Today Shanghai is one of the most populous cities in the world and a financial powerhouse. When viewing Shanghai today, many could forget the pain and disaster it witnessed during the twentieth century. In the 1930s and 1940s, Shanghai was subject to Japanese bombing and occupation, and the people of Shanghai struggled and suffered. Before the occupation, Shanghai was known as a large city that was useful because of its access to the coast. The European and Americans who lived there called themselves Shanghailanders. The Hongkew District where the Brosan family lived and worked was known for its cramped living spaces, poverty and filth. Under the Japanese occupation many Chinese residents were beaten and even killed. Alfred Brosan even recalled to his daughter his experience seeing dead bodies floating in the Whangpoo (Huangpu) River.
In recent years the general public has become increasingly aware of Shanghai’s history as a place of refuge for Jews during the Holocaust. For example, the Shanghai history was featured in the premiere episode of PBS’ We’ll Meet Again and then given full documentary treatment in 2020 with PBS’ Harbor from the Holocaust. Many memoirs and scholarly works have been published on the subject.[1] The city of Shanghai and the Chinese government currently preserve and celebrate this history. In 2008, the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum opened. Recently, the museum underwent a substantial expansion. It was reopened with much publicity in 2021. The museum serves as both a significant tourist site as well as a symbolic location to which foreign dignitaries are brought during official visits to China.
[1] See for example, Steve Hochstadt’s Exodus to Shanghai: Stories of Escape from the Third Reich, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.