On the Process of Shanghai Jewish Refugees from Silence to Trauma Claims

Abstract

Like other Holocaust survivors, Shanghai Jewish refugees went from silence to trauma claims, albeit slowly and torturously. Social cultural context is an important external factor, which caused refugees’ suppressed memories in the early postwar period, but indirectly awakened Shanghai Jewish refugees’ memories with the trauma turn in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition, the rise of trauma memoirs also provides a favorable field for refugees’ trauma claims, and the “post-memory” generation plays a key role in the trauma act and the establishment of survivor identity. The case of Shanghai Jewish refugees from silence to trauma claims, not only provides reflections for the memory transmission of other repressed groups, but also reveals the shared responsibility of human society.