Holocaust Remembrance Day: Memories of Jewish woman born in 'Shanghai Ghetto'

World
Europe

Israel is marking Holocaust Remembrance Day today in honor of the six million Jews killed as a result of Nazi Germany actions during World War Two. Among the holocaust survivors are tens of thousands who escaped to Shanghai during that time. CGTN's Stephanie Freid met a Shanghai-born Jewish refugee who says her family was lucky to make it to China. This is her story.

CHANA PERSOFF FORMER SHANGHAI GHETTO RESIDENT "She went to her parents and she said 'we heard that things are going to get very bad here'. And her parents said 'You're crazy'. And they stayed. She wanted to take her sister and her parents didn't want her to."

That was in 1940. Germany had occupied Poland, Hitler's strength was gaining and Chana's mother - thirty years old at the time - left her parents and siblings behind in Vilna.

CHANA PERSOFF FORMER SHANGHAI GHETTO RESIDENT "From Lithuania, across the whole of Russia, to Vladivostok stopped over in Japan, and then Shanghai was just amazingly open."

Around twenty-three thousand Jews lived in Japan-occupied Shanghai during WWII - Chana's parents married there and lived in the quote "Jewish ghetto" for 7 years

CHANA PERSOFF FORMER SHANGHAI GHETTO RESIDENT "My brother was born there, then me and then my sister. They were lucky that they had three children that all survived."

That's because in 1943, Japan forced Jews into the one-square-mile Hongkou District. There were schools, newspapers, culture and religious freedom but overcrowding, disease and starvation took a toll. Nonetheless, Chana's parents were lucky.

CHANA PERSOFF FORMER SHANGHAI GHETTO RESIDENT "I have postcards that she got from Poland. Her brothers were writing, you know, 'To our dear sister. How are you? Everything here is fine.' But that was the last postcards. Like in 41. And then from then she didn't hear from them. They were all killed."

Chiang Kai Shek's army liberated the Shanghai Ghetto in 1945 - Chana's family went from China to New York to stay with relatives. As an adult, Chana relocated to Israel.

CHANA PERSOFF FORMER SHANGHAI GHETTO RESIDENT "They always felt that they were comfortable, that it was a haven, that they were rescued and they just thanked god for the miracle that they were able to end up in Shanghai. They looked at it as very good years."

Chana hasn't been back to Shanghai since 1947. She hopes to one day return and see her birthplace first hand. STEPHANIE FREID, CGTN, JERUSALEM.