Old documents uncovered by accident showed that the Republic of China was one of very few countries to help Jewish people escape from the Holocaust during World War II, with tens of thousands fleeing to China, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.
Those documents, however, were not enough to clear the name of one of the main architects of this life-saving policy.
Ali Yang (楊心怡), deputy director-general of the Department of West Asian Affairs, said the ministry was motivated to study the history of the government’s treatment of Jews fleeing the Nazi regime after the story of late diplomat Ho Feng-shan (何鳳山) drew attention several years ago.
Historical documents showed that the decision to grant visas to Jews living in areas occupied by German troops was initiated by Sun Ke (孫科), then legislative speaker, approved by the Executive Yuan and signed by former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), he said.
However, Yang stopped short of elaborating on the material uncovered by the ministry, saying he did not want to leave the impression that the ministry was taking advantage of Ho to bolster its reputation.
Asked by reporters about details of visas issued to Jewish refugees at the time, Yang said that many files were not accessible as they were left in China after the government fled to Taiwan in 1949.
Ho, who served as the Chinese consul-general in Vienna from 1938 to 1940, issued visas to Shanghai to all Jews requesting to leave Austria after the country was annexed by Nazi Germany in March 1938.
Those facts, not known until after his death in 1997, led Jewish organization Yad Vashem to confer upon him the title “Righteous Among the Nations.” He was also known as the “Chinese Schindler” after Oskar Schindler, the subject of a blockbuster movie by US filmmaker Steven Spielberg.
Yang said the ministry was scheduled to commend Ho last year, but that his son, Monto Ho (何曼德), an academic at Academia Sinica, and his daughter rejected the plan because they wished the government would clear his father’s name in an impeachment case.
The Control Yuan impeached Ho Feng-shan in the 1960s on charges of embezzlement when he served as the representative to Colombia. He was removed from the position and deprived of his government pension.
The impeachment was approved by the Judicial Yuan’s Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission.
Saying that the ministry sympathized with Monto Ho and his sister about their wish to restore their father’s reputation, Yang said the ministry was unable to ask for the investigation to be reopened, as no new evidence had been uncovered.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS