Non­fic­tion

Ris­ing Sun, Falling Shadow

Daniel Kalla
  • Review
By – September 23, 2014

Shang­hai, Chi­na was the one des­ti­na­tion for which Euro­pean Jews weren’t required to have a visa in the 1930s. Almost 20,000 Nazi-flee­ing Ger­man and Aus­tri­an Jews found a refuge, if not a haven, in that cos­mopoli­tan city. Then the Japan­ese war machine swooped into Chi­na and the Nazi influ­ence fol­lowed them. The per­ilous Shang­hai chap­ter of the World War II Jew­ish expe­ri­ence is cen­ter stage in Ris­ing Sun, Falling Shad­ow.

The action begins in 1943 when the Jews of Shang­hai are forced into the one- square kilo­meter Hongchew ghet­to. While the Kem­peitai (Japan­ese SS) offi­cials have so far resist­ed Nazi pres­sure to exter­mi­nate the Jews, the Jews are at the pre­car­i­ous mer­cy of the invaders. They are con­stant­ly watched, threat­ened, impris­oned, and tortured. 

This sequel, which can cer­tain­ly stand alone, to The Far Side of the Sky cen­ters on the return­ing main char­ac­ters, Soon-Yi (Sun­ny) Adler, a Eurasian sur­gi­cal nurse who is mar­ried to Dr. Franz Adler, an Aus­tri­an refugee. They strug­gle to keep the dilap­i­dat­ed and deplet­ed Jew­ish hos­pi­tal oper­at­ing. This noble effort takes place against the entire spec­trum of Shang­hai life. Jews, Chi­nese, Shang­hai­lan­ders, Japan­ese, Resis­tance fight­ers, and Nazis are all rep­re­sent­ed and inter­act through­out the story. 

The con­cise, fast-mov­ing chap­ters dri­ve the absorb­ing action. And so much action and plot! There are all sorts of clan­des­tine meet­ings, secret hide­outs, smug­gling inci­dents, scenes of tor­ture and pris­ons, bomb­ings, life and death con­fronta­tions, oper­at­ing room dra­mas, sep­a­ra­tions, reunions, and dis­plays of love and kind­ness. The main char­ac­ters’ per­son­al­i­ties and qual­i­ties are well-devel­oped, but the sec­ondary char­ac­ters enter and exit to serve the plot as heroes, vil­lains, mer­ce­nar­ies, and idealists. 

Ris­ing Sun, Falling Shad­ow is a metic­u­lous­ly well-researched his­to­ry les­son. The sights, sounds, and smells of the ghet­to are chroni­cled along with the fear, hunger, and dis­ease. The var­i­ous ene­my offi­cials are based upon actu­al peo­ple and the secret inner work­ings of the Resis­tance are accu­rate­ly ren­dered. The med­ical details are real­is­ti­cal­ly pre­sent­ed due to Kalla’s expe­ri­ence as an ER doc­tor. Kalla explores how the Jews strug­gled to keep up a com­mu­ni­ty and a con­science in the face of their des­o­la­tion, iso­la­tion, and the mind­less hatred direct­ed at them. Their courage, ethics, and fam­i­ly val­ues chan­neled them through their bro­ken lives.

Relat­ed content:

Reni­ta Last is a mem­ber of the Nas­sau Region of Hadassah’s Exec­u­tive Board. She has coor­di­nat­ed the Film Forum Series for the Region and served as Pro­gram­ming and Health Coor­di­na­tors and as a mem­ber of the Advo­ca­cy Committee.

She has vol­un­teered as a docent at the Holo­caust Memo­r­i­al and Tol­er­ance Cen­ter of Nas­sau Coun­ty teach­ing the all- impor­tant lessons of the Holo­caust and tol­er­ance. A retired teacher of the Gift­ed and Tal­ent­ed, she loves par­tic­i­pat­ing in book clubs and writ­ing projects.

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