Closed American Gates and Sealed Trains: The Evacuation of European Jewish Refugees from Shanghai in 1949/50

• In Event: Between Prejudice and Humanitarianism in the Post-Nazi Racial State World

Abstract

This paper discusses the final chapter of the lengthy evacuation of European Jewish refugees from Shanghai in 1949/50. In the spring of 1950, a year after Communist forces had taken control of Shanghai, the UN-affiliated International Refugee Organization evacuated 106 Jewish refugees from the city. Most refugees had applied for US visas but no decision had been reached when they arrived in San Francisco. As with several earlier transports of Jewish Shanghai refugees, the group was put on a sealed train and taken under guard to Ellis Island. The deportation of the group was postponed twice. Several leading Jewish representatives demanded the refugees should be allowed to stay in the United States. Even though several members of Congress and President Truman expressed sympathy, the government remained adamant. On June 21, 1950, the refugees were taken to a dockyard in Brooklyn where they boarded the General S.D. Sturgis. The ship’s destination was Bremerhaven from where the refugees were taken to a DP camp in West Germany. On a first glance, the case highlights the rigid U.S. policy toward Jewish refugees after the war but the postponement hints at internal disagreements between the administration and Congress. The story of the 106 Jewish refugees also illustrates mixed views among Jewish aid organizations because the refugees belonged to a not insignificant minority of Jewish DPs who refused to move to Israel after May 1948. The case of the 106 refugees raises more general questions about the status and rights of stateless refugees and of “normal” migrants that had not been resolved after 1918.

Author

• Tobias Brinkmann, Penn State University