Five Minutes With Manli Ho

Manli Ho is the daughter of Dr Feng Shan Ho. Often called the ‘Chinese Schindler’, Dr Ho received the title of Righteous Among the Nations, Israel’s highest award, for his humanitarian courage in issuing Chinese visas to save Jews from the Holocaust. As the Chinese Consul General in Vienna from 1938-1940, Dr Ho issued thousands of visas to Jews, thereby granting safe passage out of Austria and often from concentration camps. After Dr Ho died in 1997, his daughter Manli began researching her father’s humanitarian efforts. Growing up, she had only heard snippets of the extraordinary story she would uncover.

How did the father you grew up with relate to the man you researched?

People often ask me if I was surprised when I found out about my father’s large scale rescue activities in Vienna. My answer has been: If you had known my father, you would not ask me this question. What my father did was totally consistent with the kind of person he was. My father always felt that he had received a full measure of gifts. He believed that these gifts were not bestowed upon him solely for his personal use or benefit, but for that of his fellow man.

How did you first learn that your father helped to save one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe?

I was trained as a newspaper reporter and had written many [obituaries] for other people. When my father died, I wrote his obit. I wanted to make it more than just a chronology of his diplomatic postings, so I included a brief mention of a childhood story my father had told me of his saving his Jewish friends the Rosenbergs in Vienna. Shortly after the obit appeared, I received a telephone call from the curator of a travelling photo exhibition on diplomat rescuers, such as Raoul Wallenberg and Chiune Sugihara. He asked me how many visas my father had issued to help Jews. I didn’t know, so that propelled me to start looking.

Did your father ever feel the backlash of his actions from the Chinese government or Nazis? How did he react?

My father was ordered by his superior, the Chinese ambassador in Berlin, not to issue visas to help Jews for fear of damaging China’s diplomatic relations with Germany. My father disobeyed those orders and was subjected to a witch-hunt, and then given a demerit for his disobedience. He was undeterred. At the same time, the Nazis confiscated his consulate building. When my father asked his government for funds to relocate, he was denied. So he paid out of his own pocket, found smaller facilities and re-opened the consulate. 

Since your father issued visas for Jewish families so long ago, we may never find out the full extent of his rescue efforts. In this day and age, what can we learn from his efforts?

It can serve as a reminder to us that we have choices in life, that we can choose to exercise our humanity in the face of terror and evil. That choice transcends differences in sex, race, religion, culture and social background, because those things do not matter when it comes to fulfilling a potential that we all possess – to be human in times of inhumanity and moral chaos. My father’s legacy serves not only as a lesson to us, but also provides us with hope and comfort.

On September 16, Concordia International School Shanghai presents a rare discussion with psychologist and author Dr Eva Fogelman and Manli Ho, daughter of famed rescuer Dr Feng Shan Ho, examining why some took righteous action toward the Jews and how Shanghai became a refuge for thousands during World War II.

Free. Rittmann Theatre. 999 Mingyue Lu. Tel: 5899 0380