“Home Afar”: The Life of Central European Jewish Refugees in Shanghai During World War II

Vámos, Péter

doi:10.1556/aorient.57.2004.1.4

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…A Hungarian businessman and longtime Chinaresident, Paul Komor's (1886Komor's ( -1973 name is memorialized by the descendants of survivors from the [1938][1939][1940][1941][1942][1943][1944][1945] Shanghai Jewish refugee crisis. A virtual no-man's-land where immigration regulations were rarely enforced, wartime Shanghai became the world's only safe haven, ensuring the survival of roughly twenty thousand European Jews who had fled Nazi persecution (Vámos 2004). Paul Komor's earlier efforts in the 1920s, assisting the repatriation of World War One prisoners of war from Siberia via China and organizing the local Hungarian community, were both "training grounds" for this larger humanitarian undertaking.…”

Section: Paul Komor and Theresia Moll's "National Image-cultivation" ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a History of Interwar Sino-Hungarian Cultural Relations: Three Advocates of Kuomintang Soft Power, Hungarian Irredentism and Pan-Danubianism

Mervay¹

2022

ahea

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper aims to achieve two goals: the first is to bring a fresh perspective to the Atlanto-centric history of Chinese propaganda while tracing the roots of Sino-Hungarian bilateral approaches and Hungarian Sinology to a time dating some fifteen years earlier than the mutual recognition of the two People’s Republics. This analysis also introduces three actors of different political agendas who applied a similar PR tool of cultural diplomacy to elicit international sympathy for their homeland. After briefly surveying the primary stimuli of cultural diplomacy in interwar Hungary and Republican-Era China, I turn to pre-1949 Sino-Hungarian cultural approaches in the era of no formal diplomatic relations. Such initiatives offer valuable insights into the history of cultural diplomacy while also highlighting significant parallels with the present. Specifically, I introduce the political and cultural agenda of three individuals acting as cultural ambassadors to their homelands. The Shanghai Jewish refugee aid organizer, Paul Komor, and the women’s association president, Theresia Moll, were members of the Hungarian diaspora in China. They introduced the post-Habsburg Central European region to a cosmopolitan community while exhibiting two different foci: Hungarian irredentism and pan-Danubianism. Meanwhile, Zhenya He, a Kuomintang propagandist and the University of Budapest’s first Chinese language instructor during the 1930s, synthesized Hungarian pan-Asian Turanism with Sun Yat-sen’s Tridemism to further Sino-Hungarian exchanges.

show abstract

Section: Paul Komor and Theresia Moll's "National Image-cultivation" ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a History of Interwar Sino-Hungarian Cultural Relations: Three Advocates of Kuomintang Soft Power, Hungarian Irredentism and Pan-Danubianism

Mervay¹

2022

ahea

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Разбор исторического контекста исследуемой темы был осуществлен, опираясь преимущественно на англоязычные источники, содержащие значительное количество фактологического материала, включая цитаты из архивных документов и ссылки на нормативно-правовые акты [Eber, 2018]. Среди них труды таких историков как Г. Пан (Китай) 2 , П. Вамоса (Венгрия) [Vámos, 2004], А. Альтман (Израиль) [Альтман, Эбер 2000], Э. Джуниперо (Италия) [Giunipero, 2018].…”

unclassified

“…По оценкам экспертов, численность евреев на тот момент составляла около 6 тыс. человек [Vámos, 2004].…”

unclassified

Problems of Сultural Adaptation of European Jewish in Shanghai During World War II

Терентьев

2020

Concept: philosophy, religion, culture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During World War II, the inhumane Nazi policy condemned millions of people to death. The National Socialist ideology having anti-Semitism as one of its pillars was consolidated during Hitler’s tenure in Germany, descending into taking the villainous crimes against humanity for granted. More than 18 thousand European Jewish emigrants arrived in Shanghai in the late 1930’s seeking refuge. No special permission to enter this multinational city was required and the local community provided all assistance to make their adaptation easy. Despite the cultural and linguistic differences between the local community and the refugees, the latter succeeded in adaptation, contributing to the city`s development. Quite quickly a model of adaptation to new political, economic and sociocultural conditions was found. Over time, however, the pressure and volatility of the policy of Japan, which occupied Shanghai in 1937, placed Jews in a difficult, unpredictable and dangerous position. The study reveals the concealed chapter of the history of the Holocaust describing the hardship of the Jewish population forced to emigrate to the other parts of the world to save their own lives from Nazi persecution. The name «Shanghai» has become a synonym of «salvation» for the participants of those events who have always gratefully remembered the hard, but life-saving years spent there. Along with the historical context, the cultural issue is considered in this study based on evaluation of the Jewish refugees’ assimilation in the Asian metropolis, analysis of the crosscultural interaction having arisen in the new communication space and the research on maintenance of the Jewish community’s fundamental values in an unfamiliar environment.

show abstract

A Hungarian Old China Hand and the End of Empire: Loyalty Struggles in Interwar Shanghai's Migrant Community

Mervay

2024

Austrian Hist Yearbk

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article explores the consequences of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's end through the tumultuous biography of a philanthropic entrepreneur and quasi-consul community leader known today for assisting thousands of Jewish refugees during World War II. Focusing on Paul Komor (1886–1973) and the migrant community of Shanghai Hungarians, the article contends that postimperial diasporas preserved a piece of empire in their commitment to Jewish emancipation, imperialist nationalism, multiple loyalties, and political nostalgia. It also argues that diasporic networks and charitable actions communicated political and national loyalties while creating and defining the boundaries of the community. Presenting original research involving sources in multiple languages from China, Hungary, the U.S., the U.K., and the Netherlands, the article traces the fortunes of a Jewish Hungarian family in colonial Shanghai, shows the limits of its son's charity-rooted advancement in community leadership, sheds light on the seemingly contradictory political ideas of a postimperial expatriate to explain his complicated relationship with his kinstate, and analyzes the institutionalization of communal charity and the competing prerequisite definitions of postimperial national belonging.

show abstract

“Home Afar”: The Life of Central European Jewish Refugees in Shanghai During World War II

Cited by 4 publications

References 6 publications

Toward a History of Interwar Sino-Hungarian Cultural Relations: Three Advocates of Kuomintang Soft Power, Hungarian Irredentism and Pan-Danubianism

Toward a History of Interwar Sino-Hungarian Cultural Relations: Three Advocates of Kuomintang Soft Power, Hungarian Irredentism and Pan-Danubianism

Problems of Сultural Adaptation of European Jewish in Shanghai During World War II

A Hungarian Old China Hand and the End of Empire: Loyalty Struggles in Interwar Shanghai's Migrant Community

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About