Chabad pays tribute to righteous man

Dr. Feng Shan Ho was the Chinese Consul General in Vienna during World War II. From 1938 to 1940, Ho issued thousands of visas in Shanghai to Jews desperate to escape the ever-tightening Nazi death vise. One of the first diplomats to aid the Jewish people in Nazi Europe, Ho acted against the instructions of his direct superior, the Chinese ambassador to Berlin, and without the backing of his own government.

He was quoted as saying “”I thought it only natural to feel compassion and to want to help. From the standpoint of humanity, that is the way it should be.” Ho paid for these actions with his career. Feng Shan Ho passed away in 1997. He was 96 years old.

On July 7, 2000, Israel posthumously awarded Feng Shan Ho the title of “Righteous Among the Nations” for his humanitarian courage and in a ceremony at Yad Vashem on Jan. 23, 2001, diplomats from around the world gathered together to pay tribute to the man that saved the lives of many Austrian Jews.

His daughter, Manli Ho, recently visited the Conejo Jewish Academy in Agoura Hills and shared thoughts and memories of her father and his heroic actions.