A harrowing account of Jewish refugees in the Philippines

With the rise of Nazism in the 1930s more than a thousand European Jews sought refuge in the Philippines, joining the small Jewish population of Manila. When the Japanese invaded the islands in 1941, the peaceful existence of the barely settled Jews filled with the kinds of uncertainties and oppression they thought they had left behind.

In this book Frank Ephraim, who fled to Manila with his parents, gathers the testimonies of thirty-six refugees, who describe the difficult journey to Manila, the lives they built there upon their arrival, and the events surrounding the Japanese invasion. Combining these accounts with historical and archival records, Manila newspapers, and U.S. government documents, Ephraim constructs a detailed account of this little-known chapter of world history.

| Foreword by Stanley Karnow ix Acknowledgments xi Prologue 3 1. Destination: The Philippines 9 2. Unexpected Arrivals 20 3. The First Wave of Refugees 26 4. Manila Hears about Kristallnacht 34 5. Mindanao: A Plan for Jewish Settlement 43 6. Establishing a Life 51 7. What Does the Future Hold for Us? 62 8. Carving Out a Niche 73 9. War 83 10. Occupation 97 11. Can We Hold Out? 112 12. The Final Months of Occupation 126 13. The Battle 140 14. Reestablishing the Community 166 15. Leaving the Philippines 179 Notes 195 Index 213 Illustrations follow page 96 |

"The book's riveting centerpiece combines military history and personal horror to describe the Battle of Manila. . . . Burned out of their homes, Jews roam the streets with other civilians, seeking safe havens, crouching to dodge bullets, hiding in holes dug in the ground covered with corrugated roofing. . . . Escape to Manila . . . enables readers to know and feel the fires."—Hadassah Magazine

"Ephraim has constructed a fascinating narrative from a rich mix of archival research, oral history, and autobiographical memoir. He offers us a stirring portrait of a community of resourceful, resilient, courageous, and compassionate individuals."—Michael Shapiro, director, Program in Jewish Culture and Society, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"The vignettes and first person histories make for very interesting reading."—Jewish Book World

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Frank Ephraim was born in Berlin in 1931 and fled to the Philippines with his parents in 1939. In 1946 he emigrated to the United States. After a career in naval architecture, he served as the director of program evaluation for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.