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epublic; a number exceeding Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and Canada
combined. Most of the immigrants settled in the area of La Paz and smaller urban and
agricultural communities. 97
Feng Shan Ho (1901-1997) served as the Consul General of China in Vienna
during the period of the Anschluss. A political economist with a Ph.D. from the
University of Munich in 1932, he observed that the persecution of Austrian Jews by
“Hitler’s devils” was increasing on a daily basis prompting him to maintain secret
contacts with American charitable and religious organizations involved in refugee work.
He recalled that he “spared no effort in using any possible means” to rescue “innumerable
Jews” by adhering to a “liberal” policy of granting visas to Shanghai to any and all who
requested one. This Chinese port city, however, was then under Japanese occupation and
thus outside of sovereign Chinese control and authority. Although an entry permit was
not required for admission into this coastal city it served as proof of destination to the
German authorities and opened the door to escape to Shanghai and other locations. The
Shanghai visas also served as a means of release of Jewish inmates from Dachau and
other prisons. The Chinese Ambassador to Berlin and Ho’s superior, Chen Jie, viewed
the granting of visas to Jews as an impediment to friendly German-Chinese diplomatic
relations but was unable to curtail the Consul’s activities. Chang Kai-Shek, facing war
on two fronts with the Chinese Communists and Japanese, depended upon German
weapons and military advisors. His son, educated in Germany, became a second
lieutenant in the German 98 th Jaeger Regiment and took part in the takeover of Austria.
When asked years later why he was willing to intervene and rescue the Jews of Austria
97 Leo Spitzer, “Rootless Nostalgia: Vienna in La Paz, La Paz in Elsewhere,” Shofar: An
Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 10.3 (2001): 6-17.
47