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Holocaust Museum exhibit tells of Jews who fled to Shanghai

SKOKIE, Ill. (AP) - A new exhibit at the Illinois Holocaust Museum recounts the little-known role that Shanghai, China played as a safe haven for Jews who fled Europe to escape Nazi persecution.

American photojournalist Arthur Rothstein began documenting the lives of Jewish refugees in Shanghai's Hongkew District in 1946. His photographs are now featured in the new exhibition that opened Thursday at the museum in the Chicago suburb of Skokie.

Artifacts from local Holocaust survivors who lived in the Shanghai ghetto are also part of the exhibition. Three of those survivors will also join a virtual program scheduled for Thursday evening to share first-hand accounts.

Judy Fleischer Kolb was born in Shanghai after her parents and other family members emigrated from Germany. Ralph Samuel was born in Shanghai after his parents fled Germany following the Kristallnacht attacks in 1938. And Doris Fogel was 4 years old when her mother obtained permits to Shanghai.

The exhibition, 'œ Shangha: Safe Haven During the Holocaust,'ť runs through Sept. 5, 2022.

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