Barbarians at the Gate

Shalama: An Epic Story of Family, Community, and Survival in Republican-era China

Jan 15, 2025

Jean Hoffman Lewanda, author of "Shalama: My 96 Seasons in China," shares her family's gripping saga of survival as Jewish refugees in 20th-century China. She highlights the transition from historical biography to storytelling, drawing from her mother's perspective. Topics include the dangers faced during their migration from Harbin to Shanghai, the struggle for cultural identity, and the concept of statelessness amidst WWII. Lewanda emphasizes the importance of preserving family history and honoring legacy through intergenerational dialogue and creative projects.

33:32

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Jean Hoffman Lewanda

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Quick takeaways

Jean Hoffman Lewanda chose to write her mother's story as historical fiction to creatively interpret and fill narrative gaps from family storytelling.

The podcast emphasizes the thriving Jewish community in Harbin and Shanghai, showcasing their cultural resilience during socio-political upheaval and danger.

Deep dives

Historical Fiction as a Creative Approach

Jean Hoffman Lawanda chose to write her mother's story as historical fiction instead of a traditional biography due to the lack of a detailed manuscript. Unlike her father's memoir, which relied heavily on existing documents and personal narratives, this new work emerged from a combination of family storytelling and historical research. She unearthed a wealth of photographs and official documents that provided context and detail but required creative interpretation to fill in narrative gaps, particularly around moments that were not explicitly documented. This choice allowed her to explore the emotional ground of her family's story more freely, creating a nuanced portrayal of their experiences rather than sticking to strictly factual recounting.

Intro

5min

The Creative Intersection of History and Fiction

2min

Journey of a Jewish Family in China

15min

Exploring Statelessness and Historical Refuge in Shanghai and Harbin

2min

Threads of History and Family

9min

In this episode, we are thrilled to welcome Jean Hoffman Lewanda back to the podcast to discuss her new book, Shalama: My 96 Seasons in China, published by Earnshaw Books. Listeners may recall Jean's previous appearance, where she shared insights about her father, Paul Hoffman's memoir, Witness to History: From Vienna to Shanghai—A Memoir of Escape, Survival, and Resilience. That captivating memoir details how Paul fled Vienna at the age of 18 to escape the rise of Nazism, arrived in Shanghai in 1938, and became part of the historic wave of Jewish refugees who found a safe haven in China during World War II.

Jean's new book enriches this family saga by recounting events from her mother Shalama's perspective but presented as historical fiction. Drawing on firsthand accounts, including her mother's, Jean tells the story in Shalama's voice, tracing the family's journey from Harbin to Shanghai during the war-torn decades of the mid-20th century. The book interweaves the family's history with major historical events, including the Sungari River flood of 1932, the Japanese occupation, and the Communist takeover of China.

Links:

Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

Historic Shanghai (Host of the Shanghai Book Club)

Dan Ben-Canaan, Tombstone Histories: Tales of Jewish Life in Harbin

Dara Horn, People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present

Dara Horn, "Cities of Ice: A dispatch from frozen Harbin, where Jews once flourished—and melted away," Tablet, April 19, 2019