Recently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a speech at the Holocaust commemoration of the Jews, which sparked heated discussions on the Internet.
He said that during World War II, when the Nazis were killing Jews, no country ever reached out to the Jews.
However, this speech of his caused dissatisfaction among Chinese netizens, and many netizens said that how many years have passed, and they have forgotten the kindness of the Chinese?
In fact, the statements of netizens are not unreasonable, because the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Memorial Hall is ironclad evidence that cannot be erased.
As we all know, during World War II, Jews were subjected to the genocide of Hitler, the leader of the German Nazis, and according to incomplete statistics, nearly 6 million Jews were murdered.
However, when the Jews sought refuge and ran into a wall, only China reached out to them, and the "Shanghai Jewish Refugees Memorial Hall" is a historical witness of that period.
We turn the clock back to 1938, when Austria was occupied by Hitler's Nazi forces and a brutal wave of anti-Semitism was being launched, which led to the arrest and persecution of many Jews.
According to records, there were about 800,000 Jews in Austria during this period, and the Nazi Party at that time gave Jews two choices: to leave Austria or to go to concentration camps.
Obviously, this was a multiple-choice question, so the Jews at that time had to leave Austria as soon as possible in order to survive.
However, the question of where to go was a big one, and although the rest of Europe other than Austria was very close, none of the thirty-one countries, including Britain and Canada, were willing to accept them.
At the critical moment when they were desperate, some Jews put their hopes in China, so they went to the Chinese consulate in Austria together.
It is understood that the consul of the Consulate General of the Republic of China in Vienna during this period was named He Fengshan, who knew very well that China's Shanghai port was in an unattended state, and as long as he had his visa, he could arrive in Shanghai smoothly.
Because there were so many Jews who wanted to come to China at that time, there were no statistics at all, but according to relevant data, during World War II, Shanghai received nearly 20,000 Jews from European countries, and the dense names on the "Jewish refugee list wall" of the memorial hall are the best witness.
Although it is not known how many visas He Fengshan issued to Jews in Austria during that period, according to historical records, He Fengshan withstood the pressure of the Nazi Party from 1938 and continued to issue visas to thousands of Jews to China for two years, and He Fengshan was also known as "China's Sindeqin".
All kinds of historical events show that when the Jews suffered from the catastrophe of racial annihilation, China was the only country that stood up to help them as a country, and I didn't think they would forget it so quickly!
It is worth mentioning that as early as May 6, 2013, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally visited the Caohejing Development Zone in Shanghai and said that "I will always thank you and never forget this history".
However, I did not expect that after ten years, when the Israeli Prime Minister commemorated the Holocaust, he would say that no country was willing to lend a helping hand to them, which not only did not stand up, but also hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.
Take an old saying of the Chinese is "cross the river and tear down the bridge", although you forget, but the Chinese will not forget.
Not long after the Israeli Prime Minister's speech, the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Memorial announced that it would be temporarily closed and no longer open to the public! The reason is that "the memorial will be restored and renovated from the inside out." Even so, it still sparked all kinds of speculation!