January 27, the day that the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland was liberated in 1945, was in 2005 proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year on January 27, the Italian and Israel consulates general in Shanghai organized a ceremony commemorating Holocaust victims.

Italy's long history with its Jewish community is a reason why the Consulate General of Italy chose to co-organize the event, according to Stefano Beltrame, Consul General of Italy in Shanghai

The Venetian Republic in 1516 built a district where Jews in Italy were compelled to live. Five hundred years have passed since the construction of "the world's first ghetto," but the Venetian Ghetto remains the center of Jewish life in Italy.

"The word ghetto originated in Venice, where there is a district of the same name. Before it was designated for Jews, it was an iron foundry. The name of the district comes from the Venetian "geto" (casting of molten metal), but pronounced as "ghetto" by local Ashkenazi Jews of German origin," said Beltrame.

Shanghai Ghetto

In February, the Italian Consulate General will organize a conference entitled "The first and the last ghetto: Venice and Shanghai" in collaboration with the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, to commemorate the Venetian Ghetto.

Looking back through the history, while 6 million European Jews were systematically murdered in the Holocaust during World War II, others escaped to the US, the Soviet Zone, Central Asia and East Asia.

Shanghai accepted approximately 30,000 European Jewish refugees from 1933 to 1941, more than the total number of Jewish refugees accepted by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India, according to the research by professor Pan Guang from Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

The Shanghai Ghetto was located in a Japanese-occupied area of Hongkou district. Chinese locals did not leave the district but helped the Jewish refugees assimilate into Shanghainese society.

"We will never forget the braveness of the Chinese people from Shanghai who saved the lives of more than 30,000 Jewish people," said Amikam Levy, the Consul General of Israel in Shanghai.

Never forget

Israel currently is home to almost half of the world's Jews, with the population of Jewish people in Israel reaching 6.3 million in 2015, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.

Levy believes that even in this day and age of globalization, the prejudice and fanaticism that led to the original Holocaust are still very much alive, with many groups continuing to spread intolerance, fear and terror throughout the world.

To remind people of this constant threat, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs organizes ceremonies, educational activities, cultural performances and film screenings in over 100 countries in the world. It also sends Holocaust survivors to other countries to talk about their experiences. This year, major activities will take place in Africa and China.

"Israel is a peace-loving, democratic, cultured, dynamic country that respects the human rights of every individual. It is an island of progress, in a region where there is no progress. But we will stand firm against those who wish to harm us," said Levy.

Israeli Consul General Amikam Levy speaks at the Holocaust memorial ceremony in Shanghai. 

 

Italian Consul General Stefano Beltrame speaks at the Holocaust memorial ceremony in Shanghai.

 

Mourners at the memorial for the victims of the Holocaust on January 27, 2015, in Berlin, Germany

 

Town square of the present-day Venetian Ghetto

Photos: CFP, IC and Yang Lan/GT
Newspaper headline: Standing firm