546 00:28:54,633 --> 00:28:57,333 there appears in the newspapers a proclamation which says 547 00:28:57,433 --> 00:29:02,300 that in 90 days, you have to give up where you live and move 548 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:07,366 to the worst part of town, half destroyed during the war. 549 00:29:07,466 --> 00:29:09,766 Silberberg: The Japanese guy came in, 550 00:29:09,866 --> 00:29:11,933 he slapped my dad, and said, 551 00:29:12,033 --> 00:29:13,800 "Out by tomorrow." 552 00:29:13,900 --> 00:29:16,400 Kaufman: As a compromise measure, the Japanese say, 553 00:29:16,500 --> 00:29:17,900 "We'll put them in a ghetto. 554 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:21,533 We'll put them in a 1-square-mile area of Hongkou." 555 00:29:24,733 --> 00:29:28,333 Maybe half the Jews were living in other parts of Shanghai, 556 00:29:28,433 --> 00:29:30,700 and they were all ordered to abandon their apartments, 557 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:35,633 abandon their belongings, and trudge over to this ghetto, 558 00:29:35,733 --> 00:29:39,600 which was monitored by Japanese guards, 559 00:29:39,700 --> 00:29:43,233 which was adding another 10,000 people to a community 560 00:29:43,333 --> 00:29:45,533 that was already filled, overflowing. 561 00:29:45,633 --> 00:29:48,733 You're essentially doubling the population of Jews. 562 00:29:50,833 --> 00:29:54,900 Marcus: The room was like maybe 15 feet by 5 feet long, 563 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,666 for the three of us. It had one window. 564 00:29:57,766 --> 00:30:00,966 But we lived there, my father, my mother, and I, 565 00:30:01,066 --> 00:30:02,866 for six or seven years. 566 00:30:02,966 --> 00:30:04,000 It's... 567 00:30:05,766 --> 00:30:08,266 Silberberg: Where we wound up, it was a room 568 00:30:05,766 --> 00:30:08,266 Silberberg: Where we wound up, it was a room 569 00:30:08,366 --> 00:30:11,333 with 14 people sleeping there. 570 00:30:11,433 --> 00:30:14,833 We put, like, blankets on the sides of our bed, 571 00:30:14,933 --> 00:30:17,600 undressed and dressed in bed 572 00:30:17,700 --> 00:30:19,600 because there was no other space. 573 00:30:19,700 --> 00:30:22,566 We had a small table in front of the bed, 574 00:30:22,666 --> 00:30:25,333 and that's where we took our meals. 575 00:30:25,433 --> 00:30:27,133 They appointed a civil servant 576 00:30:27,233 --> 00:30:30,166 by the name of Ghoya -- Mr. Kanoh Ghoya, 577 00:30:30,266 --> 00:30:33,133 who was the chief administrator of the ghetto. 578 00:30:33,233 --> 00:30:35,300 And Ghoya said, "Napoleon, he was a great man, 579 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:36,733 but I'm a greater one. 580 00:30:36,833 --> 00:30:38,666 I am the emperor of the Jews." 581 00:30:38,766 --> 00:30:40,966 Marcus: He was a nutcase! 582 00:30:41,066 --> 00:30:43,200 Silberberg: The guy was very short 583 00:30:43,300 --> 00:30:46,266 and actually, when he wanted to slap somebody, 584 00:30:46,366 --> 00:30:49,400 had to get up on a chair. 585 00:30:49,500 --> 00:30:51,566 Fogel: If you wanted to go out of the area 586 00:30:51,666 --> 00:30:55,766 to work or do anything, you had to get by the Japanese. 587 00:30:55,866 --> 00:30:58,566 Mr. Ghoya, who was the worst of the worst -- 588 00:30:58,666 --> 00:31:00,233 if you didn't have the right papers, 589 00:31:00,333 --> 00:31:03,700 he could stand on the corner with his bayonet 590 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,833 and do whatever the heck he wanted to do. 591 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,733 Woman: Hongkou was bordering on despair, 592 00:31:13,833 --> 00:31:17,733 and "hysteria" was putting it mildly. 593 00:31:17,833 --> 00:31:21,733 It took me a long time to go to sleep that night. 594 00:31:21,833 --> 00:31:24,366 There was so much to worry about. 595 00:31:26,466 --> 00:31:27,900 Sasson: There was so much poverty, 596 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,000 people getting sick, 597 00:31:30,100 --> 00:31:33,666 people dying of all these rare diseases. 598 00:31:33,766 --> 00:31:36,700 You'd see someone that you would see on a regular basis, 599 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:38,166 and the next day, they were gone. 600 00:31:38,266 --> 00:31:39,800 They died because they got ill, 601 00:31:39,900 --> 00:31:42,166 they didn't have enough food, they had dysentery. 602 00:31:42,266 --> 00:31:44,000 It was -- It was just dreadful. 