An exhibition entitled No Child's Play is being held
until May 3 at the old Shanghai Ohel Moishe Synagogue, in memory of
the 1.5 million children who were among the 6 million Jews who died
during the Holocaust.
Ilan Maor, Israeli Consul General in Shanghai, said that the
site in Shanghai was chosen because more than 20,000 Jewish
refugees found shelter in Hongkou District, where the synagogue is
located, from 1938 to 1945.
Located at 62 Changyang Road, the Ohel Moishe Synagogue was
built in 1927 and was used by Jewish refugees as a place to gather
and worship during World War II.
"In fact, Shanghai offered shelter to over 30,000 Jewish
refugees during World War II, and approximately 7,000 of them were
children," said Pang Guang, dean of the Shanghai Jewish Studies
Institute. The institute is a branch of the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences.
According to Maor, April is always regarded as the month for
mourning victims of the Holocaust among Jewish people.
Curator Yehudit Inbar said that No Child's Play, unlike
other Holocaust exhibitions, does not focus on history, statistics
or descriptions of physical violence.
Instead, the toys, games, artwork, diaries, and poems displayed
here highlight some of the personal stories of the children,
providing a glimpse into their lives during the Holocaust.
Over 20 valuable archives and photos from Shanghai and around
the world are in display, recreating scenes from the lives of
Jewish children during that period.
Inbar said that children were the most fragile and vulnerable of
victims, yet in some ways they were also the strongest. They
developed unique skills for survival, among them fantasy,
creativity and play.
Three of the photos exhibited show the dolls and teddy bears of
the Jewish children in camps or ghettos.
Experts said dolls and teddy bears became integral parts of the
lives of the children during the Holocaust. In many cases, these
toys accompanied them throughout the period and were a primary
source of comfort and companionship.
For some children, the teddy bears and dolls were the most
meaningful possessions left to them at the end of the war. Even
today, as adults, their attachment to those toys is so great that
they have difficulty separating from them.
"In embarking upon the research for this exhibition, we thought
that our findings would be limited to the children's moments of
comfort and consolation," Inbar said.
"Now we have learned that far more was involved. Fantasy,
creativity and play were the manifestations of a basic instinct for
survival, a prerequisite for life."
(China Daily April 26, 2004)