Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 8, 2020

Stream now or tune in Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020 at 10 p.m. on KPBSTV

Holocaust Story of Hope Shines Light on Story of European Jews Finding Refuge in Shanghai During World War II

Harbor From The Holocaust shares the story of 20,000 Jewish refugees who fled Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II to the city of Shanghai. The one-hour film explores the extraordinary relationship the refugees, known as Shanghailanders, had with their adopted city, through the bitter years of Japanese occupation 1937-1945 and the Chinese civil war that followed.

Through personal recollections, interviews with historians, archival footage and music, the documentary tells the story of a group of people who, in tragic contrast with those who could not escape, were given a second chance.

"Harbor from the Holocaust" is the story of nearly 20,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II, to the Chinese port city of Shanghai. Explore the extraordinary relationship of these Jews and their adopted city of Shanghai, even through the bitter years of Japanese occupation 1937-1945 and the Chinese civil war that followed. Airing: 09/08/20

This is a Holocaust story of life not easy, not without loss and hardship but perhaps one that is largely unknown but for the people who can still share their view of survival, says Executive Producer Darryl Ford Williams. There is a contemporary context that is undeniable in reflecting on this narrative of people who found a way to live when country after country around the world closed their borders and turned their backs on those in need.

Documentary Advisors Tina Johnson and Michele Heryford share brief historical highlights of Shanghai and its relationship with Jewish emigres through many centuries, making it a unique safe harbor and one of the only places in the world for Jews escaping Nazi persecution during WWII. The preserved Jewish ghetto is also discussed in the context of modern China. Airing: 09/08/20

Taking a captivating look at this moment, Harbor From The Holocaust reveals why Shanghai was uniquely positioned, through geo-political, cultural and historical influences, to allow this remarkable influx to happen, due to those past relations with Jews predominantly from the Middle East, the Iberian Peninsula and Russia, and because of its centuries of control by and openness to foreigners as a vigorous center of trade and commerce.

Professor Emeritus Irene Eber of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem was an early advisor to the documentary. Author of "Wartime Shanghai and the Jewish Refugees from Central Europe: Survival, Co-Existence, and Identity in a Multi-Ethnic City," Ebers own story is that of a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany who escaped and hid for two years in a chicken coop belonging to a Polish family. Airing: 09/08/20

Through extraordinary recollections, the film highlights the stories of exceptional artists, statesmen and authors, as well as ordinary people who survived to carry on their Jewish religion and traditions.

Bert Reiners middle-class family was forced to abandon a comfortable life in Germany for the unknown world of Shanghai, China. Bert saw poverty and deprivation, but also made friends, learned Chinese, and played games. Coming to America after WWIIs end, when Shanghai emptied of its Jewish refugees, Bert became the pivotal design engineer behind the mass production of the Cabbage Patch Doll. Airing: 09/08/20

The story, much like the city itself, is nuanced and complex, incorporating many kinds of foreigners, many classes of Chinese, many kinds of Jews, and many layers.

Shanghai was not a place of tolerance and openness, so much as it was a place of fractionalized, disparate forces, which were sometimes competitive and sometimes complementary, but always existed within tenuous and often difficult transactional alliances.

Even the people whose stories are shared have varying tales of how they lived in Shanghai, what their families experienced, and how they were able to function on a day-to-day basis.

Mike Medavoys family was already settled in Shanghai among the Jewish emigres who had escaped pogroms in Russia during the mid-1900s. This group offered assistance to the waves of refugees fleeing the Nazis during WWII. His boyhood in Shanghai inspired Medavoy who eventually became a successful and well-known Hollywood movie producer, responsible for some of the most iconic films of our times. Airing: 09/08/20

Music plays an important role in the film evoking the time, the fear, the pain and the joy of the Shanghailanders. Orchestrated by musician and composer Chad Cannon, one of the special musical moments is a duet with violinist Niv Ashkenazi and guzheng player Beibei Monter. Ashkenazi performs on a violin of hope, a violin that survived the Holocaust and was restored.

Reflections on creating the textured musical score for Harbor from the Holocaust by Composer Chad Cannon, Violinist Niv Ashkenazi and Cantor Avram Mlotek. The music includes many personal and cultural influences, and features traditional Chinese guzheng played by Bei Bei Monter, and world renowned Cellist Yo Yo Ma playing passages throughout the score. Airing: 09/08/20

Of note, Yo Yo Ma also performs a piece for the film that was composed by his father entitled Pome pour Violoncelle et Orchestre.Mas father, Hiao-Tsuin Ma, studied with a great Chinese violinist in Shanghai. He taught at Nanjing University but continued his studies in Shanghai.

Composed by Hiao Tsiun Ma and played by his son, Yo Yo Ma. This piece was written by the elder Ma, who was one of Chinas greatest cellists. He wrote it about Shanghai, a city across the bay from the small town he grew up in (Ningbo) and which hed visited many times. Hiao Tsiun actually composed the work for his son, Yo Yo, who was studying cello and asked his father to write something for him. Airing: 09/08/20

Ultimately, he followed his teachers musical path to Paris, but the seeds of this composition were rooted in his experience in Shanghai as were the life stories of the Shanghailanders.

"Migu migu w i n" is a song in Mandarin composed by Chen Gexin, and first recorded by Yao Lee, that became very popular in the1940s in Shanghai among the Jewish refugees there. It was also known as Shanghai Rose and China Rose. In 1951, an English-language version called Rose, Rose, I Love You was recorded by Frankie Lane, and later as May Kway by British pop vocalist Petula Clark. Airing: 09/08/20

Heather Klein was moved to create and sing a one-woman operatic program to honor her grandmother Rosa Ginsberg who escaped Nazi persecution, lived a challenging life in Shanghai, and was detained at Angel Island upon coming to America. Rosa was finally able to settle in New York. Backed by accompanist Joshua Horowitz, Heather shared her songs at a Shanghailander event at Congregation BNai Emunah. Airing: 09/08/20

Watch On Your Schedule:

This film is available to stream on demand through Oct. 6, 2020.

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Credits:

A production of WQED. The executive producer is Darryl Ford Williams. The producer and director is Violet Du Feng. The editor is Michelle Chang. Orchestration by Chad Cannon. Funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; the National Endowment for the Humanities; The Philip Chosky Charitable and Educational Foundation; The Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh; PBS and public television viewers.

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Harbor From The Holocaust - KPBS

Category: Ashkenazi
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