603 00:31:44,100 --> 00:31:46,300 And a lot of Europeans died, as well, 604 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:48,666 especially the elderly. 605 00:31:48,766 --> 00:31:52,666 Silberberg: They were two large Jewish cemeteries in Shanghai 606 00:31:52,766 --> 00:31:55,300 with people who passed away. 607 00:31:58,833 --> 00:32:00,600 Newsreel narrator: For over a quarter century, 608 00:32:00,700 --> 00:32:02,166 The Joint Distribution Committee 609 00:32:02,266 --> 00:32:05,266 has been the main American source of preserving 610 00:32:05,366 --> 00:32:08,266 and protecting Jewish life and traditions abroad 611 00:32:08,366 --> 00:32:11,700 wherever and whenever they have been jeopardized 612 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:15,533 by misfortune, disaster, or injustice. 613 00:32:15,633 --> 00:32:17,200 Kaufman: The American Joint Distribution Committee 614 00:32:17,300 --> 00:32:18,866 was the main organization 615 00:32:18,966 --> 00:32:21,666 trying to deal with a worldwide refugee crisis 616 00:32:21,766 --> 00:32:23,233 as Jews were fleeing Europe. 617 00:32:23,333 --> 00:32:26,300 There are tens of thousands of refugees in Shanghai. 618 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:28,300 The crisis has become so big, 619 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,533 the Joint finally decides that it has to do something. 620 00:32:31,633 --> 00:32:34,366 And they go to a woman named Laura Margolis, 621 00:32:34,466 --> 00:32:36,900 who is a representative of the American Jewish 622 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:38,333 Joint Distribution Committee, 623 00:32:38,433 --> 00:32:41,066 to try to help the refugees. 624 00:32:41,166 --> 00:32:43,900 She was in Cuba when theSt. Louis, 625 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,833 which was a ship carrying European refugees, 626 00:32:46,933 --> 00:32:51,100 had tried to enter Cuba and been turned away. 627 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,000 And then it went to America and was turned away, 628 00:32:54,100 --> 00:32:55,500 returned to Europe, 629 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,633 and presumably some of the refugees were killed. 630 00:33:01,633 --> 00:33:04,466 And she swore to herself at that point in Cuba 631 00:33:04,566 --> 00:33:07,966 that if she ever had the chance to help refugees, 632 00:33:04,566 --> 00:33:07,966 that if she ever had the chance to help refugees, 633 00:33:08,066 --> 00:33:09,800 she would do whatever she could to make sure 634 00:33:09,900 --> 00:33:12,000 that tragedy wasn't repeated. 635 00:33:12,100 --> 00:33:14,933 She arranges to meet Captain Inuzuka, 636 00:33:15,033 --> 00:33:18,600 the anti-Semitic captain who's in charge of Jews in Shanghai. 637 00:33:18,700 --> 00:33:21,200 And she says to him, "If there isn't enough food, 638 00:33:21,300 --> 00:33:23,500 these refugees are going to start to riot, 639 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:25,033 and that will be dangerous for you 640 00:33:25,133 --> 00:33:27,000 and dangerous for the Japanese. 641 00:33:27,100 --> 00:33:30,366 I'm completely apolitical. Let me help them." 642 00:33:30,466 --> 00:33:32,700 So Inuzuka agrees. 643 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,866 She's able to start getting more food to the refugees, 644 00:33:35,966 --> 00:33:37,266 more housing. 645 00:33:37,366 --> 00:33:41,066 Marcus: They bought these huge, like, warehouses 646 00:33:41,166 --> 00:33:44,300 that were called Heime. 647 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:49,900 And Laura Margolis was able to get $100,000, US dollars, 648 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:53,233 to bring to the Japanese in that time. 649 00:33:53,333 --> 00:33:56,500 And with that money, we spent to get a hospital. 650 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:58,800 200-bed hospital. 651 00:33:58,900 --> 00:34:00,900 I was a secretary. 652 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,400 I was extremely happy 653 00:34:03,500 --> 00:34:05,466 to be working in a hospital 654 00:34:05,566 --> 00:34:08,033 because I saw people were being helped. 655 00:34:08,133 --> 00:34:11,833 Hirsch: The JDC set up a kitchen 656 00:34:11,933 --> 00:34:13,666 which made it possible 657 00:34:13,766 --> 00:34:17,933 for everyone to have at least one meal a day, 658 00:34:18,033 --> 00:34:21,200 which kept people alive. 