Departure of Jews and End of the Jewish Refugee Community in China

Abstract

After WW II, Jewish refugees left China for various reasons. By the start of the Cultural Revolution, except for Hong Kong and Taiwan, the Jewish refugee community and settlements in China had ceased to exist. However, during the 17 years before the Cultural Revolution, many Jews still lived in China and their organization, the Council of the Jewish Community of Shanghai, remained effective with the support of the Chinese government.

Annex: Return of Former Jewish Refugees and Their Descendants to Their “Homes” After Reform and Opening Up

• &
•  

Since the late 1970s, there have been three waves of Jews revisiting China. The first wave occurred in the 1980s. At that time, China was reopening its door to the outside world and undergoing unprecedented changes, which drew many Jews back to China. Some visited their old friends, some stayed in China and got employment, some started businesses and some others just came for sightseeing purpose. However, the number of Jews who stayed and worked in China was small, and even fewer invested in businesses here. The second wave occurred in the mid 1990s. In 1992, China and Israel established official diplomatic relations and then quite a lot of Israeli officials, entrepreneurs, scholars and tourists came to China. Following them, Jews from all over the world again not only turned their eyes on China but also made their presence in China. Israelites surged as a proportion of the Jews revisiting China. In the 21st century, the number of Jews coming to China skyrocketed for two main reasons. The first was China’s rapid economic development. China further integrated into the international economic system after accession to the WTO, creating a favorable environment for Jews to do business and invest in China. Secondly, international terrorism spread after the 9/11 Attack. In comparison China was a much safer, more stable and prosperous place than many other parts of the world for Jews.

1.1 China Jews Leading the Return to China

After China began its reform and opening up cause, especially after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Israel, more and more former Jewish refugees in China and their descendants came back to China to relive their memories and visit their friends. That formed a new wave of Jewish coming to China and composed new chapter of the friendship between Jews and Chinese people. The author of this book has collected many beautiful stories about their friendship.

In 1979, W. Michael Blumenthal, then the United States Secretary of the Treasury, made an official visit to China. He took a trip to Hongkou during a break to visit his home and recall his life in the wartime with his neighbors. He told the accompanying journalists that, compared with 1939 when he fled from Germany to Shanghai at the age of thirteen, big changes had occurred, and most notably there were no more beggars or dead bodies on the street.³² In the following years, Michael came back to Shanghai regularly. The author of this book escorted him many times to his old home on the second floor of 59 Chushan Road. His eyes were filled with tears whenever he recalled the hard times of his family when the family of four squeezed in a room of 10 square meters. In 1989, Yosef Tekoah, president of Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, visited Shanghai. He said at a banquet: “Youth was the very best time of life and I spent it in Shanghai. Now I am back here to recollect the good old times.”³³ In 1996, the 91-year-old former Israeli Minister of Religions Zerach Warhaftig returned to Shanghai and looked for the old home of Meir Ashkenazi where he used to live.³⁴ In 1994, T. Kaufman, president of the Israel-China Friendship Association, returned to Harbin, as head of a delegation. He found his old home where he spent his childhood and went to the well-preserved Harbin Jewish Cemetery. There were still over 600 tombstones.³⁵ In August 2005, Baron Robert Skidelsky, member of the British House of Lords, returned to his birth city, Harbin, and made a special trip to the Jewish cemetery. Robert Skidelsky was born to a wealthy merchant family in Harbin.³⁶ Since 1994, Israeli industrialist S. Muller has returned to his birth city Tianjin many times and met with his former neighbors.³⁷ In 1984, K. Gunpo, founder of the Shanghai Doumer Theatre (now Donghu Cinema), revisited the theatre with his wife, meeting with some former staff and taking a group photo with them.³⁸ Benjamin Fishoff, a New York businessman and a former Jewish refugee, revisited Shanghai with his whole family in 1994. In the showroom of the Ohel Moshe Synagogue in Hongkou, he was excited to see a copy of his ID card which he used 50 years ago.³⁹ Eve Kramer, born to a Russian Jewish family in Shanghai, returned to her old home in Shanghai in 1994 and found that the “Mezzuzah” (the traditional Jewish door ornament) was still hanging above the door of the room where she was born. Her father had nailed it on the door frame 50 years ago.⁴⁰ The list of stories goes on and on.

