This exhibition includes images and ephemera of European Jews who were displaced during the war.
When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, he issued a series of anti-Semitic decrees, depriving Jews of their civil rights. With the outbreak of WWII, many Jews chose to flee their hometowns, and a considerable number of them took refuge in Shanghai, China—a city they could travel to without a visa. Around that same time, students from the Mir Yeshiva in Vilna, Lithuania, also made their way to the far east to escape the Nazi regime, setting up yeshivas in their new home. These same students—and their families—emigrated to Brooklyn, NY, following Japan’s surrender in 1945.
Exhibition will be located on the first floor in the Language & Literature wing of Central.
This exhibit is part of the multi-branch Jewish Refugees in Shanghai Incubator program series, and is put on in collaboration with the Amud Aish Memorial Musuem and the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum.
Additional Exhibition Dates & Locations
BKLYN Incubator is supported by generous funding provided by The Charles H. Revson Foundation and Robin K. and Jay L. Lewis.
*Please note that Kensington Library will be closed from May 3 - May 22 for renovations.
Preview the Exhibit
Fleeing to Shanghai
Resident Certificate. Courtesy of Chaya L. Small, shown here courtesy of Amud Aish Memorial Museum
Refugee Life in Shanghai
Notion storage box made in Shanghai, China with a pair of silver candlestick holders with Chinese inscriptions and a photo. Candlesticks courtesy of Menachem Shimonowitz, notion box and photo are courtesy of Chaya L. Small, shown here courtesy of Amud Aish Memorial Museum
Unforgettable History
Marking stamp of Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi and handmade album presented to Rabbi Ashkenazi. Stamp is courtesy of Miriam Pogrow and notebook is courtesy of the Wilshanski family, shown here courtesy of Amud Aish Memorial Museum