659 00:34:21,300 --> 00:34:23,500 Laura Margolis is... 660 00:34:26,966 --> 00:34:28,533 ...a saint. 661 00:34:28,633 --> 00:34:37,766 ♪♪ 662 00:34:37,866 --> 00:34:39,433 Sasson: Even though it was war years, 663 00:34:39,533 --> 00:34:42,433 life started picking up, 664 00:34:42,533 --> 00:34:46,000 and people tried to re-create a little Europe. 665 00:34:48,900 --> 00:34:52,100 Kaufman: They begin to build their own independent communities 666 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:56,600 with German newspapers and German cafés and orchestras. 667 00:34:56,700 --> 00:35:01,700 ♪♪ 668 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,766 Bloch: One of the things that my father did with other artists 669 00:35:04,866 --> 00:35:07,966 was create these art shows to show their art 670 00:35:08,066 --> 00:35:11,366 and re-create their culture, if you will, in Shanghai. 671 00:35:11,466 --> 00:35:14,900 Fogel: It's very important to have some culture 672 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:16,533 so that you don't feel 673 00:35:16,633 --> 00:35:19,200 even though you physically are alive, 674 00:35:19,300 --> 00:35:21,466 but your mind has gone dead 675 00:35:21,566 --> 00:35:25,366 and you've lost everything that you've always had. 676 00:35:25,466 --> 00:35:27,400 Community action 677 00:35:27,500 --> 00:35:30,566 can make an enormous amount of difference. 678 00:35:30,666 --> 00:35:34,133 And that's what happened when we were finally locked up 679 00:35:34,233 --> 00:35:37,033 by the Japanese in a kind of a ghetto. 680 00:35:37,133 --> 00:35:38,933 The energy of adversity 681 00:35:39,033 --> 00:35:42,566 ended up in some kind of creativity, even, 682 00:35:42,666 --> 00:35:46,566 and that helped the people to survive. 683 00:35:46,666 --> 00:35:52,433 ♪♪ 684 00:35:52,533 --> 00:35:58,200 ♪♪ 685 00:35:58,300 --> 00:36:00,533 Sasson: We lived in a Chinese lane, 686 00:36:00,633 --> 00:36:04,033 and we were the only family that came from Europe. 687 00:36:04,133 --> 00:36:06,833 And in the lane lived a gentleman 688 00:36:04,133 --> 00:36:06,833 And in the lane lived a gentleman 689 00:36:06,933 --> 00:36:08,966 by the name of Mr. Chu. 690 00:36:09,066 --> 00:36:13,100 He really took a liking to me and kind of adopted me. 691 00:36:17,433 --> 00:36:19,966 [ Speaking Chinese ] 692 00:36:49,033 --> 00:36:51,933 My father became so close to Mr. Chu, 693 00:36:52,033 --> 00:36:54,400 it was almost like they were brothers. 694 00:36:54,500 --> 00:36:56,966 And they shared the same values. 695 00:36:57,066 --> 00:37:00,666 A sense of family was very important to both, 696 00:37:00,766 --> 00:37:04,233 so any differences just melted away. 697 00:37:04,333 --> 00:37:07,500 Later on, when I started school, 698 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:09,500 he arranged for a rickshaw for me 699 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:11,066 to be picked up every morning. 700 00:37:11,166 --> 00:37:13,200 [ Speaking Chinese ] 701 00:37:28,500 --> 00:37:32,000 His daughter, who is my little sister, 702 00:37:32,100 --> 00:37:34,700 only spoke Chinese, so what choice did I have -- 703 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:38,366 I had to learn Shanghainese. 704 00:37:38,466 --> 00:37:40,033 When I think about Mr. Chu, 705 00:37:40,133 --> 00:37:43,300 you can see the tears just swell up in my eyes. 706 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:47,366 And it still... After all these years, 707 00:37:47,466 --> 00:37:51,100 I still have that connection to him. 708 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:54,433 It's -- It's just feeling protected again, 709 00:37:54,533 --> 00:37:57,633 feeling loved, feeling cared about. 710 00:37:57,733 --> 00:38:01,500 So he's a very, very special person in my heart. 711 00:38:04,633 --> 00:38:10,866 Woman: The winter of 1944 seems longer, darker, and tougher. 712 00:38:10,966 --> 00:38:13,533 Perhaps the length of our confinement, 713 00:38:13,633 --> 00:38:15,200 the endless war 714 00:38:15,300 --> 00:38:17,166 made the cold colder, 715 00:38:17,266 --> 00:38:18,666 the rain wetter, 716 00:38:18,766 --> 00:38:20,800 and made us less agreeable. 717 00:38:22,866 --> 00:38:26,733 Hirsch: One of the things that people would say was, 718 00:38:26,833 --> 00:38:28,400 "How are you today?" 719 00:38:28,500 --> 00:38:31,500 And the other person would say, 720 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:35,833 "Well, we're one day closer to the end of the war." 721 00:38:35,933 --> 00:38:39,000 And that was a favorite saying. 