Descendants of some China Jews also came to their “hometown” recurring in their dreams. The parents of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were born in Harbin, and his grandfather rested in the Harbin Jewish Cemetery. In June 2004, during his first visit to China, Ehud Olmert went to the Shanghai Ghetto and then went to Harbin to pay tribute to the deceased. He had also brought more than 200 entrepreneurs to China and promoted China-Israel economic and trade cooperation.⁴¹ His elder brother, Amram Olmert, gave up an opportunity of working in the US and instead he became the minister-counselor on science and agriculture of the Israeli embassy in China. He also did a lot of job to promote China-Israel agricultural cooperation. During his office in China, Amram went to Harbin to visit the cemetery of his grandfather many times.⁴² In September 1998, Dr. Sam Rehnborg, president of the Nutrilite Health Institute of Amway Corporation of the United States, brought his two children to Shanghai to visit the place where his father Carl Rehnborg once worked and lived. Carl Rehnborg came to Shanghai in 1915 and first worked as an agent for Sanhua Milk Company on North Suzhou Road. Later, he learned some prescription methods of traditional Chinese medicine and gradually became interested in nutrition. After going to the United States, based on his knowledge of TCM prescription, Carl Rehnborg developed DOUBLE X, the world’s first dietary supplement containing vitamins and minerals, and then founded Nutrilite. Carl Rehnborg never realized his dream of revisiting Shanghai but his son made the dream come true. Sam said with excitement: “My father found the secret of making nutritious foods in Shanghai; 70 years later, I finally brought it back to where it came from and fulfilled my father’s wish.”⁴³ Danish Jew Vilhelm Meyer, general manager of Shanghai Anderson Meyers & Co., Ltd, had lived in China for many years. After many years of painstaking document survey and research, his grandson C. B. Bramsen published “Vilhelm Meyer and the Establishment of General Electric in China” in 1993, which has been translated into Chinese.⁴⁴ On September 1, 1995, C. B. Bramsen became Denmark’s new ambassador to China and presented his credentials to President Jiang Zemin. President Jiang told C. B. Bramsen that he knew the Bramsen family was rooted in Shanghai, and he still remembered the Anderson Meyers & Co., Ltd. C. B. Bramsen was very excited to hear this.⁴⁵

Some Jewish industrialists who used to live in China and some of the descendants of China Jews also came back to China to invest, do business and exchange. They shared with the outside world of the achievements China had made and built a bridge for China to expand foreign trade and strengthen economic relations, contributing to China’s modernization. Former Jewish refugee Shaul Esienberg was committed to the development of Shanghai and invested in Shanghai Yaohua Pilkington Glass Group. He signed the contract to set up a Diamond Exchange in Pudong just three days before his death. About the Diamond Exchange, he said: “I selected Shanghai because the city has a very friendly relationship with Israel and helped many Jews during World War II and I am one of them.”⁴⁶ After his death, his family continued this project. Shanghai Diamond Exchange was finally established in October 2000. As of 2004, the trading volume reached 368 million US dollars.⁴⁷ Baron Lawrence Kadoorie gave a strong support to the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant project. On February 6, 1994, Generation Unit 1 started commercial operation. At the celebration ceremony, Premier Li Peng particularly praised Lawrence Kadoorie as a “pioneer from Hong Kong”.⁴⁸ Recently, Michael Kadoorie, son of Sir Lawrence Kadoorie, has visited China many times and established an office in Shanghai. Dr. Sam Rehnborg mentioned above introduced Nutrilite, the most competitive health product in the world, to China in 1998. Since then, Nutrilite grew rapidly and has become the best-selling health product brand in China.⁴⁹ Amway, a direct sales arm of Nutrilite Health Institute, has also grown its sales rapidly. In 2003, its sales revenues in China reached 1.75 billion yuan in 2005, exceeding the United States and Japan. It is worth mentioning that Amway has played an active role in getting China into the WTO and sponsored many charity, education, cultural and social activities in China.⁵⁰ Starr Group, which used to be very active in China, gradually withdrew from the Chinese market in the 1950s. However, after China started its reform and opening up program, it became the first foreign insurance company to “return” to the Chinese market. Starr Group is now actively engaged in multiple areas in Shanghai and China. It established AIA Shanghai office which has become a leading insurance policy seller here.

