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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Solidarity Day
SEFER TORAH
DEDICATION
BRUSSELS (JTA) —
The Jewish Students
Union held a "Solidarity
Day with Soviet Jewry"
Monday at Brussels Uni-
versity.
SUNDAY
NOVEMBER 7, 1:00 P.M.
LUBAVITCHER CENTER
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543-2488
Located in the Oak Park Shopping Plaza
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Friday, October 29, 1976 45
History of Shanghai. Refugee Community,
Relationships With Japanese Chronicled
A revealing account of
refugees' experiences in
Shanghai, their flight
from the Nazi terror dur-
ing World War II, and the
reactions of the Japanese
to these homeless es-
capees from the war hor-
rors, is told in an impor-
tant study just published
by Yeshiva University
Press..
In a 648-page doctoral
thesis on the subject
"Japanese, Nazis and
Jews," the author, Dr.
David Kranzler, has com-
piled a history of the
hanghai, refugee com-
munity of the years 1938
to 1945.
An important defini-
tive foreword by Dr. Ab-
raham Duker adds valu-
ably to the significance of
Dr. Kranzler's theme.
Of special interest in
this extensive study is the
accumulation of data in
which Rabbi Kranzler
shows how the Japanese
treated the Jewish re-
fugees, their belief that
there was a "Jewish
power" that could be help-
ful to them in the war and
other factors that supple-
ment the important story
S
Re-elect
WILBUR V. SANDY
BROTH ERTON
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
64TH DISTRICT — REPUBLICAN
* EXPERIENCED *
14 YEARS CITY COUNCIL
7 YEARS MAYOR
2 YEARS COMM.
2 YEARS STATE REP.
* DEDICATED *
TRUSTED BY:
DR. LEE FRANKLIN WEINSTOCK
TOM MURPHREE
LAWRENCE & DONNA SKLAR
JIM BURDICK
GARY LUKOVICH
MAYNARD FELDMAN
SHERYL FELDMAN
D. EDWIN BLUMBERG
FRANK NAGER
HUGH DOHANY
JOE KNOLLENBERG
STEVE HURITE
* YOU CAN TRUST HIM, TOO *
of JeWish escapees who
formed a community in
Shanghai before emigrat-
ing to other areas where
they could establish per-
manent residence.
The Japanese, Dr.
Kranzler, writes, had an
"exaggerated notion of
the power of Jewish fi-
nancial and political in-
terests" in China and in
the Western world which
was a major factor in
their favorable immigra-
tion policy towards
Jewish refugees.
This image, he writes,
came from a number of
sources, but mainly from
the aid the Japanese gov-
ernment received from
financier Jacob H. Schiff,
who arranged loans to
Japan during the Russo-
Japanese War of 1904-05.
The loans, among other
things, "financed about
half of the Japanese navy
which later decisively de-
feated Russia's Baltic
fleet."
Schiff, he says, "is still
considered a true friend
of Japan and is spoken of
with reverence."
Another factor, the book
points out, was the unusu-
ally large number of
Jewish owned import-
export firms which, from
the very opening of Japan
to the West, helped spread
Japan's products to the
world. The most ironic fac-
tor was White Russian and
later Nazi " anti-Semitic
propaganda disseminated
in Japan which thundered
a "Jewish conspiracy" to
control the world.
The Jewish refugee
community numbered
some 18,000 from Ger-
many, Austria and Po-
land, who escaped Hi-
tler's persecution during
1938-39.
At that time Shanghai
was the only place in the
world requiring neither
visa nor affadavit for en-
trance. "The fear of an-
tagonizing 'influential
Jewish elements' in the
U.S. and England helped
shape Japan's favorable
policy both towards the
refugees in Shanghai and
in Japan proper," Dr.
Kranzler says.
He also notes that the
Japanese people, without
such notions, displayed
much kindness to the re-'
fugees.
Most were able to find
jobs, many began busines-
ses aided by funds
supplied by relatives or
Jewish agencies. One even
began a "waking up" ser-
vice, awakening clientele
at specific hours, giving
them the weather forecast
so they could dress suita-
bly, he writes.
