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6:00 pm - Holocaust Remembrance Day Event: A Jewish Family’s Century in Shanghai
April 23, 2023 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Ester Benjamin Shifren, author of “Hiding In a Cave of Trunks” will be marking Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance) Sunday, April 23rd virtually at 6PM. The Philipstown Reform Synagogue together with the the Desmond Fish Public Library, Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Library and the Howland Public Library, Beacon, is honored to have this notable author share the experiences of her prominent, Jewish family who lived in China for generations and their three years of interment during the Japanese Occupation of Shangai, and in the Communist era forced to relocate to Hong Kong and then Israel.
Ms.Shifren has spoken internationally abut the history of the Jewish Community and multi ethnic groups in Shanghai, the “Paris of the Orient”. In 2005, Ester was a guest in a BBC One program, “We’ll Meet Again”, and lectured at the Imperial War Museum in London.
Despite Shanghai being across the Asian continent, more than 20,000 German, Polish and Austrian stateless Jews fled to China during World War II. Please join us for what promises to be a most interesting and different aspect of World War II history.
Rabbi Helaine Ettinger will be leading a brief ceremony of remembrance for those who perished during the World War II Holocaust.
About Ester Benjamin Shifren
Author, artist, and musician Ester Benjamin Shifren was born in China to a prominent British Jewish family that had flourished in Shanghai for five generations. They were interned for three years by the Japanese during World War II, and in the Communist era were forced to relocate to Hong Kong and then Israel. She served in the IDF, married, and lived in South Africa for 36 years and Canada for five years before moving to Los Angeles. Ms. Shifren has spoken internationally to numerous groups about the history of the Jewish community and multi ethnic groups in Shanghai, the “Paris of the Orient”. In 2005 Ester was a guest in a BBC One program, “We’ll Meet Again”, and lectured at the Imperial War Museum in London. She is the author of “Hiding in a Cave of Trunks.”