A German-Jewish "University" in China during World War II: A Unique Case of Transnational Refugee Education

press release: Join WISCAPE for a lecture by Prof. Weija Li, University of Wisconsin-Madison

October 15, 12:00pm, Education Building – Room 159

A light lunch will be provided at this event by the Center for German and European Studies – please RSVP by following this link.

For more information about this event and Prof. Li, click here.

Abstract: 

From 1938 to 1941, more than 17,000 German and Austrian Jewish refugees, along with about 2,000 Polish Jews, fled from the Nazi terror to Shanghai, China. The Chinese harbor city thus became a safe haven for a Jewish diaspora in East Asia. The refugees’ hope to use Shanghai as a temporary waiting room for their transfer to North America or elsewhere was soon wrecked by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the breakout of the Pacific War. As a result, they ended up spending a decade in China. During his talk, Dr. Li will illustrate how the European Jewish refugees sustained their educational aspirations and efforts by creating various educational institutions in the war-torn Chinese city, including establishing a continuing education center grounded in the German concept of “Volkshochschule” (people’s university). Furthermore, ​Li will discuss how Jewish refugees’ educational tradition intersected with China’s political and societal frameworks. Drawing upon Shanghai’s Jewish adult education as a unique case, ​the talk will address how transnational refugee education could overcome deficit models and cultural homogenization.

Please contact Kari Dickinson (kadickinson@wisc.edu) with any questions about this lecture.