A plaque at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum honors Ho Feng Shan, a Chinese diplomat stationed in Vienna, Austria, during the late 1930s. The museum’s main synagogue building is in the background. Courtesy of Peter Anthony.
Shelter from the Storm, Written Down By Peter Anthony Birds sing, flowers bloom, and on this spring 2023 day, the streets of Shanghai are filled with a sense of renewal. I ride the subway from People’s Square, in the central part of the city, to Tilanqiao station in the Hongkou District. From there, a short walk past a park leads to the White Horse Tavern. This white (of course!), three-story-tall building is a part of the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum. It recreates a social center from the 1940s. The cold drinks it offers on warm days and the hot coffee and tea served on cold ones make it a fine spot to contemplate the times when Shanghai was a beacon of hope in a dark world. Between 1935 and 1945, as fascists brought death and destruction to Jewish communities around Europe, 20,000 or so refugees arrived in Shanghai, most often by boat. Shanghai was the only port in the world that was open to them. On the White Horse Tavern’s lawn, water playfully splishes and splashes against the wall of a circular fountain. A lifesize bronze sculpture of a woman holding an umbrella above a young girl stands in the little pool’s center. This art is the work of Mr. Zhao Qiang, the well-known coin artist who also designed the 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2016 Panda coins. Mr. Zhao used this same image of the woman and child
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The White Horse Tavern is seen here. Courtesy of Peter Anthony.
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