There are oppressed people all over the world today who are continuously besieged and want freedom from their oppressors.

We all need to be aware of violations of human rights around the world and speak up to everyone we meet to inform them if they aren’t aware.

In today’s world, Amnesty International has noted the ten worst situations of human rights violations. (You can easily read all about these terrible situations on line.) Amnesty notes: The horrible oppression of the Rohingya of Myanmar, the persecution of The Uyghurs of China, the oppressed Chinese people of Hong Kong, religious minorities in Egypt, asylum seekers in Hungary, oppression of the Palestinians in Israel, vicious attacks against civilians in Kenya, attacks against civilians and religious minorities in Pakistan, political prisoners in Russia, the torture and ill treatment of women and those critical of the government in Saudi Arabia, and war crimes and human rights violations in Syria.

These are just the tip of the iceberg of human rights violations worldwide.

People like you, dear reader, need to be aware of their plight and the lack of effort made to ensure the peace and freedom for people like these around the world.

Stories of rescue during the Holocaust are many, but the majority of these are not widely read. Most people, even those who study the Holocaust, could not begin to know each and every story of rescue which occurred during this horrific chapter of history! Everyone who searches for these fantastic stories should keep in mind as they read, the great bravery and humanity of these people. Eli Wiesel once said, “These were not crusaders, but were determined to remain human.” Making the choice to be an upstander and even go so far as to save another human being’s life is not easy.

In her book, The Courage to Care, Dr. Carol Rittner, professor of Holocaust Studies at then Stockton College, wrote about several wonderful and brave people who desired to remain human and save Jews because it was the right thing to do. The book was later made into an award winning film.

Dr. Rittner profiles the rescued and also rescuers in her stories.

Two of those rescued profiled in her book and film were Odette Myers, a young Jewish girl in Paris, and Emanuel Tanay, a young Jewish boy saved by Poles who placed him in a Catholic Monastery to hide.

The rescuers, special kind of people with amazing human skills, are portrayed as people who knew nothing else but to do the right thing and save oppressed people. This was as natural as breathing to them. They were supremely human in an inhumane world.

The rescuers profiled in her book were; Pastor and Magda Trocme’ in the Village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, Marion P.

Pritchard in Amsterdam who saved three Jewish children at great risk to herself, and Irene Opdyke, a Pole who worked as a cook and housekeeper for the Germans and saved an entire family of her Jewish friends right under the very nose (in the basement) of her Nazi Wehrmacht employer! Google these names in order to read these and other stories of rescuers such as Nicholas Winton of England who while on a business trip to Austria and Czechoslovakia, saw the oppression of Jews there and became determined to do something about it. (He eventually saved hundreds of Jewish children via the now famous Kindertransports to Great Britain.) Many of you may have read about Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat in Kaunas, Lithuania who decided to write visas for Jews to escape persecution. He worked endless hours to be sure 6 everyone who needed a visa received it! And this was when the Japanese were allied with the Nazis! The list of rescuers is seemingly endless and this should give us pause when we think that the world is purely evil and never contains any good. All of these rescuers became determined, each in their own way, to step up and do the right thing; to be human to their fellow man.

The subject of this book, Dr. Feng Shan Ho was focused, determined, and courageous in his rescue efforts in Vienna.

The lessons we learn from their (and his!) actions should serve us well. This story of Chinese diplomat, Feng-Shan Ho reveals one more rescuer who was determined to do the right thing and save Jews; this time, in Vienna and parts of Austria, from inevitable murder.

He was always described as a man with a “compassionate heart”.

He was a very humble man who did what he did, not for recognition or fame.

In 1999, this great man had a plaque and tree planted at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem on the Avenue of the Righteous. Here, you will read why.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Author’s Note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter One 

Opportunity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chapter Two

Springtime in Vienna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Chapter Three 

Dark Days at Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter Four

Brief Historical Background of Austria­Hungary . . . . . . . . . 13

Chapter Five 

Knowledge and Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Chapter Six

Dark Days in Austria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Chapter Seven 

Challenging Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Chapter Eight

Knowing What Must Be Done. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Chapter Nine

Taking Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Chapter Ten

Shanghai: A Distant Refuge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Chapter Eleven

The Jews and Shanghai. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Chapter Twelve

Jewish Life in the Ghetto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chapter Thirteen

China After the War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chapter Fourteen

Jewish Survivors and Their Stories of Rescue: 
Most by the Efforts of Dr. Feng­Shan Ho. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Chapter 15

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Chapter One
Opportunity

Dr. Ho was sent to Vienna (from Istanbul, Turkey) in 1937 by the Nationalist Chinese government. His family was surely ex­cited about this new adventure to Vienna, Austria. From Istanbul, they took the famed Orient Express Train directly to Vienna. On the way they were able to sight­see in Sofia, Belgrade, and Budapest. Feng Shan Ho was on his way to his new promotion as First Secretary in the Chinese Legation. A legation is a diplomatic group of people from a friendly country, led by a person who is not an ambassador, but has some decision­making power.