722 00:38:39,100 --> 00:38:42,166 "One day closer to the end of the war." 723 00:38:42,266 --> 00:38:45,633 ♪♪ 724 00:38:56,166 --> 00:39:01,933 Tobias: On July 17, 1945, the ghetto was bombed. 725 00:39:02,033 --> 00:39:05,266 And we were stunned. 726 00:39:05,366 --> 00:39:06,933 Fogel: We were in school, 727 00:39:05,366 --> 00:39:06,933 Fogel: We were in school, 728 00:39:07,033 --> 00:39:11,033 and we went under our desks for protection. 729 00:39:11,133 --> 00:39:15,500 Silberberg: My mom, she had to deliver a dress to somebody, 730 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:19,366 and there was a Chinese man who ran out, grabbed her arm, 731 00:39:19,466 --> 00:39:24,733 and made her come into the store and go under the counter. 732 00:39:24,833 --> 00:39:27,200 He really saved her life. 733 00:39:30,166 --> 00:39:32,166 Tribe: When the Americans liberated Shanghai, 734 00:39:32,266 --> 00:39:35,033 they were trying to obliterate an area 735 00:39:35,133 --> 00:39:38,633 that the Japanese had occupied. 736 00:39:38,733 --> 00:39:41,500 Silberberg: The bomb dropped right into the ghetto. 737 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,000 The building it hit was right next to 738 00:39:44,100 --> 00:39:47,400 a Japanese radio station which was transmitting, 739 00:39:47,500 --> 00:39:50,700 and the Americans wanted to hit that radio station. 740 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:53,200 In doing that, they also hit that compound 741 00:39:53,300 --> 00:39:55,566 where there were a lot of Jews living. 742 00:39:55,666 --> 00:39:57,100 Tobias: And I remember my father saying 743 00:39:57,200 --> 00:39:58,600 that as he walked along the street, 744 00:39:58,700 --> 00:40:00,966 one of the houses which had been bombed, 745 00:40:01,066 --> 00:40:05,000 he recognized from the legs that one of the rubble was a refugee. 746 00:40:05,100 --> 00:40:09,800 So they pulled out the corpse of a refugee who had been killed. 747 00:40:09,900 --> 00:40:12,700 After that, we suddenly realized 748 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:17,033 that liberation would not be easy. 749 00:40:17,133 --> 00:40:23,966 ♪♪ 750 00:40:24,066 --> 00:40:30,900 ♪♪ 751 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:33,033 And then one morning, 752 00:40:33,133 --> 00:40:38,033 I'll never forget the incredible puzzlement, 753 00:40:38,133 --> 00:40:41,700 because the Japanese occupying forces 754 00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:43,866 simply vanished. 755 00:40:43,966 --> 00:40:46,500 Sasson: My father came home and he said, "The war is over," 756 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:49,500 and I just chucked up. 757 00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:55,200 Fogel: And nobody believed it until we saw planes flying across 758 00:40:55,300 --> 00:40:59,333 and little leaflets falling down. 759 00:40:59,433 --> 00:41:02,600 That was an unbelievable day. 760 00:41:02,700 --> 00:41:05,966 Whether it was German Jews or Chinese, 761 00:41:06,066 --> 00:41:09,500 everybody was out on the streets. 762 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:11,533 Newsreel narrator: Vast throngs of grateful, happy people 763 00:41:11,633 --> 00:41:13,366 celebrate the end of fighting, 764 00:41:13,466 --> 00:41:14,933 the dawn of peace. 765 00:41:15,033 --> 00:41:16,833 It's official -- it's all over. 766 00:41:16,933 --> 00:41:18,933 It's total victory. 767 00:41:19,033 --> 00:41:21,566 [ Crowd cheering ] 768 00:41:25,033 --> 00:41:27,033 Fogel: The war was over. 769 00:41:27,133 --> 00:41:29,533 Now what? 770 00:41:29,633 --> 00:41:31,166 Now what? 771 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:34,700 Marcus: We had no idea. 772 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:37,500 We had no idea of concentration camps. 773 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:39,966 We had no idea how brutal it had become. 774 00:41:40,066 --> 00:41:42,133 We all guessed that some of our relatives 775 00:41:42,233 --> 00:41:44,133 probably didn't make it, 776 00:41:44,233 --> 00:41:48,100 but no one had any idea about the enormity of the Holocaust. 777 00:41:51,566 --> 00:41:54,800 When we heard about it, 778 00:41:54,900 --> 00:41:57,800 horror sort of rattled through the Jewish community. 