Overview

When the world closed its borders to desperate Jews fleeing Europe during World War II, Shanghai became an unexpected last haven for the refugees. An open port that could be entered without visas, this unique city under Western and Japanese control sheltered tens of thousands of Jews. Shanghai Sanctuary is the first major study to examine the Chinese Nationalist government's policy towards the ""Jewish issue"" as well as the most thorough analysis of how this issue played into Japanese diplomacy. Why did Shanghai's German-allied Japanese occupiers permit this influx of Jewish refugees? Gao illuminates how the refugees' position complicated the relationships between China, Japan, Germany, and the United States before and during World War II. She thereby reveals a great deal about the Great Powers' national priorities, their international agendas, and their perceptions of the global balance of power. Drawing from both Chinese and Japanese archival sources that no Western scholar has been able to fully use before, Gao tells a rich story about the politics and personalities that brought Jewish refugees into Shanghai. This story, far from being a mere sidebar to the history of modern China and Japan, captures a critical moment when opportunistic authorities in both countries used the incoming Jewish refugees as a tool to win international financial and political support in their war against one another. Shanghai Sanctuary underlines the extent of Holocaust's global repercussions. In the process, the book sheds new light on the intricacies of wartime diplomacy and the far-reaching human consequences of the twentieth century's most documented conflict.

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9780190491581

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Reviews

Basing her work on documents from American, Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese archives, Gao follows a clearly innovative approach that offers a dual reading of the policies and practices of the Nationalist Chinese government, on the one hand, and the Japanese government and military forces in occupied Manchuria and China, on the other... Gao's book...provid[es] us with a rich archival documentation that, still today, remains relatively unexplored, makes an undeniable contribution to a larger, more up-to-date awareness of the topic. Journal of Modern History [T]he political context provided by Gao Bei makes her monograph a welcome contribution... The monograph is...well written and engaging. [T]his is a thorough treatment of Chinese and Japanese approaches to Jewish refugees and it deserves a wide audience. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies Many books and articles have been written about [the Jews from central and eastern Europe who found refuge in Shanghai during World War II] but, as the book under review demonstrate, there are always new documents to be tapped. Gao Bei has managed to discover hitherto little-known sources... This well-researched book contributes to our knowledge of the subject. Journal of Japanese Studies Gao investigates and compares the processes of Chinese and Japanese policy toward Jews against the backdrop of rising nationalism, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and World War II... This deep but concise study draws from compelling archival sources in China, Taiwan, and Japan that truly sets in apart from previous scholarship about the Jews of Shanghai... The integration of Chinese and Japanese primary and seconday sources also allows Gao to advance new information about the Chinese and Japanese interactions with Shaghai Jews. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies The movement of Jewish refugees from Hitler's Europe to Shanghai is well known. Using new sources, Gao Bei explains the less understood riddle of Chinese and Japanese thinking on the Jewish question and on Jewish settlement in East Asia, all within the context of the fighting from 1931 to 1945. An important and welcome book. Norman J.W. Goda, Braman Professor of Holocaust Studies, University of Florida Gao Bei uses rich new sources to tell the story of the Chinese and Japanese treatment of Jewish refugees during World War II. The book sheds much-needed light on the history not only of modern Jewish experience, but of nation-building in East Asia. Rana Mitter, author of A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World Gao Bei paints a fascinatingly intricate picture... [She] has a keen eye for detail and also provides the reader with an elaborate overview... Richly-illuminating. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society By moving away from the more familiar Eurocentric narrative, Gao offers a refreshing look at the difficulties, prejudices and motivations in government responses to Jewish refugees and the Holocaust. -European History Quarterly

Author Information

Gao Bei is Assistant Professor of History and International Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

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