DHHRM | Survival in Shanghai: Manny Gabler

From 1937 to 1941 the open port of Shanghai allowed more than 18,000 undocumented Jews seeking refuge from Nazi Germany to temporarily settle in the Hongkow area of the city. There, a one square mile unwalled ghetto was set up to house the refugees. Manfred “Manny” Sigmund Gabler was only one year old when his parents arrived in the city on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. Manny joins us to recount growing up in Shanghai, his experience of the war as a young child, and his family’s journey to the United States.

About Hidden History: Recounting the Shanghai Jewish Story

Explore the little-known history of the diverse, resettled Jewish community in Shanghai, including Iraqi Jews who arrived in the mid-1800s, Russian Jews who fled pogroms at the turn of the century, and German and Austrian Jews who desperately escaped the Nazis. With most countries limiting or denying entry to Jews during the 1930s, the free port of Shanghai became an unexpected safe haven for Jews attempting to flee the antisemitic policies and identity-based violence in Nazi-controlled Europe. Hidden History explores this multifaceted history of desperation, loss, and asylum through artifacts, survivor stories, and the photographic lens of prominent American photojournalist Arthur Rothstein, who documented the Shanghai Jewish community in 1946 for the United Nations.

Registration is required, to learn more click here.