The Shanghai Jewish Refugee Memorial established an International Advisory Committee in Shanghai on October 23rd, composed of 27 experts from China and foreign countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland and Japan.

Established by the Hongkou district government in 2017 on the site of the Moses Hall, the museum displays historical materials and videos to visitors for them to get a knowledge of the history of nearly 20,000 Jews coming to Shanghai to take refuge in the 1930s and 1940s.

At the committee-establishment meeting, several themes like international sharing of the achievements of research on Jewish refugees in Shanghai were discussed.

Steve Hochstadt, a professor from Illinois, US, and a descendant of Jewish refugees in Shanghai, is a member of the board. He wrote a book about Jews in Shanghai after interviewing his grandparents who arrived in Shanghai from Vienna and lived in the city between 1939 and 1949. “I have had some Chinese objects in my home ever since I was a child. In 1987, I interviewed my grandmother, because I wanted to know more about my family stories, and she told me a lot that I didn't know. Later I started interviewing other 'Shanghai Jewish Refugees',” said Hochstadt, who has done about 100 related interviews so far. Some interviewees are in Shanghai, some in Israel, and others in Germany, the United States and other countries.

Over the years, as the international influence of the museum has been increasing, it has become an important platform for the study of that period of history.

Currently, the Memorial is undergoing expansion. The founding of the committee is expected to inspire more people to reflect on the history.