Dr. Ho Feng Shan served as the Chinese Consul-General in Vienna in 1938-39. He was honored as a "Righteous Gentile" whose efforts saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Boys Town Jerusalem, embodied the concept of Hakarat Hatov - acknowledgment and gratefulness - in adding a memorial for Dr. Ho to their commemorative garden in Jerusalem in 2004.
"He used his position to provide visas for Austrian Jews fleeing the Nazis - one of the first diplomats to do so," they explain. "The title of 'Righteous Among the Nations' was bestowed upon him in October, 2000 for his humanitarian courage in issuing Chinese visas to Jews. Nazi policy at the time was not to deport Jews who could show they had visas to foreign countries, and Dr. Ho, disregarding instructions from his superior, the Chinese Ambassador in Berlin, issued visas to Shanghai to all who Jews requesting them. At the time, the Viennese consulates of England, France, Switzerland and others refused to do so."
The Shanghaiist.com has an article and a video interview with Israeli photojournalist and documentary film maker Dvir Bar-Gal all about Shanghai's Jewish history and the story of Dr. Ho Feng Shan who died in San Francisco in 1997 at the age of 96.
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