"The Rest of the Sea of ​​Suffering" is adapted from a real history.

Regarding "Saving Jews", whether it is the German businessman Oscar Schindler who spent his family money and rescued 1,100 Jews from concentration camps in the name of employment, or the Polish "female Schindler" who risked his life to save more than 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis during World War II, neither is the only righteous person. In "in reality, there is more than one person who risked his life to save Jews. On that day when Jewish lives were hanging on the line, there was an unknown "Chinese Schindler" - He Fengshan.

Conservatively estimated that he redeemed more than 3,000 Jews before and after the "life visa" he issued, and was the one who saved the most lives of Jews. However, his righteous act slowly surfaced after his death. In 2000, he was awarded the title of "International Justice" by the Israeli government and engraved the "Chinese who will never be forgotten" on the Jerusalem Monument.

In September 1901, He Fengshan was born in a peasant family in Yiyang, Hunan. In 1921, he was admitted to the Yali University, a church university run by Americans in Changsha with excellent results. After graduating from Yali University, he was admitted to the University of Munich, Germany with public funds. Since 1935, he was hired as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the National Government and began his diplomatic career. It was the period when Hitler's power rose rapidly. In March 1938, Hitler led the German army to attack Austria, and Austria became a province in Germany. In May of the same year, the Austrian Embassy was also transferred to the Vienna Consulate, and He Fengshan was appointed as the Consul General. Since Hitler came to power in 1935,

Jews with pessimistic futures had already fled the Nazi ruling areas. At that time, they were still expatriates rather than refugees. Looking at the Nazis' decrees and compatriots who had been escorted to concentration camps, those Jews who felt that "it's not too bad" stayed to wait and see, they found that they had become refugees, and not leaving again would mean death. Influenced by Germany, Austria's exclusion of Jews once again set off a frenzy. At that time, only one month after He Fengshan took office, Jews had been sent to Nazi concentration camps one after another. Forced by the public opinion and condemnation of the world's justice, the Nazi authorities' decrees were: As long as the Jews can prove that they have a place to accept themselves, they can be allowed to leave the country without escorting the concentration camps.

At that time, Austria was the third largest gathering place for Jews in Europe. The number of Jews was 185,000, of which 90% were gathered in Vienna. For a time, the entrances of consulates in various countries in Vienna were crowded. However, due to the war, many countries in the international world restricted the entry of Jewish refugees on the grounds that they were "unable to protect themselves". In July 1938, Roosevelt took the lead in holding an international conference to discuss the acceptance of Jewish refugees in France. However, among these 32 participating countries, except for the Dominican Republic, other countries were unwilling to accept Jewish refugees. Under the prevalence of anti-Semitism in the West at that time, even the United States, most friendly to Jews, had hundreds of anti-Semitism. The most typical example in history was the tragedy of the "St. Louis" cruise ship. Even if the ship sailed to its destination, it could not enter.

Just when countless Austrian Jews were anxious about visas, the sympathetic He Fengshan chose to stand up. At that time, Shanghai, China had been occupied by the Japanese army, and no documents were required to enter the port of Shanghai. He Fengshan seized this opportunity. As long as there were Jews to apply, He Fengshan would issue them a "life visa" to Shanghai, China. This news quickly spread among the Jews. Many Jews who had been rejected in embassies of several countries but were rejected were like they had caught a life-saving straw. Suddenly, a long queue was lined up in front of the Chinese Consulate in Vienna. He Fengshan also seized the time and could issue one more visa.

At that time, a Jewish young man named Eric came to the Chinese Consulate with 20 application forms at once. He had been to more than 50 foreign consulates in the past few months, but all of them were rejected. According to the visa application, he could not be issued if he did not come. However, the Chinese Consulate still signed all 20 visas on the spot. That day was July 20, 1938. According to time and place, these 20 visas were speculated from He Fengshan. With these 20 "life visas", Eric rescued his father who had been locked in the concentration camp and boarded a steamship to Shanghai.

As time fermented, the situation faced by the Jews became increasingly serious. On the night of November 9, all Hitler's supporters took to the streets and frantically beat, smash, rob, and burned Jewish shops, residences, and churches. The broken glass shone like crystal under the moonlight. So there was a very beautiful name "Crystal Night". The Crystal Night marked the beginning of the Nazi organizing massacre of Jews, which was also the darkest night in Jewish history.

