German-Speaking Jewish Refugees in Asia, 1930–1950

Although most perished, hundreds of thousands of Central European Jews escaped the Holocaust; tens of thousands of these Jewish refugees ended up in East Asia, Southeast Asia, or South Asia. Taking a global and transnational approach, this volume examines the cultural, political, and socioeconomic encounters among and between Asian and European states and empires, Central European Jews, and Asians between 1930 and 1950, offering important case studies that address the policies toward and experiences of German-speaking Jews across East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.

The strength of this volume lies not only in its efforts to include multiple theoretical perspectives, which integrate German, Jewish, Asian, and Migration Studies, but also in the original empirical research on which it is based. Engaging directly with the rich and growing historiography on the origins, course, and consequences of the Holocaust in East, Southeast, and South Asia, this volume provides a framework in which we can better understand how global traditions of empire and colonialism matter in our efforts to understand the Holocaust, while indicating that Asian states and peoples were keenly aware of the so-called “Jewish Question” and made efforts, though widely differentiated, to provide shelter from the Nazi storm.

German-Speaking Jewish Refugees in Asia, 1930–1950 will appeal to students and scholars alike interested in the history of Jewish refugees in the twentieth century, as well as all those interested in the modern history of German-speaking Central Europe and Asia.

Joanne Miyang Cho is Professor of History at William Paterson University of New Jersey. Her recent publications include the edited volumes: Transnationalism and Migration in Modern Korea (2023), Musical Entanglements between Germany and East Asia (2021), East Asian-German Cinema (2021), and Sino-German Encounters (2021).

Eric Kurlander is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of History and Director of Jewish Studies at Stetson University. His books include Modern Germany: A Global History (2023), Hitler’s Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich (2017), Living with Hitler: Liberal Democrats in the Third Reich (2009), and The Price of Exclusion: Ethnicity, National Identity and the Decline of German Liberalism (2006).

Doug McGetchin is Professor of World History at Florida Atlantic University. He is a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar whose books include Modern Germany: A Global History (2023), Gendered Encounters between Germany and Asia (2016), Transcultural Encounters between Germany and India (2014), Indology, Indomania, Orientalism (2009), and Sanskrit and “Orientalism” (2004).