Entry visa to Shanghai

In the 1930s and early 1940s, Shanghai was an International City without entry restrictions. Feng-Shan Ho, the Chinese Consul-General in Vienna, issued thousands of “official” entry visas to Shanghai so that Jews could obtain a Nazi exit visa. Shanghai and the Dominican Republic were the only places that admitted an unlimited number of Jews. Living in Shanghai was very different from living in Europe, plus the city was in chaos as thousands of refugees arrived monthly. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Shanghai’s wealthy Iraqi Jewish families spent massive amounts of money to set up housing, soup kitchens and assist immigrants with finding jobs. It is estimated that 20,000 Jewish refugees lived in Shanghai during the Holocaust.  

 

This is an entry visa to Shanghai issued in Germany by the International Committee for the Organization of European Immigrants in China, Shanghai. The card was issued on August 23, 1940, to 63-year-old Georg Praschkauer of Oels, Germany. Note that the German names of Polish towns are used in Nazi documents. Oels, Germany was actually Olesnika, Poland, but it had been captured by Nazi Germany in 1939.