Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Introduction; Chapter 1: Shanghai; Beginnings of the Treaty Port; Shanghai until the Sino-Japanese War of 1937; Baghdadi (Sephardi) and Russian (Ashkenazi) Jews; Shanghai's Russian and Japanese Communities; Aftermath of the 1937 Hostilities; Shanghai-Harbin-Tianjin; Chapter 2: Germany's China Policy, Forced Emigration and the Search for Alternative Destinations; The First Jewish Arrivals in China, 1933-1934; Germany's East Asian Politics between China and Japan; Money, Trade, Arms, and Military Missions; Forced Emigration.

Alternative Destinations: Manchukuo, the Philippines, YunnanChapter 3: "To Suffer a Martyr's Death Rather than Perish in Shanghai" or to "Die as Free Men in Shanghai"; The Journeys; The Refugee Flood and its Cessation; Factors Limiting Sea Travel; Responses in Shanghai; The Permit System; Legitimate and Forged Permits; Overland Routes; Chapter 4: Strangers in Shanghai; Getting Settled: Flats and Heime; Entertainment; Litigation; Publishing; Institutional Development: Synagogues, Burial Societies and Cemeteries, Hospitals and Schools; To Leave Shanghai.

Chapter 5: Years of Misfortune: 1941-1945Eastjewcom, Laura Margolis, and the Polish Jews; The Pacific War and the Jewish Communities; Anti-Semitism, The Proclamation, and The "Designated Area"; Life in the Ghetto; Chapter 6: End of War and the Jewish Exodus; The Disaster of July 1945; Leaving China; Shanghai Remembered; Some Final Remarks; Appendices; Appendix 1: Old and New Street Names Mentioned in Text; Appendix 2: Journals and Newspapers Published in Shanghai for the Jewish Communities 1939-1946; Appendix 3: Documentary Films about Shanghai.

Appendix 4: Partial List of Published German and English Language Memoirs and AutobiographiesAppendix 5: A Biographical Sketch of the Karfunkel Family; Appendix 6: List of German Refugees Entering Shanghai Since 1937, Registration Made by Zangzou Police Station; Glossary of Chinese Names and Terms; Bibliography; Archives; Newspapers; Interviews; Books; Articles; Index of Persons.

The study discusses the history of the Jewish refugees within the Shanghai setting and its relationship to the two established Jewish communities, the Sephardi and Russian Jews. Attention is also focused on the cultural life of the refugees who used both German and Yiddish, and on their attempts to cope under Japanese occupation after the outbreak of the Pacific War. Differences of identity existed between Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews, religious and secular, aside from linguistic and cultural differences. The study aims to understand the exile condition of the refugees and their amazing efforts.

Description based on print version record.