This past week, I was in DC for a few days and made it to the Holocaust Museum where I learned an interesting fact.
Nearly 30,000 European Jews were given refuge in Shanghai by the Japanese military. And although Germany was insistent that Japan set up its own final solution, the Japanese ignored the Nazis' request. Life was not easy, as many of them were in internment camps, but it's a fact that I never knew.
Then, I mentioned my visit on another board I post on and a member PM'd me. Her FIL's family fled Germany and made it to Lithuania. The Japanese ambassador issued almost 10,000 passports that got Jewish refugees to Shanghai. The family had connections and managed to stay out of the camps, opening a raincoat store and funneling food and medicine to those in the camps. They immigrated to the US in 1947.
Googling "Fiction, Jews, Shanghai" brought up a children's book from Holiday House, and a non-fiction book called "Voices from Shanghai." Has anyone read or heard of historical novels about this?
The research would be daunting, but a little voice is telling me that this could be the basis of a great story.
What do you think?
Nearly 30,000 European Jews were given refuge in Shanghai by the Japanese military. And although Germany was insistent that Japan set up its own final solution, the Japanese ignored the Nazis' request. Life was not easy, as many of them were in internment camps, but it's a fact that I never knew.
Then, I mentioned my visit on another board I post on and a member PM'd me. Her FIL's family fled Germany and made it to Lithuania. The Japanese ambassador issued almost 10,000 passports that got Jewish refugees to Shanghai. The family had connections and managed to stay out of the camps, opening a raincoat store and funneling food and medicine to those in the camps. They immigrated to the US in 1947.
Googling "Fiction, Jews, Shanghai" brought up a children's book from Holiday House, and a non-fiction book called "Voices from Shanghai." Has anyone read or heard of historical novels about this?
The research would be daunting, but a little voice is telling me that this could be the basis of a great story.
What do you think?