World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseHo Feng-Shan (Pinyin: He Fengshan) was born in Yiyang, Hunan Province, China into a poor family. His father died when he was 7 years old. He attended the Yali School in Changsha, Hunan and later he attended the Yale-in-China University. In 1926, he entered Munich University in Germany, receiving a doctorate in political economics. As a member of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of China, he was posted to Turkey as a diplomat in 1935. In 1937, he was appointed the First Secretary at the Chinese legation in Vienna, Austria. When Germany annexed Austria, Ho was given the post of Consul-General in Vienna. Against orders from Chen Jie, the Chinese ambassador in Berlin, Ho issued visas to Austrian Jews for Shanghai, China who sought to leave Austria due to Nazi anti-Semitism. He issued almost 2,000 visas between Nov 1938 and May 1940, when he was recalled back to China. He retired in 1973 after serving as the ambassador of the Republic of China to Egypt, Mexico, Bolivia, and Colombia. The Chinese government in Taiwan denied his pension after accusing him of misappropriating what amounted to US$300 in official funds; many thought that the accusation was largely politically motivated. In the 1980s, he visited mainland China several times, including visits to Changsha. His memoirs were published in 1990 under the title 40 Years of My Diplomatic Life. He passed away in San Francisco, California, United States in 1997. In 2001, he was posthumously given the title Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority.

ww2dbase"When my father saw them suffer so much, it was natural for him to sympathize and help them", said Ho Manli, the diplomat's daughter.

Photographs

Ho Feng-Shan Timeline

Visitor Submitted Comments

Show older comments