As part of our Family History events series, the Library is pleased to host Rachel Meller talking about her first book, The Box with the Sunflower Clasp, which relates the flight of her aunt and grandparents from Nazi-run Vienna to the unlikely haven of Shanghai. She will describe the resilience and enterprise of the 20,000-strong Jewish community within the challenging surroundings of the war-torn Chinese port.

Rachel will be joined by Niamh Hanrahan, a PhD student at the University of Manchester, researching a history of movement by Jewish refugees from Europe to Asia during WWII. She will discuss the history of Jews in Shanghai and wartime Jewish journeys made to reach China, connecting Rachel’s family story to a wider historical narrative.

Virtual Event guidelines:

1. The Library will send you a Zoom link and joining instructions via email prior to the event. Please check your junk email folders.
2. Please try and join 5 minutes before the event start time and we will let you into the room (do try and bear with us if this takes a few minutes).
3. If you would like to ask a question during the event, please type your question into the chat function, and we will endeavour to answer as many questions as possible during the Q&A. Your webcam will not be seen during this event.

This event is free, although registration via the link below is required. Please note that our free events are run by staff volunteers. Thank you for your patience should we have any technical or audio difficulties. We will do our best to correct them but this is not always possible.