Large collection of close to one hundred books printed in Shanghai in 1942-1947, by yeshiva students who fled to the Far East during the Holocaust.
The collection comprises volumes of Talmud and Rambam, books on Halacha and novellae, Chassidut and Kabbalah, ethics and homily, books of Jewish thought and biographies. Most of the books are photocopy editions (see below), though some are original works composed by the refugees themselves, including a book (in Yiddish) about the Treblinka extermination camp. The collection includes the book Pizmonim LeSimchat Torah, printed in 1935 (by the small community of Indian and Iraqi Jews in Shanghai), and a catalog printed by the YIVO institute in New York, 1948, for the "Jewish Life in Shanghai" exhibition – "Catalogue of the exhibition, Jewish life in Shanghai, September 1948-January 1949".
97 volumes. Size and condition vary.
A detailed list will be sent upon request.

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Jewish Publishing in Shanghai and Displaced Persons Camps – The Tenacity of the People of the Book

Throughout its wanderings and exiles, the Jewish people has always turned to books as an anchor and source of comfort. In every situation, even in the bunkers of the Warsaw ghetto and the Siberian Gulag camps, Jewish refugees clung to their books and beliefs. The two large collections offered in this auction (items 164-165) embody the history of the People of the Book. The abundance of books printed in Shanghai during the war by Jewish refugees, as well as the numerous titles printed in DP camps after the war by Holocaust survivors and their liberators, testify to the Jewish people's love for Torah and holy books.

Jewish Publishing in Shanghai

Shanghai, China served as temporary home to thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe, including hundreds of yeshiva students who, having fled Europe, were miraculously spared the horrors of the Holocaust. In their flight to the Far East, the refugees rode the Trans-Siberian railway to Vladivostok (Russia's easternmost port, on the shores of Sea of Japan), and from there in dilapidated boats across the sea to Japan, finally arriving at the city of Kobe. After a while, the Japanese authorities exiled these refugees to Shanghai, which was then under Japanese rule.

The shortage of books was keenly felt as soon as they arrived in Shanghai, as the books they had brought with them from Poland and Lithuania did not suffice. Years later, the lack of book was still remembered as a pressing problem:

"…the problem which most troubled the yeshiva then was the book shortage. The only books available in Shanghai were the books the students brought with them, in addition to the Talmud volumes sent to Kobe, the few books and Talmud volumes found in the Beit Aharon synagogue, and the few books borrowed from the small Jewish community in Shanghai. Some of the books were torn and tattered, and the limited number of complete copies, combined with the fact they changed hands frequently, only wore them further (Mo'ach VaLev, p. 57; Sefer HaZikaron LeHagrach Shmulevitz, p. 73).

The lack of books prompted the refugees to initiate a book printing endeavor focused mainly on Jewish sacred books. Most of the books were printed by the various printing committees established by the Mir yeshiva (the Torah Or committee, the Ezrat Torah committee, and others), the Chabad printing committee of and the Mefitzei Or printing committee established by students of Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin (who came to Shanghai as individuals rather than as an organized group).

"The book shortage required a local solution. The Torah Or printing committee was established in Shanghai, and over the course of its existence, managed to print the entire Talmud – including Rav Alfas – and other books of the Rishonim, the Shulchan Aruch, and a long list of varied ethics books" (Moach VaLev, p. 58).

"The shortage of sacred books in China was acute. There was no previous local Jewish infrastructure they could use, and it was also impossible to import as the war blocked all import channels. The solution they found was to print books in local printing presses, where they produced photocopy editions" (Defusei Shanghai VeShe'erit Hapletah by Avishai Elbaum, HaMaayan, vol. 40, issue 3, Nisan 2000, p. 75).

