This large set of records lists European refugees living in Shanghai in 1944. These were mostly Jewish Germans, Poles, Austrians, and others who had fled Nazi persecution in 1939-40. In addition the records include Indians, Portuguese (Macanese, in the main), and many others. The records include street address, age in 1944, and occupation, as well as ‘Category’ (or nationality). Some records have the date of arrival in Shanghai.

 

Search Shanghai’s refugees, 1944 records

A comprehensive guide to this episode and set of relevant source documents is: Irene Eber (ed), Jewish Refugees in Shanghai, 1933-1947: A Selection of Documents (2018) (also available here). More sets of similar and overlapping records can be found online, and can also be explored. These include this one from sometime after August 1941, and:

 

Shanghai Municipal Police Special Branch

Census of foreign residents of the Central District, International Settlement, September 1942. This PDF file, arranged by nationality, lists names, address, passport number and age of foreign nationals excluding Japanese.

 

JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) Archives
Databases, JDC Archives; Names index lists, JDC Archives
Sources used include: 1955 Nominal Roll, China, Registration for Canada

 

Japan Center for Asian Historical Records
Containing material from Japanese archives JACAR’s website contains scanned copies of records of repatriation voyage passengers, internment camp inmates, prisoners of war, individuals, Red Cross inspections, and much more. Use the ‘Database search’ facility. When you have selected a record you need to click ‘Browse’ to view it. These records can be downloaded as pdfs.

 

Leo Baeck Institute

The Institute has uploaded to Archive.org scanned copies of its holdings of Shanghai exile newspapers. Follow this link to find them.

 

United States National Holocaust Memorial Museum
This holds significant amounts of material, including digitised newspapers. You can search the collections here.
The USNHMM Database of Holocaust Survivor and Victim Names can be accessed here.

 

Wiener Library
This list of Genealogical Resources is useful.