On Wednesday, the Consulate General of Israel in Shanghai released a public service video thanking Shanghai for helping save over 20,000 Jews from Nazi persecution during the Holocaust.
The video features hundreds of Israelis holding up signs that read “Thank You” in Chinese, including, as Shangaiist notes, many Jewish refugees who grew up in Shanghai, as well as Nobel Prize winner Robert Aumann, magician Hezi Din, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who personally thanked Shanghai in a separate video.
"Shanghai gave them [the Jewish people] refuge, and in so doing saved their lives,” Netanyahu said. “I was there, I saw the place, I saw the activity. And the memory is strong, and it's inspiring. The strong friendship Israel has today with China is also based on this important part of our shared history. We are eternally grateful, and we will never forget.”
During the course of World War II, over 20,000 Jews arrived in Shanghai to escape the threat of the Third Reich. The Tilanqiao neighbourhood in Hongkou became known as the Jewish Quarter, centred around the Ohel Moshe Synagogue – currently the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. Following the war, most Jewish refugees eventually immigrated to other parts of the world, notably the United States and Israel.
"The place the Jews could come to and save their lives was here in Shanghai,” said Arnon Perlman, Israel’s Consul General in Shanghai, in a statement. “It was a hard time for everybody, but the Jews and the Chinese lived as friends, as good neighbours. And, for that, the Jewish people will always be thankful. And, because of that, we thought it is a right way of doing it by creating a short movie called Xiexie Shanghai (Thank You Shanghai)."
According to the Jerusalem Post, Xiexie Shanghai will be aired in Shanghai’s public spaces, and is also being widely shared on Chinese social media.
