White Russian and Jewish Refugees in Shanghai, 1920–44, As Recorded in the Shanghai Municipal Police Files, National Archives, Washington, DC

White Russian and Jewish Refugees in Shanghai, 1920-44, As Recorded in the Shanghai Municipal Police Files, National Archives, Washington, DC by Marcia R. Ristaino The Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP) Files housed at the National Archives are a significant part of the voluminous archives of the International Settlement police force. The collection contains unique original materials from the records and holdings of the British-run municipal police in Shanghai during the years from 18941949 . The most extensjve coverage is given to the period from 1920 to 1944. These SMP Files hold~ngs are currently housed in the Military Archives Division of th~·National Archives, Washington, DC, as Record Group 263. The collection includes 119 archive boxes and 11 additional boxes which make up the Willoughby Collection. The Willoughby Collection contains files which General Charles A. Willoughby , Chief of Intelligence for General Douglas MacArthur, used in research on the Richard Sorge espionage activities. A lengthy typewritten list describing the contents of the collection is available within the Military Archives Division, and a multireel mfcrofilm version can be purchased. [1] The following universities have acquired copies of the microfilm: Cornell, University of California at Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, a university in China, and one in Australia . The SMP Files have an interesting history. Briefly summarized , the Shanghai International Settlement police force was established shortly after the formation in 1854 of the Settlement's presiding body, the Shanghai Municipal Council.[2] Serving a cosmopolitan society in Shanghai, the SMP police came to include Chinese, Indian, White Russian (some of these Jews), and Japanese personnel. While the Municipal Council served and reflected the concerns of the dominant business groups in the Settlement, the municipal police was charged with maintaining an orderly environment for trade and commerce. It performed an additional crucial service by staying apprised of any potentially disruptive political or social activities, both within the foreign and Chinese communities. For this latter function, the Settlement police operated a Special Branch responsible for gathering information on political figures, groups, and movements in Shanghai. The SMP holdings at the National Archives are mainly the records of this Special Branch. The Special Branch received direction for its activities from British Inte 11 igence representatives attached to the Brit ish Consulate in Shanghai. [3] One unit of the Special Branch, the Press Censorship Section, followed the reporting of the key news media, including the English-, French-, Russian-, and Chinese-language press, clipping, and where necessary, translating articles for police use.[4] 51 The contents and continued development of the SMP archives appeared to suffer little even after the Japanese forces took over the International Settlement in December 1941. Dossiers continued to be added by the SMP to the collection. In 1943, the British and American governments proclaimed the "retrocession" to China of the International Settlement, so that at the end of World War II, when the municipal police force was reconstituted, the archives were run and manned by Chinese. During the Chinese civil war that followed, the Chinese municipal police force allowed these files to remain intact, neither significantly adding nor removing files from the collection. In the spring of 1949, as the Communist forces moved into Shanghai, a US Strategic Services Unit was able to load the files on trucks for subsequent transport by water to Japan. The loading process and a typhoon at sea caused some of the material to be lost. Eventually . the SMP Files were brought to the United States and housed at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In the early 1980s, the CIA transferred the records to the National Archives, where they were opened for public use. The SMP Special Branch followed closely the huge influx into Shanghai of White Russian and Jewish refugees escaping revolution and wartime repression. Thus, these SMP Files are an important and unique resource for research on the leadership, composition, and experiences of White Russians and Jews in Shanghai. They are also very valuable for research on Chinese Communist and Comintern activities , labor movements, women and youth activities, non-Communist Ch~nese organizations and societies, and many other subjects. This work considers some of the highlights of White Russian and Jewish activities in Shanghai.[5] White Russians in...