1.2 China Jews Driving Global Jewish Enthusiasm in China

The “homecoming” waves of China Jews and their descendants also brought many powerful Jews to China to seek development opportunities. Edgar Bronfman, the richest Jewish Canadian and chairman of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), has visited China many times. He has not only invested in a beverage factory in Shanghai, but also participated in the West China development strategy. Morris Greenberg, the highest leader of Starr Group and CEO of American International Group (AIG), has not only invested in China, but also served as chairman of Mayor of Shanghai’s International Business Leaders Advisory Council (IBLAC) several times. He contributed a lot of good proposals and was granted the Magnolia Award and Shanghai Honorary Citizenship. Investment companies with Jewish background such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers are also expanding their presence in China. Recently, Rothschild & Co also started to invest in premium winery in China.

The enthusiasm in China has gradually come to cover other areas such as culture and sports. The Jewish violinist Isaac Stern visited China in 1979, which stirred up a fashion of classical music in China. A number of talented kids who attended his performances and lectures have become famous musicians.⁵¹ News Corp., founded by the Jewish tycoon Keith Rupert Murdoch, has invested more than $2 billion in China in the past decade. Its entertainment channel has entered the cable TV network of Guangdong Province, becoming the first foreign channel in mainland. CCTV’s English Channel (CGTN) is aired on Fox News website in the United States, thanks to News Corp. In October 2003, K. R. Murdoch was invited to speak at the Party School of the CPCCC. He was the first foreign media tycoon to give a speech there. In October 2004, the NBA President David Stern (Jewish) led an NBA delegation to Shanghai and immediately went to Jewish sites including Hongkou Ghetto where Jewish refugees lived during World War II. After the visit, he said: “This city makes me feel warm.”⁵² With his help, NBA basketball games have come to Shanghai, Yao Ming’s hometown, which strongly promoted basketball in China. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, author of “The Man Who Changed China: The Life And Legacy of Jiang Zemin”, is one of the American Jews who cherish a strong passion for China. He is an international investment banker, a corporate strategist, a host for the American Public Broadcasting Corporation, and executive director of Citigroup. Through his long-term research and close observation, he formed a very unique insight into China’s development: China’s economic growth is only the second biggest change, as the real biggest change in China has occurred to people’s awareness, their views, their confidence in the country and people, their enthusiasm in world affairs, as well as their personal freedom they enjoyed in real life. His new book “The Inside Story of China’s 30-Year Reform” has been published recently, which depicts the changes in China from the perspective of an American. For the book, he had interviewed many provincial and ministerial officials and the interviews have been disclosed to the world for the first time in this book.⁵³

In the 21st century, the global Jewish enthusiasm in China driven by China Jews is getting more stable and rational, and now it has shown a strong and sustained driving force. In 2004, a study by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute in Jerusalem proposed that China’s development would impact the future of Jewish civilization. As the most globalized ethnic group, Jews should recognize and value China’s development and the great opportunities it offers. Jewish decision-makers must develop a pan-Jewish strategy for China and Jewish-Chinese partnership would have far-reaching positive effects on the global community.⁵⁴ This “China Opportunity Outlook” is shared by a large number of Jewish elites and provides an ideological basis for the participation of Jews in China’s reform and development process. In this sense, the Jewish participation in China’s development is a conscious action and this concludes the mission of China Jews.

(Excerpt from Pan Guang, Wang Jian: “Jews and China, the exchanges and friendships between two ancient civilizations in modern times”, Current Affairs Press, 2010).