On July 7, 1937, the Japanese attack Wanping on the outskirts of Beijing, and the second Sino-Japanese War begins. The Japanese quickly take Beijing and capture Tianjin (Tientsin). Savage fighting breaks out in Shanghai on August 13, which falls to Japan by late December. Initially, Japan continues a policy of open immigration to Shanghai. The November Pogrom (November 9, 1938) in Germany dramatically increases the number of German Jews entering Shanghai. Over 1,500 refugees arrive by the end of December 1938, and the number reaches 4,000 three months later.

During World War II, China was divided into three occupation zones among the Communist (CCP) forces led by Mao Tse-tung based in the north, the Nationalist (Kuomintang, KMT) forces led by Chiang Kai-shek based in the west, and the Japanese armed forces along the eastern seaboard. When the U.S. enters World War II on December 8, 1941, the United States becomes an ally of China.

On February 18, 1943, as a result of German pressure, Japanese authorities established a ghetto in the Hongkew neighborhood of Shanghai for stateless Jewish refugees who had arrived in Shanghai from Germany and German-occupied areas of Europe from 1937-1942. Kanoh Ghoya was a Japanese official responsible for giving monthly passes to Jewish refugees living in the Hongkew ghetto in Shanghai, China during World War II. Ghoya was also known as the "King of the Jews" and was infamous for his inhumane treatment of ghetto inhabitants.

When the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945, there are 25,000 to 30,000 Jews in China, 17,000 of them in Shanghai. The Shanghai ghetto is only opened with the arrival of an American goodwill mission on September 3, 1945. Communists and Nationalists race to establish positions in Japanese-occupied areas of China. During 1945-1947, Manchuria is under Soviet occupation, and Jewish community leaders of Harbin are arrested and sent to the Soviet interior.

Survivors reflect on the Holocaust and/or World War II from a postwar standpoint and discuss how or why they survived the Holocaust.  Discussing their psychological reactions to the wartime experiences in China, survivors reflect on their thoughts and feelings caused by or directly linked to an experience of persecution in the context of the Holocaust.

Over 17,000 Jews found refuge in Shanghai, China, during World War II. In this section, interviewees discuss the patterns of relationships among people who interacted with one another in Shanghai, in the Hongkew Ghetto, and between the ghetto inhabitants, the local population, and the occupying Japanese authorities.  Relations between Jewish refugees of different cultures and from different regions and countries within the Shanghai community are described.

USC Shoah Foundation has created a new leadership group to help bolster its strategic goals, programs, and activities. The Next Generation Council will be composed of community and business leaders, entertainment and media trendsetters, philanthropists, and social entrepreneurs from across the country, as well as children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors.

Beatrice Becker speaks of the dangerous conditions facing the Jews of Iasi, Romania in late June 1941 when Romania entered the war as an ally of Germany. Days later, on Jun 29th, the Jews of Iasi were rounded up by Romanian and German military units. Beatrice heard screams and shooting coming from the direction of the main police headquarters. Beatrice and her parents were rounded up and  were marched toward the police station’s courtyard, where German soldiers concentrated the Jews of Iasi. The family saw many corpses along the way.  Beatrice and her mother were allowed to return home.