The printing firms in Shanghai did not initially own Hebrew type, and most of the books were photocopied. At the time, photo-reproducing a book damaged the original irreparably (R. E. Hertzman, Nes HaHatzala shel Yeshivat Mir, p. 102). The committees searched for and collected Hebrew books they could reproduce. In one of the few synagogues in Shanghai, a complete set of the Babylonian Talmud was found, based on which they published the famous Shanghai Talmud. One of the students of the Chachmei Lublin yeshiva discovered a damaged copy of Sfat Emet on Order Kodashim in the Harbin University library. He had the book reproduced in Shanghai, after completing (by deduction) the damaged letters (see in detail: Giborei HeChayil – Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin BiTekufat HaShoah, II, pp. 105-108).

After a while, Hebrew type was cast in Shanghai, which allowed the refugees to publish their original works – books of Jewish thought, books on Halacha, ethics and Chassidut. Jewish publishing in Shanghai began in autumn 1942 and continued until 1947, when the last of the refugees left the city for the United States and other countries.

"…Under the guidance of R. Chaim [Shmulevitz], the yeshiva operated in Shanghai as if that was its place and that is where it was destined to remain… even in the final year of its stay, when permits began to pour in and the situation appeared very temporary, the committee continued printing vigorously. Their temporary status did not hinder them in the least" (Mo'ach VaLev, p. 58). 

An early bibliographic list of the books published in Shanghai was printed in the Jewish Life in Shanghai exhibition catalog, published in New York, 1948 (the catalog, which was published in Yiddish, is included in the present collection, lot 164). A further bibliographic list was compiled by R. Avishai Elbaum of the Rambam Library in Tel Aviv, an expert on the topic of Jewish publishing in Shanghai. His list comprises 104 titles (Defusei Shanghai VeShe'erit Hapletah by Avishai Elbaum, HaMaayan, vol. 40, issue 3, Nisan 2000, pp. 75-86).

Jewish Publishing in Displaced Persons Camps – By and For She'erit Hapletah

The war declared by the Nazis on the Jewish people meant also war on its heritage and culture. This was manifested in an all-out war against the Jewish book; they burned thousands of books in city squares, confiscated books, prohibited Jews from owning them, and looted the largest Jewish libraries in Europe, including huge Beit Midrash and yeshiva libraries and important private collections. The story of the She'erit Hapletah publishing is the tale of the resurrection of the Jewish book and the spiritual rehabilitation of the Jewish people in Europe.

After the war, the Allies established DP camps in the various occupation zones (in Germany, Austria, and Italy), which housed thousands of refugees, many of whom were survivors of labor and extermination camps. Although these camps were a temporary facility, intended to allow the survivors to rehabilitate until they emigrated to other countries, the survivors began rebuilding their material and spiritual lives while there.

Rabbis, themselves survivors and living in the camps, worked towards rebuilding religious life, establishing synagogues and mikvaot, boys' schools and yeshivot. The shortage of basic ritual objects, including sacred books, was acute. Basic books, such as chumashim, siddurim and books of practical halacha, were especially needed. The large-scale publishing endeavor addressing this need was undertaken by the survivors themselves alongside the Vaad HaHatzala in Germany, an organization established by the American Agudath HaRabbanim.

Most of the books printed for the She'erit Hapletah are photocopy reproductions of books published in the last few decades before the war. The publishers sometimes used a single surviving copy; for instance, the first volume of the Munich Talmud (item 166) was reproduced from a single copy of Tractates Kiddushin and Nedarim which was preserved in a Catholic convent. The rest was reproduced from a single set of Talmud found buried in the Jewish cemetery in Vilna (R. Avishai Elbaum, Defusei Shanghai VeShe'erit Hapletah, HaMaayan, vol. 40, issue 3, Nisan 2000, p. 78).

Within a few years, over one hundred titles were printed, including siddurim, books of halacha and Jewish thought, and many Chassidic books (see Elbaum's bibliographic list, ibid.). The publishing enterprise carried out by She'erit Hapletah bear admirable testimony to the rejuvenation of the People of the Book after the Holocaust.