Strange Haven: A Jewish Childhood in Wartime Shanghai

by Sigmund Tobias

In the wake of Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938, Sigmund Tobias and his parents fled their home in Germany and relocated to one of the few cities in the world that offered shelter without requiring a the notorious pleasure capital, Shanghai. Seventeen thousand Jewish refugees flocked to Hongkew, a section of Shanghai ruled by the Japanese, and they created an active community that continued to exist through the end of the war. Tobias's coming-of-age story unfolds within his descriptions of Jewish life in the exotic sanctuary of Shanghai. Depleted by disease and hunger, constantly struggling with primitive and crowded conditions, the refugees faced shortages of food, clothing, and medicine. Tobias also observes the underlife of the prostitution and black market profiteering, the brutal lives of the Chinese workers, the tensions between Chinese and Japanese during the war, and the paralyzing inflation and the approach of the communist "liberators" afterward. Richly detailed, Strange Haven opens a little-documented chapter of the Holocaust and provides a fascinating glimpse of life for these foreigners in a foreign land. An epilogue describes the changes Tobias observed when he returned to Shanghai forty years later as a visiting professor.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1999

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving account of a young man's life in Shanghai during World War II. Sigi, as a Jew,had to flee Germany. The only place that allowed Jews to enter without a visa was Japanese controlled Shanghai. Over 12,000 people fled there and lived through the atrocities. I first read about this in a German magazine, and was surprised. All the times I took American history and World War II was discussed, none of my teachers ever mentioned that America turned away people and ships full of Jews, and yet China the Red Demon, had welcomed them. Sigi makes a comment that really intrigued me. He writes how when he read history books in English, he was intrigued how the American history books described the American Revolution as a revolt against tyranny and how the British history books described it as like teenagers who had misbehaved against their parents and were ungrateful. He wondered if it applied to the current situation in Germany. I will have to read more about this subject.

[Rachel Knopp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A firsthand account of the 20,000 Jews who took refuge in Shanghai during WWII, because it was the only place to go. I'm lucky to be the granddaughter of one of these children, and thus the product of this lesser-known history.

I found these words from an American visiting rabbi just after the war to be particularly moving, "When I landed in Shanghai, I doubted if it would be possible to find a minyan for sabbath services. To my delight, not only do I find a vital synagogue here in Shanghai, but I am thrilled to participate in a bar mitzvah as deeply steeped in Jewish custom, learning, and values as one could ever have imagined anywhere on earth, much less China. From this day on, the phrase am yisrael chai will have a very special meaning to me for the rest of my life."

[Jordon Gyarmathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before reading this book, the only knowledge I had of Jews in China was the city of Harbin. I had no idea that Jewish refugees from the Second World War had been let into Shanghai. I enjoyed this short personal account of Sigmund Tobias and his early life leaving Germany for Shanghai. The author gives personal details that completed a clear picture of what living in the Ghetto of Shanghai was like for the Jewish refugees.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating true story of Jews who escaped from Europe to Shanghai, China during WWII. Very compelling reading.