Shangai Jews: The Berglas Plan

Shanghai Jews: The Berglas Plan

Tiberiu Weisz

Authors Note: Shanghai was an open city during WWII, under Japanese occupation. Refugees from all over could enter Shanghai without papers and stayed under the control of the Japanese military rule. While many works and articles have been published on the refugee conditions under the Japanese occupation, the Japanese treated the Jews as any other refugees, and the term of " kokusai nanmin " meant "international refugees" and not "Jewish refugees" as some articles and books had used the term. Upon reviewing the Japanese texts, I did not find any  reference to the word Jews in Japanese. This gross mistranslation lead many scholars to believe that "kukusai nanmin " referred to Jews, while in reality in Japanese it meant " of all the non-Chinese refugees".

Recently the Israeli government announced its decision to expel the African illegal immigrants from the country, with a $3500 cash allowance. This policy did not sit well with older Israelis and academics who signed a letter to the Prime Minister to stop such as act. They reminded the government that 75 years ago the Jews were at the receiving end of such a policy and it was not called “humanitarian gesture”. It was called “Final Solution” or the mass extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust. Some of the Jews who escaped the ordeal, and still live in Israel or the Diaspora, recall very vividly what was to be a “stateless refugee” with no place to go, to be in transit for weeks and months, or imprisoned, just because they were Jews. Some of these Jews swarmed like bees to the only place on earth that accepted them: Shanghai, China in 1939.

Their ordeal started with the Nazi decision to get rid of the “unwanted and poisonous” element within the Arayan people. Jews were the source of cancer in Germany and they had to be eradicated. But the incentive to leave Germany skyrocketed after the pogroms of November 9-10, 1938. First they were encouraged to sign papers requiring them to renounce their German citizenship in exchange for being allowed to leave the country before a certain date. Many Jews were forced to agree to hand over their property to the government, thus leaving themselves practically without means of survival. They had to leave the country by a certain date (usually less than a month) in exchange they were promised exit visas, and allowed to take with them 10 Reichmarks, and some personal belongings, However, exit visas were not enough to embark on a departing boat because they also needed entry visas from a hosting country. Western democracies refused to issue such entry visas, turning the fleeing Jews to “stateless citizens”. The US issued visa to German refugees only one in a hundred applicant, Australia granted a few visas while England granted none. The most generous was the Philippines allowing 400 refugees to Manila including women and children. Singapore and Hong Kong took in only 100 refugees each and Siam took in 20.

German Jews quickly found out that they had nowhere to go, they had no legal status and the only way out of Germany was though smuggling. Most smuggled were eventually arrested and taken into “no man land” between the two border police stations, without food, drink and shelter. In time they made their way back to the country which had just cast them out. The police found again and again, arrested them, and sent them back to the border again.

Others who were fortunate enough to obtain an entry visa to a country, embarked on a steamer to the country of destination, only to find out that by the time they arrived the government had revoked their visas or entry permit. Upon return, these “boat Jews” found themselves to be “stateless citizens”. The only place in the entire world that accepted them without passports, visas, or any questions was Shanghai, China.

Shanghai in 1939 was under Japanese occupation, ruled by the military.  The influx of the refugees in Shanghai was confined to Hongkew district in Shanghai where they were under the limited protection of the International Settlement authority. The city was already flooded with Chinese refugees fleeing the Japanese. With the addition of Russian, Germany and Europe refugees the city was overwhelmed in search of shelter, food and to make a living. Basic survival became a matter of reality and only the financial assistance of the American Jewry, the “stateless citizen” were spared of “digging their graves” in Shanghai.

Although the Japanese did not interfere in the daily life in the city itself, they had cut off all communication with the rest of China. Two Japanese military officers Colonel Yasue and Captain Inuzuka were appointed to formulate the kokusai nanmin, (international refugees) policy, erroneously translated as Jewish policy for Japan in 1938 and 1939. Refugees, including Jewish refugees were restricted to their already overcrowded quarters, and lack of basic necessities. Refugees could not leave Shanghai in search of employment in other parts of China. While the refugees escaped Europe with their lives, their new life in Shanghai started where the old ended, from concentration camps to refugee camps. Without money and jobs, Jewish refugees were dependent on the funds provided by the Shanghai Refugee Committee, which in turn got funding from various Jewish agencies around the world. The committee’s problem was how to shelter an feed the refugees with even the most basic necessities.

