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       An Oratorio About Shanghai’s Jews Opens in China at a Difficult Time

       “E？migre？,” about Jews who fled Nazi Germany, debuts amid U.S.-China tensions and cultural rifts over the Israel-Hamas war. It comes to New York in February.

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       Long Yu leads the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in a rehearsal of “E？migre？,” an oratorio about Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany for Shanghai, featuring the soprano Zhang Meigui, left, and the mezzo-soprano Zhu Huiling, right. Credit...Qilai Shen for The New York Times

       By Keith Bradsher and Javier C. Hernández

       Keith Bradsher reported from Shanghai, and Javier C. Hernández from New York.

       Nov. 26, 2023

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       “E？migre？,” a new oratorio about Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany for Shanghai in the late 1930s, begins with a song by two brothers, Josef and Otto, as their steamship approaches a Chinese harbor.

       “Shanghai, beacon of light on a silent shore,” they sing. “Shanghai, answer these desperate cries.”

       The emigration of thousands of Central European and Eastern European Jews to China in the late 1930s and early 1940s — and their survival of the Holocaust — is one of World War II’s most dramatic but little-known chapters.

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       Keith Bradsher is the Beijing bureau chief for The Times. He previously served as bureau chief in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Detroit and as a Washington correspondent. He has lived and reported in mainland China through the pandemic. More about Keith Bradsher

       Javier C. Hernández is a culture reporter, covering the world of classical music and dance in New York City and beyond. He joined The Times in 2008 and previously worked as a correspondent in Beijing and New York. More about Javier C. Hernández

       A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 27, 2023, Section C , Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Song of a Little-Known War Story . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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