I recently took a Jewish Heritage Tour with Shanghai’s renowned Jewish history experts, Dvir Bar-Gal. Mr. Bar-Gal’s walking tours take visitors from the Bund to Shanghai’s Hongkou district north of Suzhou Creek.
In the 1920s it was an immigrant community of working-class Jews from Russia called “Little Vienna”. In the late 1930s, Shanghai’s open port policy allowed over 20,000 European Jews fleeing Nazi Germany’s expansion and terror. More Jews took refuge in Shanghai than in any other city in the world. But dark times were ahead and the Japanese under German pressure, turned Little Vienna into a Jewish Ghetto, crowding these stateless immigrants into the already crowded neighborhood.
The Jewish story in Shanghai is a fascinating tale and Mr. Bar-Gal’s walking tours make history come to life. Take a peak at what his tour has to offer, and definitely book one when you visit Shanghai.
Photo: a historic housing block in Shanghai’s Hongkou District. © 2008 Sara Naumann, licensed to About.com.