779 00:41:57,900 --> 00:42:07,866 ♪♪ 780 00:41:57,900 --> 00:42:07,866 ♪♪ 781 00:42:07,966 --> 00:42:11,200 And every day, people would go and look 782 00:42:11,300 --> 00:42:15,133 and see what new names were coming down, 783 00:42:15,233 --> 00:42:18,266 to find the people who had survived. 784 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:24,233 My father's brother was killed. 785 00:42:24,333 --> 00:42:26,833 My father's other brother, they were gassed. 786 00:42:26,933 --> 00:42:30,366 So if we had been there, I think we'd be dead, too. 787 00:42:30,466 --> 00:42:34,600 Tobias: 14 of my aunts, uncles, or cousins had not survived. 788 00:42:34,700 --> 00:42:36,500 These are people I had lived with, 789 00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:39,066 I had laughed with, I'd cried with. 790 00:42:39,166 --> 00:42:40,966 The last time I saw one of my cousins, 791 00:42:41,066 --> 00:42:42,800 we got into a big fight 792 00:42:42,900 --> 00:42:45,366 and were rolling around in the dirt. 793 00:42:45,466 --> 00:42:47,833 When we found out that he did not survive, 794 00:42:47,933 --> 00:42:52,366 I had the sense that the wrong cousin had perished, 795 00:42:52,466 --> 00:42:54,000 that it had I who had been deserved 796 00:42:54,100 --> 00:42:56,400 because I had been so brutal and rough on him. 797 00:42:56,500 --> 00:43:00,000 Fogel: My father's parents died at Dachau, 798 00:43:00,100 --> 00:43:04,466 and my mother's father died at Sachsenhausen. 799 00:43:04,566 --> 00:43:10,766 I've never carried a chip on my shoulder -- why me? 800 00:43:10,866 --> 00:43:14,166 If I ask, "Why me," it's, "Why me, did I get saved? 801 00:43:14,266 --> 00:43:16,533 And didn't get killed, 802 00:43:16,633 --> 00:43:22,566 and was able to live in Shanghai and grow up?" 803 00:43:22,666 --> 00:43:25,400 That's the why -- you know, that's the "why me." 804 00:43:27,433 --> 00:43:30,666 ♪ Baruch ata Adonai 805 00:43:30,766 --> 00:43:35,500 Tobias: I had my Bar Mitzvah in Shanghai in November 1945. 806 00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:40,166 Into the Ohel Moshe wandered an American soldier. 807 00:43:40,266 --> 00:43:42,633 He was wearing the scrolls and the Magen David, 808 00:43:42,733 --> 00:43:44,100 and we realized he's a rabbi. 809 00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:48,033 He said, "To find a synagogue, a service, and a Bar Mitzvah 810 00:43:48,133 --> 00:43:51,700 as deeply steeped in Judaism as this is, 811 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:53,666 it's a memorable experience." 812 00:43:53,766 --> 00:43:56,966 And he said, "Now for me, the words, 'Am Yisrael Chai,'" 813 00:43:57,066 --> 00:43:59,600 which means, the Jewish people will live, 814 00:43:59,700 --> 00:44:01,533 "will mean something very specific to me 815 00:44:01,633 --> 00:44:03,966 for the rest of my life." 816 00:44:04,066 --> 00:44:06,633 And everybody cried, including me, of course. 817 00:44:06,733 --> 00:44:09,433 Our very survival had moved him 818 00:44:09,533 --> 00:44:13,066 as much as we were moved by him being here. 819 00:44:17,033 --> 00:44:19,133 Woman: I didn't hate the Germans. 820 00:44:19,233 --> 00:44:21,800 I didn't hate the Japanese. 821 00:44:21,900 --> 00:44:24,566 I didn't like what had been done to us, 822 00:44:24,666 --> 00:44:27,366 that we had been robbed of our identity, 823 00:44:27,466 --> 00:44:30,000 of living a life of purpose, 824 00:44:30,100 --> 00:44:33,333 of following our star. 825 00:44:33,433 --> 00:44:37,333 Finally, I was free to follow my star. 826 00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:44,966 Silberberg: So then the big question started -- where do we go? 827 00:44:45,066 --> 00:44:46,500 There were maybe a few people 828 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:48,900 who would have considered staying in China, 829 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:54,366 but the majority took Shanghai as a waiting place. 830 00:44:54,466 --> 00:44:56,366 Sasson: We were stateless. 831 00:44:56,466 --> 00:44:58,333 We could have gone back to Austria right away, 832 00:44:58,433 --> 00:45:01,200 but my mother didn't want to take us back there. 833 00:45:01,300 --> 00:45:03,000 So, where do we go? 834 00:45:05,333 --> 00:45:08,333 Kaufman: The Baghdadi Jews return, Victor Sassoon returns, 835 00:45:05,333 --> 00:45:08,333 Kaufman: The Baghdadi Jews return, Victor Sassoon returns, 836 00:45:08,433 --> 00:45:09,666 the Kadoories return. 837 00:45:09,766 --> 00:45:11,800 Working with the Joint Distribution Committee, 838 00:45:11,900 --> 00:45:15,066 these wealthy Jewish families begin to try to figure out 839 00:45:15,166 --> 00:45:16,666 where these families will go. 840 00:45:16,766 --> 00:45:19,233 They can go to America, they can go to Palestine, 841 00:45:19,333 --> 00:45:20,733 they can go to Australia. 842 00:45:20,833 --> 00:45:22,633 Some go to Latin America. 843 00:45:22,733 --> 00:45:26,966 And so, in the two or three years after 1945, 844 00:45:27,066 --> 00:45:30,200 all the refugees just about leave Shanghai 845 00:45:30,300 --> 00:45:31,566 and they board ships 846 00:45:31,666 --> 00:45:34,966 to these various places to start their new lives. 847 00:45:37,833 --> 00:45:40,966 Silberberg: It was again a journey into the unknown. 848 00:45:41,066 --> 00:45:49,533 ♪♪ 849 00:45:49,633 --> 00:45:58,100 ♪♪ 850 00:45:58,200 --> 00:46:01,500 [ Singing in Hebrew ] 851 00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:09,133 ♪♪ 852 00:46:09,233 --> 00:46:11,466 [ Applause ] 853 00:46:11,566 --> 00:46:12,966 Woman: I would like to ask 854 00:46:13,066 --> 00:46:17,633 all first-generation Shanghailanders to stand. 855 00:46:17,733 --> 00:46:21,100 This is anyone who lived in Shanghai. 856 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:26,033 [ Applause ] 857 00:46:28,833 --> 00:46:33,533 Will all second-generation Shanghailanders please stand? 858 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:37,033 [ Applause ] 859 00:46:40,366 --> 00:46:45,433 Will all third-generation Shanghailanders please stand? 860 00:46:45,533 --> 00:46:47,566 [ Applause ] 861 00:46:49,566 --> 00:46:52,766 And do we have any fourth-generation? 862 00:46:55,133 --> 00:46:57,166 [ Applause ] 863 00:46:59,333 --> 00:47:01,933 [ Indistinct conversations ] 864 00:47:05,633 --> 00:47:06,866 Helga's son: I have a question for my mom. 865 00:47:06,966 --> 00:47:08,066 Okay. 866 00:47:08,166 --> 00:47:11,266 Do you think back, if Hitler wouldn't have happened, 867 00:47:11,366 --> 00:47:13,166 how your life would have been different? 868 00:47:13,266 --> 00:47:15,600 Silberberg: Oh, way different. For starters, 869 00:47:15,700 --> 00:47:17,700 I would never have met your father. 870 00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:19,433 [ Laughter ] 871 00:47:19,533 --> 00:47:22,600 I think what I learned in Shanghai 872 00:47:22,700 --> 00:47:24,233 has taken me through my life, 873 00:47:24,333 --> 00:47:28,166 because nothing can really faze me very much. 874 00:47:28,266 --> 00:47:33,833 Because we know what it means to have absolutely nothing. 875 00:47:33,933 --> 00:47:37,200 My mom and dad, no matter what was going on in life, 876 00:47:37,300 --> 00:47:39,200 they just always moved forward and never complained. 877 00:47:39,300 --> 00:47:40,966 Never complained about anything. 878 00:47:41,066 --> 00:47:42,966 She didn't --Idid. 879 00:47:43,066 --> 00:47:44,133 [ Laughter ] 880 00:47:44,233 --> 00:47:46,333 I'm very proud of you for what you went through 881 00:47:46,433 --> 00:47:48,066 and what you made of your life. 882 00:47:51,166 --> 00:47:53,100 Helga's daughter: If I can say something, too? 883 00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:56,766 My mom has taught me so much in life. 884 00:47:56,866 --> 00:48:01,333 Whenever anything is down, she brings me right up. 885 00:48:01,433 --> 00:48:04,533 And that's made me, you know, a tough lady. 886 00:48:04,633 --> 00:48:07,966 I mean, she is a tough lady to compete with, 887 00:48:04,633 --> 00:48:07,966 I mean, she is a tough lady to compete with, 888 00:48:08,066 --> 00:48:14,233 but her motto in life is, "There's always worse things." 889 00:48:14,333 --> 00:48:17,300 Yeah, that's what she always says. 890 00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:18,666 Thank you, Mom. 891 00:48:18,766 --> 00:48:21,200 Silberberg: Welcome. 892 00:48:21,300 --> 00:48:24,000 I've been able to install that in you, that's good. 893 00:48:24,100 --> 00:48:27,233 -[ Laughter ] -Yes. Yes, you did. 894 00:48:27,333 --> 00:48:30,366 Silberberg: The whole experience taught me 895 00:48:30,466 --> 00:48:33,733 that nothing is for sure. 896 00:48:33,833 --> 00:48:35,466 Everywhere I live, 897 00:48:35,566 --> 00:48:38,266 I know that any day, 898 00:48:38,366 --> 00:48:41,433 it might not be home anymore. 899 00:48:41,533 --> 00:48:45,400 And it's not that devastating if it does happen. 