Leaving Istanbul in Turkey was not easy for him. Leaving your first posting must always be difficult; He had gotten used to the rou­tine of being in Turkey and his family had all of the challenges of packing and planning, but the prospects ahead were great. After all, he spoke fluent German and he was looking forward to the new and different work that might be required.

The Charge’ d’Affaires of the Legation, was Tong Deqian and he would meet with Feng­Shan Ho directly after their arrival to ap­prise him of his Duties as First Secretary. Ho looked back on his life and career as he made this impor­tant move. He had come such a long way from the poverty of Yijang, where he grew up in Hunan Province. In 1908 at the age of 7, he lost his father and now he wondered if he would be proud of his hardworking son. Feng Shan was named for the “Phoenix on the Mountain”.

He had always been diligent and hardworking; values taught to him both at his Lutheran Mission School and later, at The College of Yale­in­China in the provincial capital of Changsha where he de­veloped his lifelong dedication to: mens sana, corpore sana (sound mind, sound body). He then attended the Ludwig Maximillian University in Mu­nich where he mastered his German. In 1929, he received his doc­torate (Magna Cum Laude) in political economics. It was a difficult journey, but he worked diligently and the hard work paid off. Throughout his life he was tireless in his pursuit of knowledge and self­improvement.

Ho possessed a dynamic, outgoing personality, boundless en­ergy and a hot temper, offset by a quick wit and great sense of humor. A large part of him was very Chinese, and was firmly rooted in Confucian Principles. In fact, he named his two children after tenets of Confucianism, “Virtue” and “Decorum.” A man of both in­tellect and passion, he strove all his life to balance the two. “He knew he had been given many gifts from God, and felt they were not given to him solely for his own benefit but to do for others, for his fellow man.” said his pastor, Reverend Charles Kuo.

Back in 1935 he started his diplomatic career within the For­eign Ministry of the Republic of China with his first posting in Turkey. Living and working in Istanbul was challenging, but now he was here in Vienna two years later, and a new chapter of his life was playing out. He was genuinely excited about the new assignment!

Local author describes a Chinese hero during the Holocaust

The Press of Atlantic City • 12/21/21 • READ

Robert Holden has been a lifelong educator, starting his teaching career in Ocean City at the Intermediate School in 1975, after graduating from Kutztown State College in Pennsylvania. He taught self-contained fourth grade for seven years and then started and taught the gifted/talented program (PACE Creative Program) for the balance of his career, retiring in 2006.

In approximately1982 he created a well-received course about the Holocaust for his seventh grade G/T students. The course’s success promped Holden to attend a Holocaust studies trip to Europe and Israel in 1997 (sponsored by the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey), where he had the opportunity to visit Holocaust sites such as Berlin’s Wannsee Villa, Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland and Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic. In Israel, he consulted with educators and museum personnel at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

In 2003 Holden served on the committee to revise the New Jersey State-mandated Holocaust education curriculum, and several years later he was awarded the “Honey and Maurice Axelrod Award” for his dedication to education about the Holocaust.

In 2006, (after retiring from Ocean City) Holden and 15 Canadian teachers, with BC and NJ ALPHA’s sponsorship, made the 18- day pilgrimage to China to learn about Japanese aggression against the Chinese during WWII. Holden and the other teachers met survivors of Japanese aggression, which culminated with a secondary education curriculum guide about this chapter of history, and was co-written with Holden’s longtime friend and colleague, Doug Cervi (currently Executive Director of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education).

Titled, The Nanking Massacre and Other Japanese Atrocities Committed During the Asia-Pacific War; 1931-1945, the curriculum was published in 2007 and has been distributed to every school district in New Jersey, and is still available online at the NJCOHE’s website.

It was on this trip that Holden first visited the Shanghai Ghetto historic site, an inspiration for this book.

In 2007 he created and taught Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the Trocki Hebrew Academy in Egg Harbor Township, NJ, and supervised student teachers through Rowan University.

In 2009 Holden used a portion of his “Axelrod Award” earning to purchase books and materials for a new section of the Atlantic Cape Community College Cape May, NJ campus library’s Holocaust Resource Center, It was designed and created by Holden, Library Director Grant Wilinski and ACCC CMC campus Librarian Leslie Murtha.

Holden’s commitment to Holocaust and genocide education remains strong in retirement, and he has given numerous presentations about anti-Semitism, the rise of the Nazis, and the Holocaust.

He is an original member of the Board of the South Jersey Holocaust Coalition, and is active in the Upper Township, NJ historical society and as its historian since 2018.

Holden’s last book, Upper Township and its Ten Villages, was published by Arcadia Publishing Company in February of 2020.

He has been married to his beloved wife, Janice for more than 44 years. They have two children, Becky (husband Chris) and son, Ryan (fiancé Jen) and two granddaughters, Amelia, age 10, and Harper, age 8, who also love history like their pop-pop. Holden lives in Upper Township, Cape May County, NJ and enjoys kayaking, biking, and most of all, his restored 1947 Studebaker, Champion sedan.