While most of the Jewish refugees struggled to be independent, they were limited by the lack of resources. Those with specific skills improved on their condition as they got a job, among them were bakers, butchers, waitresses, shopkeepers, seamstresses …the less fortunate were the professionals such as doctors, clerks, lawyers who had to the accept minimum standards provided by the refugee Committee. Thirty, forty and even fifty people had to sleep in the same room.  There was no privacy to write letters, reading or relaxing. Members of family were often separated from each other, husband sleeping in a room with other men while women with other women. There was no room for family discussions on important issues of their new life, nor on how to educate the children, or on how and where to look for work.

Towards the end of the summer of 1939, there were 15,500 Jewish refugees crowded in the densely populated shanghai. It was expected that this number would swell to 20,000 by the end of the year. The available charity funds were quite limited, and members of the committee dealing with the refugees were convinced that something must be done to move the increasingly great numbers of German refugees away from Shanghai. With more countries closing their doors to refugees, attention was focused upon the possibility of resettling them in the interior China. The plan worked out for this purpose called upon extensive financial assistance from the world Jewry, and an organized transfer of the Jews to Yunnan Province in Sothern China.

This plan was named after its author Jakob Berglas and called The Berglas Plan, who was hardly mentioned in any Jewish history books. I intend to elaborate in some details of this ambitious proposal.

In early 1939, Sun Ke, president of the Legislative Yuan (Chinese Legislature) formulated a plan to settle European Jewish refugees in southwest China. At the same time, the German Jewish businessman Jakob Berglas and the politically active American Jewish dentist Maurice William presented plans to both the Chinese Nationalist and U.S. governments to transplant European Jews to China. The Nationalists who have been harshly criticized for not confronting the invading Japanese, tried to impress the US with its Jewish policy to demonstrates that the Chinese Nationalists were determined not only to fight the war but also to use every possible tool, domestic and international, to win. It also illuminates how the “Jewish issue” complicated the relationships between China, Japan, Germany, and the United States before and during World War II.

According to this plan all the refugees moving to Yunnan would enjoy the protection of the Chinese Nationalist Government with the same rights and obligations as Chinese citizens. A special allowance of £ 50 would be given to each immigrant participating in this plan, a sum enough to live on for a year. During this transition period, refugees would be able to accommodate in their vocation, find jobs, open businesses and use their needed skill to develop the region.

Since Yunnan has a tropical climate refugees would have to undergo special adjustment of physical and intellectual education to adapt to the environment. Then the refugees would be transported in an organized manner to the new province. A new transportation department would be set up with a capital investment of £ 50,000 and they would be responsible for the relocation from Shanghai to Yunnan and also of the shipping of equipment acquired abroad.  This department would be also responsible to the necessary communication and business transactions between the various settlements. However, the transportation of war related material would be excluded.

The plan called for a planned economy, where part of the available funds would be used as investment and the part by the immigrants. The new enterprises would employ Jewish immigrants whose expertise would contribute to the development of the area, and provide employment to them. It was expected that the emigres would find employment within a year.

Despite the well -defined guidelines its implementation ran into difficulties. Though the government proposed the Province of Yunnan as the site for resettlement, it was not under the control of the Nationalist Government. They had no authority over Yunnan. General Lun Young was the Governor and he was independent war lord with veto power over the central government. Yunnan was the most backward province in China and the infusion of high skilled immigrants would be fiercely opposed by the Chinese natives. The plan was far too advanced for such a poor province. They would just see the settlements as further foreign dominance. Certain professionals such as doctors, engineers, technicians and educators would be welcome by the locals, but clerks, lawyers, intellectuals and merchants would be seen as further expansion of foreign interest. They would not be welcome. The plan has not provided for the employment of local aborigines, and would further escalate the tensions.

Finally, there was a passive opposition from the Jewish refugees, who regarded their stay in Shanghai as a temporary transit camp rather than permanent settlement. Most of the refugees waited for entry permits to Western countries so they were not willing to relocate. They preferred to live in almost sub human conditions rather than accept permanent settlement in a strange culture.