HO FENG-SHAN: THE HERO WE ALMOST FORGOT
On the 14th of March 2018, the city of Milan plants a tree at the “Giardino dei Giusti” (Monte Stella) in honor of Ho Feng Shan, and the next day, on the 15th of March 2018, a square is named after him. Luca Sheng Son, president of UNIIC (Italy-China Entrepeneurs Union), Gabriele Gariwo, president of the association of the Giardino dei Giusti and Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala attended the ceremony too.
But who is Ho Feng Shan?
Ho Feng Shan was a hero who didn’t wear a cape, who lived during the WW2. He was born in Yiyang (China) in 1901. Brilliant and determined, he attends the Yali School in Changsha, and then the Yale-in-China University.
In 1929 he moves to Austria, where he attends the Ludwig Maximilian University of Monaco. Austria becomes his second home, and the base where he will build his fight against anti-Semitism. Ho Feng Shan was, in fact, the First Secretary of the Chinese Embassy in Vienna: thanks to his position, he managed to give illegal visas to many Jews who could seek political refuge in Shanghai.
Ho Feng Shan passes away in San Francisco, California, in 1997 at the age of 96. After the war, he will never publicly talk about his honorable actions, that will be published by her daughter Ho Manli, after his dead. Ho will be then recognized by the Israeli organization Yad Vashem in 2001 which gave him the title “Righteous among the Nations”.
On the 14th March 2018, at the ceremony in the Giardino dei Giusti (Milan), his daughter Ho Manli was present to give her speech in honor of his father, remembering him as a humble man, moved only by his kind heart and honorable beliefs.