Early in the morning of the 10th, He Fengshan received a call from his Jewish friend Rosenberg's house, asking him not to see him off. Seeing the Nazis smashed, looted and burned last night, He Fengshan vaguely felt something was wrong. Although Rosenberg had a visa issued by He Fengshan, the Gestapo still refused to let him go. He Fengshan arrived immediately and said in his identity as the Chinese Consul General in Vienna: "The visa they hold is legal, and there is no reason not to let anyone go." Seeing that He Fengshan's attitude was so firm, the Gestapo could only let Rosenberg come back. After personally sending the Rosenberg family on the train leaving Austria, He Fengshan left.

Soon, He Fengshan's move to issue visas to Jews in large quantities caused dissatisfaction among the Nazi authorities. At that time, the National Government also wanted to maintain good relations with Germany. After all, Chiang Kai-shek's regime had German military advisers assisted, and his son Chiang Wei-kuo was undergoing military training in Germany, so he was even more afraid to offend the German army.

He Fengshan received a call from Chinese Ambassador to Berlin, Chen Jie, who ordered He Fengshan to immediately stop issuing visas to Jews. At first, He Fengshan insisted on issuing visas to Jews on the grounds that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' order was not like this. After his immediate boss Chen Jie was furious, he verbally agreed to Chen Jie and said yes. However, in private, He Fengshan continued to sign his name on the application form.

At that time, Chen Jie thought that He Fengshan had issued visas to Jews at this point, because he had received Jewish money. So he secretly sent a subordinate Ding Wenyuan to Vienna to inquire. There, Ding Wenyuan first checked all the files and books without saying a word, but found no suspicious points. No clues were found. Although Chen Jie was extremely dissatisfied, he had no choice but to offend He Fengshan in his personal file with the punishment of offending his boss and being included in his personal file.

Suddenly one day, a group of Gestapos rushed into the Chinese consulate and confiscated the buildings rented by the consulate as Jewish property. In an attempt to prevent He Fengshan from continuing to issue visas to the Jews. So He Fengshan applied for relocation funds from the National Government. Of course, the reply he received at that time was that "during the War of Resistance Against Japan, financial difficulties could not be solved."

He knew that he was isolated and helpless, but he could not bear to bow his head like this. Because a visa would be an innocent life. So he silently evacuated the consulate from the expensive square, and paid out of his own pocket to rent a small house in the alley next to the square, continuing to fulfill his mission.

From the time He Fengshan took office in May 1938 to his resignation in May 1940, it is difficult to find out how many "life visas" he issued in the past two years, because he does not have a list like Schindler. However, one or two of them can be found through the visa number of the Jewish survivor who obtained the visa. A Jew named Hans Laux's visa date was October 27, 1938, and the visa number was 1906.

He issued more than 1,900 "life visas" in just five months after he took office. We don't know how many more he signed during his tenure in more than a year. But even based on the number 1,900, it is conservatively estimated that he was already considered by European scholars to be the one who rescued the most Jews.

However, in the second half of his life, his righteous deeds were unknown. On the one hand, China was occupied by Japan at that time, and Jews did not need a visa to enter the country, and no one studied the source of the visa. However, more of it was He Fengshan who felt that this was not a big deal. His memoirs read: "Helping others is a natural thing, and from the perspective of human nature, this is only what should be done." In his 290-page autobiography "Forty Years of Diplomacy Career", he used only less than 10 pages of writing to Vienna's saving Jews.

In 1997, He Fengshan, 96, died in San Francisco, USA. His daughter He Manli mentioned in her obituary that her father had issued a visa to Jews while she was in the consulate in Vienna. After this obituary published in the Boston Globe attracted the attention of Jewish historian Eric Saul, with the historian's investigation and investigation, He Fengshan's righteous act was able to be revealed in the whole world.

Eric found some Jewish descendants that He Fengshan had rescued, including the famous American billionaire. Singer Singer, the current secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress, said to Eric excitedly: "My parents were saved by Dr. He. He is a real hero. I must introduce him to the whole world."

From then on, He Fengshan became a saint in the hearts of the Jews. Whenever the Jews held a Nazi Holocaust exhibition, they would put He Fengshan’s deeds in the most prominent position. In 2001, He Fengshan was pursued by the Israeli government as an “International Justice Person”, and was engraved in the “International Justice Garden” and was admired by countless people.” - Revised from “The Little-known “China Schindler”, the most Jews saved during World War II”.
Chapter completed!