900 00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:52,733 Blumenthal: I always knew that, at heart, basically, 901 00:48:52,833 --> 00:48:56,500 I was still Werner Michael Blumenthal, 902 00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:58,366 whether I was the Secretary of the Treasury 903 00:48:58,466 --> 00:49:00,600 or whether I was a United States Ambassador 904 00:49:00,700 --> 00:49:04,033 or a CEO or a professor or whatever. 905 00:49:04,133 --> 00:49:08,433 I always knew, tomorrow, that could all be gone. 906 00:49:08,533 --> 00:49:11,133 And what's important is what kind of person I am, 907 00:49:11,233 --> 00:49:12,966 how I conduct myself. 908 00:49:13,066 --> 00:49:14,700 That's one of the important lessons 909 00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:16,966 that I learned in Shanghai. 910 00:49:17,066 --> 00:49:18,300 When all those are gone, 911 00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:20,866 what kind of a human being will you be? 912 00:49:20,966 --> 00:49:23,533 Most people think that in order to be 913 00:49:23,633 --> 00:49:25,166 a Holocaust survivor, 914 00:49:25,266 --> 00:49:27,866 you have to have a number on your arm 915 00:49:27,966 --> 00:49:32,033 and you have to have spent time in a concentration camp. 916 00:49:32,133 --> 00:49:34,166 But that's not so. 917 00:49:34,266 --> 00:49:35,166 It was time. 918 00:49:35,266 --> 00:49:37,933 It was time that I started to speak, 919 00:49:38,033 --> 00:49:41,833 and to talk about what happened. 920 00:49:41,933 --> 00:49:45,333 I've lost track of the thousands of students 921 00:49:45,433 --> 00:49:47,466 that I have spoken to. 922 00:49:50,566 --> 00:49:54,800 We live in an age now where there are people 923 00:49:54,900 --> 00:49:58,266 that need to escape their countries 924 00:49:58,366 --> 00:50:01,933 because of the horrors that are going on. 925 00:50:02,033 --> 00:50:06,433 It breaks my heart to see people trying to come to our country, 926 00:50:06,533 --> 00:50:10,100 that is plentiful, being turned away. 927 00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:13,466 This never happened to us when we went to Shanghai. 928 00:50:13,566 --> 00:50:16,266 Shanghai opened their arms to us. 929 00:50:18,300 --> 00:50:21,300 Tribe: For me, the Jewish culture that I grew up with 930 00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:24,500 embodies the importance of being truthful, 931 00:50:24,600 --> 00:50:29,100 of seeking justice, of doing what you can to help others. 932 00:50:29,200 --> 00:50:32,766 We all probably have some elements in ourselves 933 00:50:32,866 --> 00:50:35,833 that could make us, under other circumstances, 934 00:50:35,933 --> 00:50:37,833 treat people horribly, 935 00:50:37,933 --> 00:50:39,866 which is what makes it all the more important 936 00:50:39,966 --> 00:50:43,166 to have a structure of law and a system of rights 937 00:50:43,266 --> 00:50:45,166 and a system of commitments 938 00:50:45,266 --> 00:50:48,233 to the equal human rights of everybody. 939 00:50:48,333 --> 00:50:51,300 We are one of the lucky people who had a door open 940 00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:53,800 when so many others have doors shut. 941 00:50:53,900 --> 00:50:56,400 Opening those doors is an obligation, 942 00:50:56,500 --> 00:50:58,533 not just an opportunity. 943 00:51:03,133 --> 00:51:04,966 [ Knocking ] 944 00:51:05,066 --> 00:51:06,866 Ho: Lotte! 945 00:51:05,066 --> 00:51:06,866 Ho: Lotte! 946 00:51:09,733 --> 00:51:11,866 Oh, wait a minute. 947 00:51:12,933 --> 00:51:15,000 Yay, I'm so glad to see you. 948 00:51:15,100 --> 00:51:17,166 Marcus: [ Laughs ] 949 00:51:17,266 --> 00:51:19,733 Have a seat. Sit down. 950 00:51:19,833 --> 00:51:24,566 Nobody can really imagine what it was like 951 00:51:24,666 --> 00:51:26,400 for me to meet you 952 00:51:26,500 --> 00:51:29,833 and find out who your father was. 953 00:51:29,933 --> 00:51:32,866 That was what, 17 years ago, Lotte? 954 00:51:32,966 --> 00:51:36,000 You came here with your lemon cake, 955 00:51:36,100 --> 00:51:40,666 and I brought out my passport. 956 00:51:40,766 --> 00:51:42,333 And you opened it up, 957 00:51:42,433 --> 00:51:44,966 and there was all this Chinese writing. 958 00:51:45,066 --> 00:51:48,533 And you said, "See that number that's there? 