CRI听力:Exhibition on Jewish People in Shanghai Held in Washington D.C.

A new exhibition in Washington, DC, highlighting Shanghai's role in taking in Jews during the lead-up to World War II.

CRI's Washington correspondent He Fei has more. 

"Well, Shanghai to me means survival. There were two kinds of survivors during the holocaust. There were survivors, there were lucky survivors. We in Shanghai were the lucky survivors."

This is Evelyn Pike Rubin, one of thousands Jews from Europe who escaped the Nazi holocaust by making it to Shanghai in the 1940s.

"My mother was one of seven. One of her sisters had gone to what was then Palestine and survived; one brother had gone to England; all the others were all murdered by the Germans together with their husbands and children. The extended family we lost close to 80 people."

The 84-year old was only eight when she fled to Shanghai with her family in 1939.

She is among some 20-thousand Jews who found refuge in Shanghai during the Second World War.

At the time, Shanghai was one of only a few options Jews had to escape the holocaust.

Shanghai was also a preferred destination for Jews during the period, as the city was already home to a large number of Russian Jews who escaped Stalin's crackdown on the Russian Jewish community years before.

Shanghai, at that time, also did not require an entry visa.

Pike-Rubin says while Shanghai offered the Jewish community an escape from the Nazi's during the war, Shanghai's overrun by the Japanese - Germany's ally - created hardships of its own.

"We lived in the French Concession. I went to the Shanghai Jewish School, where I learned to speak English. The Nazis came in 1942 and told the Japanese they wanted them to do away with us and that's when they put us into the ghetto and things got bad, but at least they didn't kill us. And we lived more closer with the Chinese people. I really got to know the Chinese people a little better. We never had a problem. They were very kind and very nice and very helpful."

Rubin's story is one of the hundreds on display at the exhibition, which is open to the public at the Washington Convention Center.

Chen Jian, curator of the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum, says right now is a good time to begin recounting the stories of Shanghai, as the world approaches the 70th anniversary of the victory in World War Two.

"The exhibition tells the story of the Jewish refugees coming to Shanghai and how Chinese people helped them through the hardest time in their lives. And through the stories, we want to express our cultural value we Chinese are always willing to help anyone when needed. The freedom of the Jewish refugees is the fruits of the victory of the World War against Fascism as well as the victory of the Chinese people's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Therefore, it is of significant importance to tell the story again here. To reflect the history, and avoid the tragedy from happening again."

The exhibition contains various photos and documents, telling the stories of how the Jewish community arrived and survived in Shanghai.

Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, has also taken in the exhibition.

Lu Kang is the deputy chief of mission at the Chinese Embassy in Washington.

"Behind each photo there is a touching story. We are glad to see that neither the Chinese nor the Jewish people have let this part of history fade out and that our friendship has emerged stronger after this shared adversity."

The Jewish Refugees and Shanghai exhibition is open to the public until June 29th in Washington.

The exhibition will later travel to Houston, Texas.

For CRI, I'm He Fei from Washington.