Rita Melen is a member of the local Ithaca community and a second-generation Holocaust survivor whose family found refugee in Shanghai during much of the 1940s after fleeing Europe.Rita Melen is a member of the local Ithaca community and a second-generation Holocaust survivor whose family found refugee in Shanghai during much of the 1940s after fleeing Europe.
Rita spent the first four years of her life in an area of Shanghai which came to be known as the Shanghai Ghetto due to the presence of 23,000 Jewish refugees in the one square mile neighborhood during WWII and the years immediately following.
While conditions in the Shanghai Ghetto were difficult, the neighborhood was not walled, and the city's Jews interacted freely with their predominately ethnic Han neighbors.
Join Hillel at Ithaca College for a fascinating look into Jewish life in Shanghai taken from stories told to Rita by her parents. Dinner will be provided for attendees. Students are also able to attend this event for SLI credit.
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Austin Reid at areid1@ithaca.edu. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/2019020415274836