Artwork Donation: Family of Jewish refugee artist donates works to Shanghai

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Relatives of a Jewish artist who spent nine years in Shanghai during World War Two were in Shanghai last week to donate some of his works to the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. David Bloch arrived in town in the 1940s after he was able to get out of a concentration camp in Germany. Yuan Chenyue tells us more.

David Bloch was one of thousands of Jews pulled out of their homes and taken to Dachau in 1938 during Kristallnacht, or the night of broken glass. He had been working as an artist at the time, despite being deaf since the age of 1. An American cousin helped him get out of the camp, and he fled to Shanghai, one of the only places on earth still accepting Jewish refugees at the time.

He spent nine years in town creating many artworks including woodcuts and graphics about local life. He also married a Chinese woman and the couple later moved to the United States, where he passed away just a few years ago. His son says the story reflects the generosity of the Chinese people.

DEAN BLOCH SON OF DAVID BLOCH "I would think that the most impressive part of his story really is art because it captured life in Shanghai at the time. It illustrates the plight of the Chinese people at that time, whereas the Europeans were insular and kind of stayed in their tribe, he turned around and looked the Chinese people, and really saw them for who they were."

SADIE BLOCH GRANDDAUGHTER OF DAVID BLOCH "I especially remembered one called rickshaws, which of the people pulling the rickshaws in Shanghai."

The family plans to donate more than 30 works to the museum, half of which were woodcuts. And a documentary film about him was also released.

WANG SHUIBO FILM DIRECTOR "They have gone through so many difficulties in their life, but at the same time, Mr. David Bloch, was a very talented artist, and he focused on poor people in Shanghai, produced over 300 pieces of wood cuts, that's really impressive."

Shanghai sheltered more than 20,000 Jewish refugees from Europe during World War II. Yuan Chenyue, ICS for CGTN, Shanghai.