 |
| 1,200 Jews, some pictured above, found refuge in the Philippines during the Holocaust. |
Israel grants visa-free access to all Filipinos, a gesture of gratitude for the Philippines’ opening of its doors to all Jews at a time when much of the world shunned them.
The Philippine Embassy in Israel, in partnership with the B'nai B'rith World Center, will be holding "Safe Haven: Jewish Refugees in the Philippines", a commemorative event held in tandem with an event in New York hosted by the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York, B’nai B’rith International, and the US-Philippine Society, to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday, January 27 at the Balai Quezon.
The event celebrates a policy which came to be known as the "Open Doors Policy." From 1937 to 1941, then-Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon, first president of the Philippine Commonwealth (then a colony of the US) extended visas to Jewish refugees who sought to escape the growing terror of the Holocaust in Europe. It led to the entry of close to 1,300 Jewish refugees to the Philippines, where they settled in Manila - leading them to refer to themselves, fondly, as "Manilaners".
Philippine embassies and consulates around the world will mark the day with various ceremonies including the premieres of two films, Quezon's Game and the documentary The Last Manilaners.
The documentary will be released on the website iWant on January 27, the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. The date was chose because it marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp during world War II.
 |
| Philippine President Manuel Quezon (at microphone) welcomes the Jewish refugees to the Philippines. |
The Last Manilaners gathered all the last living Jewish survivors who fled to the Philippines and asked them to tell their story, each survivor narrating how Filipinos protected them and regarded them as family. The survivors are now well into their 80s and 90s, which makes it even more crucial to document their stories.
The director of the feature film Quezon's Game, Charles Rosen, who is a longtime Jewish resident of the Philippines, believes the film is a tribute not only to the leaders of the Philippines at the time, but to all members of the Philippine nation.
“At a time when the rest of the world was in despair and apathetic,” Rosen maintains, “the Filipino people — who were suffering their own hardships —shed a light on justice and morality to lead others. Quezon fought a lonely battle for what was right up until his untimely death.”
“If it were not for the Philippines, none of us, none of us, would exist,” says Lotte Hershfield who is one of the last living Jews who found shelter in the Philippines.
In 2009, a monument honoring the Philippines was erected at the Holocaust Memorial Park in the Israeli city of Rishon Lezion. The monument, shaped like three open doors, thanks the Filipino people for taking in the Jewish refugees during the Holocaust.
The director of the feature film Quezon's Game, Charles Rosen, who is a longtime Jewish resident of the Philippines, believes the film is a tribute not only to the leaders of the Philippines at the time, but to all members of the Philippine nation.
“At a time when the rest of the world was in despair and apathetic,” Rosen maintains, “the Filipino people — who were suffering their own hardships —shed a light on justice and morality to lead others. Quezon fought a lonely battle for what was right up until his untimely death.”
“If it were not for the Philippines, none of us, none of us, would exist,” says Lotte Hershfield who is one of the last living Jews who found shelter in the Philippines.
Starting in 1941, the Japanese occupied the Philippines. In some respects, the Jewish refugees were treated considerably better than Filipinos. What ironically protected the Jews was their German passports with the swastikas -- they were viewed as allies.
Quezon's action developed a special relationship between Isreal and the Philippines resulting in the visa-free policy for Filipinos.
In 2009, a monument honoring the Philippines was erected at the Holocaust Memorial Park in the Israeli city of Rishon Lezion. The monument, shaped like three open doors, thanks the Filipino people for taking in the Jewish refugees during the Holocaust.
No comments:
Post a Comment