Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh for our annual Kristallnacht commemoration featuring a 20 minute film screening of 
Harbor from the Holocaust,
 which tells the story of nearly 20,000 Jewish refugees who fled Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II to the Chinese port city of Shanghai. This documentary explores the extraordinary relationship of these Jews and their adopted city of Shanghai, even through the bitter years of Japanese occupation 1937-1945 and the Chinese civil war that followed.
The film will be followed by a discussion with Iris Samson, co-producer of 
Harbor from the Holocaust, 
and
 
Cindy Berg-Vayonis, whose parents and grandparents found refuge in the Shanghai Ghetto and survived the Holocaust.
The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s annual Kristallnacht program is generously supported by Edgar Snyder.
Co-sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University Askwith Family Chair of Holocaust, Carnegie Mellon University Jack Buncher Chair in Jewish Studies, Pittsburgh Chinese Cultural Center, University of Pittsburgh Jewish Studies Program, and WQED.
The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is a program of the Tree of Life.
-
About Cindy 
Berg-Vayonis
:
Cindy Berg-Vayonis is the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. She is deeply committed to preserving and sharing her family's extraordinary story of resilience, love, and survival. Her family's journey begins in war torn Germany during history's darkest time. Faced with rising persecution under Nazi regime, her family made the courageous decision to flee their homeland in search of safety. Their escape led them to an unlikely refuge- Shanghai, China.
In the Shanghai Ghetto, despite harsh conditions and constant threat of war, her family found a fragile sense of hope and built a new life amid famine, overcrowding, disease and chaos.Cindy recounts not only the suffering they endured, but also the powerful bonds of love, endurance, and community that sustained them through the unimaginable hardship.
Today, Cindy shares this remarkable legacy with audiences to honor the memory of those who were lost, to celebrate those who survived, and remind the future generations of the importance of tolerance, humanity, and standing up against injustice. Through her story, she keeps history alive and personal, ensuring that the lessons of the Holocaust are never forgotten.
More About the Film:
It was a relationship that produced some exceptional artists, statesmen and authors, as well as "ordinary" people who survived to carry on their Jewish religion and traditions that would have otherwise been consigned to oblivion.
This documentary takes a captivating look at why Shanghai was uniquely positioned, through geo-political, cultural and historical influences, to allow this remarkable influx to happen, due to those past relations with Jews predominantly from the Middle East, the Iberian Peninsula and Russia, and because of its centuries of control by and openness to foreigners as a vigorous center of trade and commerce.
This story cannot be viewed in black and white, good vs. evil, suffering vs. thriving, wealthy vs. poor. The story, much like the city itself, is nuanced and complex, incorporating many kinds of foreigners, many classes of Chinese, many kinds of Jews, and many layers. Shanghai was not a place of tolerance and openness, so much as it was a place of fractionalized, disparate forces which were sometimes competitive and sometimes complimentary, but always existed within tenuous and often difficult transactional alliances. Even the people whose stories will be shared have very different tales of how they lived in Shanghai, what their families experienced, and how they were able to function on a day-to-day basis.
Rivaling all elements and in tragic contrast to those who could not escape, this is a Holocaust story of life.
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If you would like to support the work of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, we would greatly appreciate your generosity! Even a gift of $18 helps us with our mission to preserve the stories of the Holocaust
 and to educate future generations.
 
You can make your gift when you reserve your ticket or by clicking this link.
Information Source: Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh | eventbrite

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United States

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