National Archives opens postwar Shanghai visa records
20,000 Jews fled to China from the Holocaust and many then applied at the US consulate to travel to America
WASHINGTON — The US
National Archives is opening to researchers postwar visa application records
from the US consulate in Shanghai, a potential trove for information about Holocaust
refugees in that city.
Get The Times of Israel's
Daily Edition by email and never miss our
top stories . “This collection adds to the extensive Holocaust-related records
holdings at the National Archives,” according to a November 20 statement from
the archives.
“From 1938 on, an
estimated 20,000 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria escaped to Shanghai,
the only place in the world that did not require a visa to enter,” the
statement said. “Between 1939 and 1940, nearly 2,000 Polish Jews escaped to Shanghai,
avoiding certain death.”
The 1,300 case files for applicants
for US visas covers the period 1946-1951 and could provide a window into the
postwar movements of the refugees.
In addition to Jewish
refugees, the city hosted Diasporas from an array of war-battered countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment