On Wednesday, the Hillel of Silicon Valley, which supports Jewish students, and Shlomi Kofman, the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest and hosted an inauguration event in the San Jose State University Student Union Ballroom of the “Beyond Duty” exhibition displayed in the Martin Luther King Library.
The exhibition, which will be held until April 28, honors the 36 diplomats recognized as “Righteous Among the Nation” by the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, a distinction delivered to those who risked their lives to rescue Jewish people during the Holocaust, according to the Mission of Israel to the UN in Geneva.
“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary actions, even when it means actually acting against your restrictions, against your own government's decision,” Kofman said. “[These diplomats] were just loyal to internal moral compass when they saw the horror in the eyes of the Jews who begged for shelter.”
Manli Ho, the keynote speaker of the event, is the daughter of Feng Shan, a Chinese diplomat stationed in Vienna, the Austrian capital, during World War II.
“My father rarely spoke of his time in Vienna, and much less about his efforts in the mass rescue of Jews,” Ho said.
Interim SJSU President Steve Perez delivered a video message projected at the beginning of the event, saying his family history is personally linked to Ho’s father.
He said his stepmother escaped from the Nazis with her family by leaving Vienna and immigrating to Shanghai. He said Ho’s father could be the one who helped his stepmother’s family escape Nazis’ occupation.
“What [Ho] will be addressing turns out to be personal to me and I owe a debt of gratitude to her and her father who changed my background,” Perez said.
Ho said Nazi authorities told Jewish individuals that they could leave and their family would be released from concentration camps if they could produce proof of emigration.
She said she did research about her father’s past for 25 years and discovered he helped thousands of Austrian Jews flee from the Nazis and immigrate to Shanghai.
“In 1938, as a diplomat, my father possessed neither arms nor weapons, instead he had to rely on his wits and strategic power throughout his career,” Ho said during the event.
She said her father was ordered by his hierarchy superior to desist from issuing visas to the Jewish population but he didn’t obey and continued to deliver thousands of visas for Shanghai.
Sarita Bronstein, Hillel of Silicon Valley executive director, organized the event and said she believes it’s necessary to educate the campus community about the Holocaust and inspire people to “stand up and be courageous.”
“With the growing number of Holocaust deniers and the rapid spread of anti-Semitism, it is crucial to educate the campus community about this horrific chapter in Jewish history,” Bronstein said. “We need to remember and honor world citizens who despite personal risk, saved Jews during the Holocaust.”
Matan Zamir, Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, attended the event and said his step grandfather was saved by a Swedish Diplomat honored in the library exhibition.
“Even though it sounds for us today . . . like the obvious thing to do, back then they had to go above and beyond [to do so], ” Zamir said during the event. “They represented their countries in the best possible way but also represented humanity.”
Philip Heller, computer science assistant professor and president of the Jewish Faculty and Staff Association denounced antisemitic acts as still occurring within the SJSU community.
“Just in the past few weeks, a Jewish professor received a racist flier delivered to his home by a neo-Nazi organization,” Heller said. “We have to create a world where that isn’t acceptable.”
Jasmine Haner, communication junior and vice president of the SJSU Jewish Student Union, attended the event and said it was an honor to meet the speaker and attendees.
“I have a lot of family that survived the Holocaust and to think that some of these people helped my family possibly live, it means so much,” Haner said. “It is a really unique point of view that the Jews [were] able to escape with the Shanghai passports.”
Zamir urged students to visit the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library’s second floor to see the exhibit about the Righteous Among The Nations diplomats.
“Go and see the panels, learn the stories of the diplomats and get inspired,” Zamir said. “The added value is huge to walk around the exhibition.”
