Port of Last Resort: The Diaspora Communities of Shanghai (review)

This is a well-informed chronicle of two diaspora communities—one Slavic (mostly Russian), the other Jewish—that found refuge in Shanghai during the period 1920-1950. The story of these communities has long been overlooked, as historians of modern Shanghai have mostly been interested in either the Western elites who governed the foreign settlements there or in Chinese efforts to modernize the city and rid it of foreign imperialism. The two communities that are studied here played only a marginal role in the history of Shanghai in this period. Except for some synagogues or orthodox churches, they did not leave an enduring legacy. Their members, who left Shanghai after World War II, remember the port city mainly as a place of suffering where no special attention was paid to the urban surroundings. The only reason why these victims of political or racial persecution chose the port city as their residence is that local authorities allowed them to settle there without visas at a time when most countries were barring refugees from entering their territory. Not surprisingly, then, Shanghai remains in the background of this narrative, providing only the stage where the many dramas of exile, destitution, and loss of identity unfolded. Marcia Ristaino's research testifies to the growing interest in the underdogs and victims of history, a trend which, as far as it concerns the European refugees of Shanghai, has been heralded by the publication in the 1990s of several memoirs and academic studies.¹

The author has utilized a very comprehensive array of documentation: archives that include those of the Shanghai Municipal Police, the Office of Strategic Services, the League of Nations, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and various Jewish institutions; a number of British, American, Japanese, Russian, and Jewish periodicals; and thirty-four interviews with ex-refugees (mostly conducted by Ristaino herself). The final bibliography lists more than 350 references (including some only marginally related to the topic).

Compared with other Westerners in Shanghai, Russian and Jewish residents were remarkably numerous—around thirty thousand and twenty thousand, respectively—whereas the British at their peak influence were only ten thousand. Both Russians and Jews were mainly composed of stateless and often destitute exiles whose poor living conditions and low social status were in sharp contrast to those of other foreign residents. These latecomers did not represent "Imperialism's new communities"² but "the unhappy remains of collapsed empires" (p. 274) and the unwanted elements of the Nazi new order. They were outsiders not only to Chinese Shanghai but also to the foreign-controlled settlements. The two refugee communities intersected somewhat, as the Slavic group comprised a number of Russian and Polish Jews.

Both communities faced alienation. In a city divided into three different parts (the Chinese section, the International Settlement, and the French Concession), they had to cope with a complex political environment. Their responses to the various challenges they faced were different. Because of the multiple identities of its component groups (e.g., former Russian Imperial officials and military officers, clergy of the Orthodox Church, and Ukrainian and Polish nationalists), the Slavic community was plagued by constant political bickering. Various groups succeeded in protecting their religious and cultural traditions by building schools and churches and organizing numerous literary and artistic associations. But they were not able to set up united institutions in order to defend their interests. With their leaders absorbed in internal struggles, members of the community were left to fend for themselves: the frequent failure to find employment led to crime and prostitution.

Diversity and friction prevailed as well among the Jews who had fled Nazi persecution: assimilated German Jews rubbed shoulders with devout practitioners from the Polish and Baltic yeshivas, and highly cultured professionals associated with small traders and craftsmen. The mix of nationalities added to internal tensions. But these refugees remained connected by their common link to Judaism and were able...