Reports and other papers pertaining to refugees in Shanghai

Jewish refugees, who had taken refuge in Shanghai shortly before the outbreak of war, were interned by the Japanese. The German compensation authorities refused compensation for this deprivation of liberty, holding that the refugees were placed in the Shanghai Ghetto by the allies of Germany, who acted on their own free will. A test case was brought before the Frankfurt court of appeal and about 20 German diplomats and former SS officers were heard as witnesses. It was argued that the Japanese acted not on their own initiative but were instigated to imprison the Jewish refugees by the German SS, who had sent one of the most notorious organisers of persecution to Shanghai. This test case did not solve the question of instigation once and for all, as the responsibility for the German Reich for the measures taken by the Japanese was not explicitly recognised by the court. However in consequence of this test case, refugees of German citizenship were compensated, because the authorities held that the German Reich, by depriving the Jewish citizens of their rights, and by failing to protect them, had made internment possible. This collection comprises reports about the fate of Jewish refugees in Shanghai during World War Two; eyewitness statements of individual Jewish refugees; personal papers of Ernst Platz, former Jewish refugee in Shanghai; correspondence regarding documents relating to the Shanghai Jewish refugee experience Open