From 1933 to fall 1941 Nazi Germany pursued an aggressive policy of forced emigration for the Reich's Jews. Yet refugees faced enormous obstacles in finding safe havens during the era of the Great Depression, the Holocaust, and after. The search for refuge frames both the years before the Holocaust and its aftermath.
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![Notebook of Josef Fiszman, a refugee writer from Warsaw. He sold articles to Jewish newspapers in Shanghai and Harbin but still needed help to live from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Writing in Yiddish, Fiszman rotated the notebook in order to write from right to left (the words "Note book" thus appear to be upside down in this image). [From the USHMM special exhibition Flight and Rescue.]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/513bcada-3767-4fb9-b9a1-cbed40f701e3.jpg)
![A suitcase used (ca. 1939) by a Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe to Japan. The suitcase is covered with labels from various stops along the journey, including one from a hotel in Moscow (top left), one for the NYK Line (top middle), and six from hotels throughout Japan. [From the USHMM special exhibition Flight and Rescue.]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/9a7139fa-d417-4a80-9848-35c45fa41b5a.jpg)
![Yiddish writings of Josef Fiszman, a refugee writer from Warsaw. These are some Inside pages of a Fiszman's journal. The journal was written in Shanghai and is entitled "The Sun Never Shines At Night." [From the USHMM special exhibition Flight and Rescue.]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/b6052fea-be9f-440f-b744-1895904f42a6.jpg)
