Strangers Always: A Jewish Family in Wartime Shanghai [Hardcover]

Rena Krasno (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1992

This is a story of coming of age in chaotic times during the war in the Pacific, from the unique perspective of a young woman in the Jewish community of Shanghai. We learn how events were perceived by people entrapped by war who endeavored to seek the truth through smuggled info., jammed radio broadcasts, & reading between the lines of Japanese censorship. The heroic efforts of people in the Jewish community in Shanghai to help refugees from the Holocaust are perhaps the most inspiring part of the narrative. Many details of the history of that community are brought to light for the first time. Black & white photos.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the early years of the century, Shanghai was famous not only for its spies and intrigues but as a refuge for the world's persecuted. Among the latter were Jews fleeing Russian pogroms, White Russians running from the Revolution of 1917 and, later, Jews escaping the Holocaust. By 1942, the city's predominantly Russian Jewish community numbered an estimated 4000. The author's father, a 1921 arrival, was one of that community's influential intellectual figures. His newspaper helped to knit outsiders together and to preserve their culture; his daughter (who now lives in Northern California) grew up in a vibrant atmosphere engendered, in part, by the paper. But between 1933 and 1945, the Japanese occupied the city, establishing Thought Police, dispossessing the most recent of the stateless (largely refugees from Hitler) and creating new ghettos. This rare personal record of the years 1942-1945, assembled from journals kept while Krasno was a college student, recalls in homely telling detail the history and experience of the Jewish community in old Shanghai, and life as it became under the repressive Japanese rule.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The author's family, Russian emigres, were part of a large Jewish community in Shanghai that also included refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe. While both groups suffered much persecution from the Japanese--and even the Chinese--the former lived relatively less restricted lives (Krasno even attended medical school during the war!). Still, the plight of the Jewish community is the focus of her journal, a remarkable combination of personal experiences and short essays on the history of Jews in Shanghai, life under foreign occupation, and cultural encounters. Although the explanatory notes are directed to the lay reader, there is much substance here for Jewish, East Asian, and World War II studies collections. Recommended for most libraries.
- Kenneth W. Berger, Duke Univ. Lib., Durham, N.C.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 218 pages
• Publisher: Pacific View Pr (November 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881896021
• ISBN-13: 978-1881896029
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,673,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars different view of the second world war, April 18, 2003

By 

lisatheratgirl "lisatheratgirl" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strangers Always: A Jewish Family in Wartime Shanghai (Hardcover)

This book is the memoir of a young woman from a Russian Jewish family growing up in Shanghai during World War II. The setting is multicultural, multilingual and multiracial, and the author provides fascinating details from the history of a city that no longer exists. Shanghai had Chinese, White Russian, French, British, American, German, Iraqi and many other citizens. The author lived there under the Japanese occupation, but this is not a Holocaust story. Some people were interned and imprisoned, and there was some anti-Semitism, but there were no mass deportations to death camps or a "final solution" as was taking place in Europe. The city was full of refugees from many governments, including Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, Fascist Italy and Franco's Spain, as well as "stateless" people, many of whom had escaped to China following the Russian Revolution. The author documents publications of the day, Japanese propaganda, and news from the U.S. and its allies. She also explains well what happened to various people later, what rumors turned out to be true or false, and gives her sources. First-rate research, good writing, and an interesting story add up to a great read. I add that I read this after becoming interested in pre-Communist Shanghai after reading Kazuo Ishiguro's When We Were Orphans. If you liked that book, try a real-life version!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-witness account of the end of imperialism in Shanghai., July 20, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Strangers Always: A Jewish Family in Wartime Shanghai (Hardcover)

I wanted to share my personal experiences in Shanghai both before World War II and during the Japanese occupation (1923-1949). I base my book on my private diaries, notes taken during radio broadcasts, and years of research. My father, who at the time was the Editor of the best known Jewish weekly in Shanghai and Honorable Secretary of the Russian Jewish community, put all his personal papers at my disposal. This book describes the end of imperialism in Shanghai and, I believe, is of interest to the general public, Jews and non-Jews alike. Rena Krasno, author.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars different view of the second world war, April 18, 2003

By 

lisatheratgirl "lisatheratgirl" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strangers Always: A Jewish Family in Wartime Shanghai (Hardcover)

This book is the memoir of a young woman from a Russian Jewish family growing up in Shanghai during World War II. The setting is multicultural, multilingual and multiracial, and the author provides fascinating details from the history of a city that no longer exists. Shanghai had Chinese, White Russian, French, British, American, German, Iraqi and many other citizens. The author lived there under the Japanese occupation, but this is not a Holocaust story. Some people were interned and imprisoned, and there was some anti-Semitism, but there were no mass deportations to death camps or a "final solution" as was taking place in Europe. The city was full of refugees from many governments, including Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, Fascist Italy and Franco's Spain, as well as "stateless" people, many of whom had escaped to China following the Russian Revolution. The author documents publications of the day, Japanese propaganda, and news from the U.S. and its allies. She also explains well what happened to various people later, what rumors turned out to be true or false, and gives her sources. First-rate research, good writing, and an interesting story add up to a great read. I add that I read this after becoming interested in pre-Communist Shanghai after reading Kazuo Ishiguro's When We Were Orphans. If you liked that book, try a real-life version!