The refugees also es-
tablished a cultural
community, publishing
newspapers, giving con-
certs, forming a Yiddish
theatre group, and per-
forming on radio. Still, in
1939, the Japanese closed
their doors to new re-
fugees.
Dr. Kranzler says the
policy was changed due to
the government's belief
that it was the Jewish
community itself which
could no longer support
new arrivals and that
world Jewry would not
raise an outcry against
its decision.
Italy's entry into the
war in Europe in 1940
further restricted re-
fugee entry, cutting off
their Mediterranean
route to Japan.
Dr. Kranzler writes that
in 1939 influential
Japanese business and
government leaders, in-
cluding Nobusuke Kishi
(most recently connected
with the Lockheed bribery
scandal) had advanced a
plan to settle 50,000 Ger-
man Jews in Manchuria, to
attract capital, develop the
area and also express `Ja-
pan's benevolent attitude
toward the Jewish
people." Such a plan they
thought, would influence
American Jews who could
persuade the American
government to go along
with Japan's plans for her
"New Order in East Asia."
American Jewish
groups, however, were
suspicious of such over-
tures, the book indicates,
and Dr. Stephen S. Wise,
then president of the
American Jewish Con-
gress, who erroneously
equated the Japanese
with the Nazis, made it
clear he would not go
along with a scheme
"that smacked of ran-
som," Dr. Kranzler says.
The attack on Pearl
Harbor, Dr. Kranzler
writes, was catastrophic
for many refugees. It
broke communications
between them and with
relief agencies, forced
many out of work when
Japan took over Ameri-
can- and British-owned
firms and finished any
hope they would be able
to leave Shanghai.
By 1943, under a steady
Nazi pressure, they were
herded into a relatively
mild ghetto, he notes. A
memo from JapaneSe
Foreign Minister Togo,
however, reveals that the
government still feared
"Jewish Power." It
states, "Measures should
be carried out in no un-
necessarily provocative
manner that our position
might be precipitated in
the interest of thee
enemy counter-
propaganda."
With their condition de-
teriorating, however, Dr.
Kranzler writes of a plan
put forth by the World
Jewish Congress to ex-
change to entire refugee
body in Shanghai for an
equal number of interned
Japanese Americans
(Nisei) in the U.S.
Although there were
more than 100,000 Nisei
incarcerated, the plan
called for the exchange of
15,000 "troublesome" re-
sidents at the Lake Tuleh
camp in California. The
U.S. State Department,
the book notes, "was not
very receptive to this
suggestion for saving
Jewish lives."
The book also details
how in early 1945 the
Japanese called together
Jewish leaders in
Tientsin, occupied China,
so that they "with their
international connec-
tions and power, could
broadcast an appeal to
their fellow Jews in the
U.S. to use their influence
on the American gov-
ernment to end the war.
The Jewish leaders,
stunned by the request,
Dr. Kranzler writes, were
able to lay aside the idea
by convincing the
Japanese that such a
move would leave the
wrong impression:
"The American Jews
would automatically as-
sume that a call to peace
after more than three
years could only mean
that Japan was too weak,
to carry on, and that the
U.S. would surely double
its efforts to knock out
Japan militarily," they
argued. The request was
never made again.
Program Expanded
for Zionist Youth
NEW YORK — Ameri-
can high school
graduates up to age 25
have a new opportunity
to spend a full six months
on a kibutz, working and
studying Hebrew.
Under the new provi-
sions of Project Etgar, a
program sponsored by
the American Zionist
Youth Foundation,
young adults will un-
dergo an expanded kibuta
experience.
For their first three
months in Israel, volun-
teers on Etgar (the Heb-'
rew word meaning "chal-
lenge") will divide their
days evenly between
study in a Hebrew lan-
guage ulpan and work on
the kibutz. They will
spend the second three
months working full days.
Upon successful com-
pletion of the kibutz ex-
perience, the volunteers
will have-the option of ex-
tending their stay .
NOW'S THE TIME .. .
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139
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1977 FORD LTD.
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399-6600