Wandlungen eines Exil- und Erinnerungsraumes: Shanghai – Hongkou – Tilanqiao
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Thomas Pekar
Abstract
Transformations of a Space of Exile and Memory: Shanghai - Hongkou - Tilanquao For about 18,000 Jewish emigrants from Europe, Shanghai - or, more precisely, the Shanghai district of Hongkou - was the place to survive the Holocaust. The Jews who undertook emigration, which intensified in 1938, understood Hongkou as “their” place, as a kind of enclave in a Chinese environment, affectionately called “Little Vienna,” which they had created for themselves and built from rubble (in the Battle of Shanghai in 1937, Japanese troops had destroyed much of the city). This survival space was put to a severe test by the forced ghettoization ordered by the Japanese military authorities who controlled Shanghai in February 1943. The liberation of Shanghai by American and National Chinese troops in 1945 led to the dissolution of the ghetto. After that, it existed essentially only as a memory space in the texts and narratives of the survivors who moved from Shanghai to other countries of exile, although material evidence (such as apartment buildings in Hongkou that had been inhabited by the emigrants) persist to the present. In the latest, contemporary transformation of this place of exile, evidence of this material memory has been partly musealized in the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, opened in 2007, thus ensuring its permanent preservation. Under the name Tilanqiao or Tilanqiao Historical Zone (named after the Tilanqiao Prison located in Hongkou), this place has now also become part of Chinese memory politics and culture, which primarily focuses on the memory of the victorious war against Japan. Whether this site can continue to retain its Jewish or Jewish-transcultural identity remains to be seen. In this article, I analyze the transformations of this place from a “pile of rubble” to “Little Vienna,” “Ghetto,” “Hongkou,” and eventually “Tilanquiao,” in the context of the Jewish exile in Shanghai and the memory of it.
Abstract
Transformations of a Space of Exile and Memory: Shanghai - Hongkou - Tilanquao For about 18,000 Jewish emigrants from Europe, Shanghai - or, more precisely, the Shanghai district of Hongkou - was the place to survive the Holocaust. The Jews who undertook emigration, which intensified in 1938, understood Hongkou as “their” place, as a kind of enclave in a Chinese environment, affectionately called “Little Vienna,” which they had created for themselves and built from rubble (in the Battle of Shanghai in 1937, Japanese troops had destroyed much of the city). This survival space was put to a severe test by the forced ghettoization ordered by the Japanese military authorities who controlled Shanghai in February 1943. The liberation of Shanghai by American and National Chinese troops in 1945 led to the dissolution of the ghetto. After that, it existed essentially only as a memory space in the texts and narratives of the survivors who moved from Shanghai to other countries of exile, although material evidence (such as apartment buildings in Hongkou that had been inhabited by the emigrants) persist to the present. In the latest, contemporary transformation of this place of exile, evidence of this material memory has been partly musealized in the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, opened in 2007, thus ensuring its permanent preservation. Under the name Tilanqiao or Tilanqiao Historical Zone (named after the Tilanqiao Prison located in Hongkou), this place has now also become part of Chinese memory politics and culture, which primarily focuses on the memory of the victorious war against Japan. Whether this site can continue to retain its Jewish or Jewish-transcultural identity remains to be seen. In this article, I analyze the transformations of this place from a “pile of rubble” to “Little Vienna,” “Ghetto,” “Hongkou,” and eventually “Tilanquiao,” in the context of the Jewish exile in Shanghai and the memory of it.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Tracing Oblivion: The Collected Works of Yael Atzmony 1
- Tracing Oblivion 15
- Spatial Thinking in Holocaust Studies 31
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Part I: Theoretical-methodological Approaches
- Expanding Geographies of the Holocaust: Refugees and Spatial Histories 49
- Space and Violence as Analytical Categories in Holocaust Research 67
- Why is Landscape Research Important for Holocaust Studies? 79
- How Can We Map the Holocaust? 89
- Daily Experiences of Persecution in the City: Mobilizing Diaries to Study the Holocaust in Urban Settings 111
- Space in Holocaust Film 119
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Part II: Case Studies
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Fleeting Spaces
- Motion, Fluidity, and Virtuality of Space 133
- Multipurposing Jewish Spaces: German Jewry’s Struggles to Provide Places for its Activities in Hostile Surroundings 143
- Remembering Arcadia in Auschwitz: Pastoral Representations of the Death Camps 159
- Domestic Space in the Films of Chantal Akerman and Claude Lanzmann 177
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Institutionalized Spaces
- Institutionalization as a Socio-spatial Process: Norms, Rules, and Behavior 195
- Blocked Pathways: Regional Room for Manoeuvre of the Jews in the Administrative District of Zichenau, 1939–1945 205
- Denkmäler als Raumproduzenten – Der Gedenkkomplex Trascjanec bei Minsk 229
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Border/ing Spaces
- Drawing Lines, Crossing Frontiers, Transgressing Boundaries 249
- Treblinka Geography: Nazi Building, Jewish Breaking, Historical Reconstructing 261
- Fensterblicke auf den Genozid 277
-
Spatial Relations
- Overlapping, Overwriting: Syn/Diachronic Spatial Relationships 293
- Wandlungen eines Exil- und Erinnerungsraumes: Shanghai – Hongkou – Tilanqiao 305
- Räumliche Überlagerungen. Erkenntnisse zu den Raumbeziehungen der Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück durch eine zeichnerisch-räumliche Analyse 327
- List of Contributors 353
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Tracing Oblivion: The Collected Works of Yael Atzmony 1
- Tracing Oblivion 15
- Spatial Thinking in Holocaust Studies 31
-
Part I: Theoretical-methodological Approaches
- Expanding Geographies of the Holocaust: Refugees and Spatial Histories 49
- Space and Violence as Analytical Categories in Holocaust Research 67
- Why is Landscape Research Important for Holocaust Studies? 79
- How Can We Map the Holocaust? 89
- Daily Experiences of Persecution in the City: Mobilizing Diaries to Study the Holocaust in Urban Settings 111
- Space in Holocaust Film 119
-
Part II: Case Studies
-
Fleeting Spaces
- Motion, Fluidity, and Virtuality of Space 133
- Multipurposing Jewish Spaces: German Jewry’s Struggles to Provide Places for its Activities in Hostile Surroundings 143
- Remembering Arcadia in Auschwitz: Pastoral Representations of the Death Camps 159
- Domestic Space in the Films of Chantal Akerman and Claude Lanzmann 177
-
Institutionalized Spaces
- Institutionalization as a Socio-spatial Process: Norms, Rules, and Behavior 195
- Blocked Pathways: Regional Room for Manoeuvre of the Jews in the Administrative District of Zichenau, 1939–1945 205
- Denkmäler als Raumproduzenten – Der Gedenkkomplex Trascjanec bei Minsk 229
-
Border/ing Spaces
- Drawing Lines, Crossing Frontiers, Transgressing Boundaries 249
- Treblinka Geography: Nazi Building, Jewish Breaking, Historical Reconstructing 261
- Fensterblicke auf den Genozid 277
-
Spatial Relations
- Overlapping, Overwriting: Syn/Diachronic Spatial Relationships 293
- Wandlungen eines Exil- und Erinnerungsraumes: Shanghai – Hongkou – Tilanqiao 305
- Räumliche Überlagerungen. Erkenntnisse zu den Raumbeziehungen der Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück durch eine zeichnerisch-räumliche Analyse 327
- List of Contributors 353
