A grand conference was convened Saturday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of birth of He Fengshan, known as the "Oskar Schindler of China", in He's hometown of Yiyang, a city in central China's Hunan Province.
German industrialist Oskar Schindler saved the lives of 1,200 Jews working at his factory during World War II by convincing the Nazi SS they were crucial to the German war effort.
The conference was attended by Ilan Mor, envoy with the Embassy of Israel to China, and Greg Guckenburg, a representative from the World Jews Organization, He's offspring and others.
He was born on September 10, 1901, in Yiyang. He was posted by the Kuomintang (Nationalists) Government to be consul general of consulate general in Vienna, ambassador to countries including Egypt, Mexico, Bolivia and Columbia. He died in September 1997 in San Francisco of the United States.
In his tenure to be consul general to Vienna from 1938 to 1940, He took the risks to help Jewish people get away from the evil hands of Nazi soldiers during the World War II by giving visas to Shanghai to a great number of Jews in Austria.
On the death of He Fengshan the fine deeds of the Chinese diplomat toward Jews was dug out by a historian of Jewish background who is now based in the United States. In January 2000, He was given the title of "international personages of justice".
Along with the conference, an exhibition featuring "visas for life" is also held there by World Jews Organization. It is learned the exhibition will also be moved to Beijing and Shanghai later. .
(People’s Daily 09/10/2001)
