Our Travelling Exhibition Hold in Beijing

Time:2013/7/16 13:46:12        

　　On July 7th, 2013, an exhibition titled “Nazi German Death Camp--Konzentrationslager Auschwitz” had its opening ceremony in the Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing. The exhibition, which showcases displays related to World War II, is sponsored by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, which provided a portion of the exhibit. The following are excerpts from two media reports.

　　Criminal Evidence of Auschwitz

　　In Auschwitz, the only way out is the chimney of incinerator. Even the hair of the dead killed in gas chambers was cut for textile material. Twenty thousand kilograms of gas were depleted every year in the gas chambers. Today is July 7th, the anniversary of the Lugou Bridge incident in 1937. The Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression held the opening ceremony of an exhibition titled “Nazi German Death Camp--Konzentrationslager Auschwitz” in the same place that the Lugou Bridge incidentoccurred, revealing history and reminding us what happened with exhibits and pictures.

　　The exhibition is sponsored by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum and the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance against Japanese Aggression. The first guests are the diplomats of Poland, Israel and Germany in China.

　　“The history of Auschwitz concentration camp” and“Jewish Refugees and Shanghai” are two parts of the exhibition. The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum provides exhibits such as a warning sign on the barbed wire of the concentration camp, a prison uniform and Jewish identification, a pair of clogs, a suitcase with the name of a Jewish person on it and Zyklon B’s logo, a manufacturer of poison gas and so on.

　　Although these exhibits are replicas, the cruelty of the concentration is very apparent. The Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum also provides many other exhibits: a Jewish marriage certificate, driving license, residence permit, refugee certificate, boatticket to Shanghai, letter to family, published newspapers from the time, and more.

　　The exhibition will run until September 7th. Citizens can visit free of charge with valid ID.

　　--Beijing Evening News, July 7th, 2013

　　“Nazi German Death Camp--Konzentrationslager Auschwitz” exhibition held in the Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression

　　Yesterday was the 76th anniversary of the Lugou Bridge Incident. The Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, together with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum held an exhibition titled “Nazi German Death Camp--Konzentrationslager Auschwitz”. This exhibition serves as a tragic reminder of the crime of Nazi Germans in Auschwitz, as well as the pain resulting from the war.

　　The exhibition runs until September 7th. Citizens can visit free of charge with valid ID. A segment of important Auschwitz source video was given to the Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

　　Video of the Concentration Camp

　　The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum provides many exhibits, which include a warning sign on the barbed wire of the concentration camp, prison uniform and Jewish identification, a pair of clogs, a suitcase with the name of a Jewish person on it and Zyklon B’s logo, a manufacturer of poison gas.

　　Something worth mentioning is that the exhibit plays an important documentary. According to a guide, on January 27th, 1945, the Soviet Red Army liberated the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. A Soviet photographer recorded the situation of the concentration camp from January 27th to February 28th, 1945. This recording became the precious source material of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp documentary. Russian Patriotic War Memorial sent this precious documentary as a gift to Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum then donated it to the Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing for the display during exhibition.

　　The unveiled “Chinese Schindler”

　　Several displays of the exhibition are provided by Shanghai JewishRefugees Museum, such as a Jewish marriage certificate, driving license, residence permit, refugee certificate， boatticket to Shanghai, letter to family, published newspapers from the time, and more. The exhibition specifically opened an area named “Jewish Refugees and Shanghai”. According to a guide,many righteous nations and people reached out and gave a hand for the Jewish during the World War II – but onlyShanghai, China embraced the Jewish with open arms.

　　There is a photo in the center of the panel. On the photo there is a middle-aged oriental man, dressed in a suit and tie. His name is Fengshan Ho, the Chinese Consul General in Vienna from 1938 to 1940. During his tenure, he courageously issued Jewish people visasfor Shanghai, China, against Genocidal Policy of Nazi German, saving thousands of Jewish lives. He has been called “the Chinese Schindler”. In July of 2000, Israel government awarded Ho the title of ‘International Righteousness’, and carved ‘the unforgettable Chinese’ on a Jerusalem Monument in his honor. The visa he issued has now been called the “life visa”.

　　According to historical records, there were at least 18,000 Jewish coming to Shanghai between 1933 and 1941.

　　The passport lost 60 years ago

　　“In hard times, local Shanghai residents and Jewish refugees lived together harmoniously, sharing weal and woe. They left profound influence on each other, and forged a fraternity of faith and love.” A guide pointed to some display photos, and told us a story of about passports.

　　At the beginning of the 21st century, while shopping for secondhand goods in Yu Garden, a Shanghai citizen accidentally obtained two small notebooks with some words in Germany and pictures. In order to clarify their origins, he asked for a friend from Germany to translate it to both English and Chinese. He discovered that these were passports belonging to Jewish refugees in Shanghai. These passports belonged to two children, one from Germany and the other from Austria. The boy was born in August, 1923, and the girl in December, 1934. On the passports was written, “This visa is limited to the passengers on the Italian Cruise departing from Geneva to Shanghai”.

　　After many complications, the owner of one of the passports was finally found. Her name was Brenda Gerda. She returned to Shanghai with her family, recalling the warm scenery with Chinese neighbors during the Spring Festival. Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum specially invited artists to paint what would become “The New Year’s Eve”, based on her memory.

　　Introduced by the people in charge of the Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the exhibition aims to reveal the crimes committed, mourn death, pursue justice, remind the future, and to express to the world “People want peace, not the war. We must make sure that the tragedy of the Holocaust will never happen again”.

　　--Peking Daily, July 8th, 2013

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