959 00:51:48,633 --> 00:51:52,266 That's the number of visas my father gave that day." 960 00:51:52,366 --> 00:51:55,266 I figure, at least that day, they issued -- 961 00:51:55,366 --> 00:51:57,933 the Chinese consulate issued or stamped 962 00:51:58,033 --> 00:52:00,233 at least 100 visas that day. 963 00:52:00,333 --> 00:52:04,000 I was overwhelmed that after 70 years, 964 00:52:04,100 --> 00:52:06,833 or 60 years... Yeah. 965 00:52:06,933 --> 00:52:09,166 ...my story turned upside down. 966 00:52:09,266 --> 00:52:11,300 I believed before that some clerk 967 00:52:11,400 --> 00:52:13,866 had just stamped this Shanghai visa, 968 00:52:13,966 --> 00:52:19,633 but now I saw that somebody knew it to save people. 969 00:52:19,733 --> 00:52:21,933 That's totally different. 970 00:52:22,033 --> 00:52:24,300 Ho: My father was never reunited 971 00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:26,600 with any of the people that he helped. 972 00:52:26,700 --> 00:52:29,033 He was unknown to most of them. 973 00:52:29,133 --> 00:52:32,266 And so when I meet these people, 974 00:52:32,366 --> 00:52:37,466 I feel that my father's efforts were worth it. 975 00:52:37,566 --> 00:52:40,700 I jokingly call them mymishpacha, 976 00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:44,200 which in Yiddish means my family. 977 00:52:44,300 --> 00:52:47,333 It's like a miracle to me, 978 00:52:47,433 --> 00:52:50,300 and you and I have become very good friends. 979 00:52:50,400 --> 00:52:52,400 And it doesn't change the darkness, 980 00:52:52,500 --> 00:52:56,000 but it gives light into the darkness. 981 00:53:01,233 --> 00:53:03,266 [ Indistinct conversations ] 982 00:53:12,866 --> 00:53:14,600 -Remember where it is? -Ah, ah, ah, ah... 983 00:53:14,700 --> 00:53:16,600 Look over here. You see it? 984 00:53:16,700 --> 00:53:19,033 -Yeah, that's right! -That's my nana. 985 00:53:19,133 --> 00:53:20,733 Boy: That's my nana. 986 00:53:20,833 --> 00:53:24,600 That was her brother. That's the whole family. 987 00:53:24,700 --> 00:53:26,566 This is the list of all the people 988 00:53:26,666 --> 00:53:29,466 that were able to come here 989 00:53:29,566 --> 00:53:34,133 when your great-great-grandma came here. 990 00:53:34,233 --> 00:53:37,000 Kaufman: This miracle occurred because certain people 991 00:53:37,100 --> 00:53:39,133 stepped up at the right moment. 992 00:53:39,233 --> 00:53:42,466 I think the Baghdadi Jews did, I think Laura Margolis did, 993 00:53:42,566 --> 00:53:43,966 Ho Feng Shan, 994 00:53:44,066 --> 00:53:46,200 so I think there were individuals who did it. 995 00:53:46,300 --> 00:53:48,266 But more than that, this was a place, 996 00:53:48,366 --> 00:53:50,066 the most unexpected of places, 997 00:53:50,166 --> 00:53:53,766 that saved these Jews when they needed help the most. 998 00:53:57,666 --> 00:53:59,933 Beyond politics, beyond, you know, 999 00:54:00,033 --> 00:54:03,166 rivalries and economics and military things, 1000 00:54:03,266 --> 00:54:05,833 in the end, there was a human connection 1001 00:54:05,933 --> 00:54:09,566 that was established between the Chinese and the Jews. 1002 00:54:05,933 --> 00:54:09,566 that was established between the Chinese and the Jews. 1003 00:54:09,666 --> 00:54:12,433 And I think that created a common bond 1004 00:54:12,533 --> 00:54:15,933 that you certainly didn't see anywhere else in the world. 1005 00:54:16,033 --> 00:54:19,433 ♪♪ 1006 00:54:19,533 --> 00:54:23,066 Woman: The years fell away and I saw myself -- 1007 00:54:23,166 --> 00:54:25,033 I saw the young girl and her parents 1008 00:54:25,133 --> 00:54:29,100 walk off the gangplank eight years before. 1009 00:54:29,200 --> 00:54:32,566 Coolies in sweat-stained rags were hauling loads, 1010 00:54:32,666 --> 00:54:36,100 children shrieked and chased each other on the docks. 1011 00:54:36,200 --> 00:54:38,100 It hadn't changed. 1012 00:54:38,200 --> 00:54:40,533 And as I looked at the city that had sheltered us 1013 00:54:40,633 --> 00:54:43,100 from the horrors of Hitler's war, 1014 00:54:43,200 --> 00:54:46,233 all I saw in front of me was a fine city 1015 00:54:46,333 --> 00:54:50,333 bathed in sunlight under a China-blue sky. 1016 00:54:50,433 --> 00:54:54,933 I saw dainty Chinese ladies in long silken gowns 1017 00:54:55,033 --> 00:54:57,600 strolling in beautiful gardens. 1018 00:54:57,700 --> 00:55:06,133 ♪♪ 1019 00:55:06,233 --> 00:55:14,566 ♪♪ 1020 00:55:14,666 --> 00:55:23,033 ♪♪ 1021 00:55:23,133 --> 00:55:31,500 ♪♪ 1022 00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:39,933 ♪♪ 1023 00:55:40,033 --> 00:55:48,400 ♪♪ 1024 00:55:48,500 --> 00:55:56,833 ♪♪ 1025 00:55:56,933 --> 00:56:05,366 ♪♪ Major funding provided by