Evelyn Blum shares the Holocaust experiences of her parents, Paul Blum and Dorit Korn, who escaped Nazi Germany and found refuge in Shanghai, China, one of the few places in the world that accepted Jewish refugees without entry visas. Through her family’s story, students learn about Jewish life in prewar Germany, the rise of antisemitism under the Nazi regime, forced labor, the experiences of Jewish refugees in Shanghai and the Shanghai Ghetto, the challenges of rebuilding life in the United States after the war, and the lasting effects of persecution across generations. Evelyn also encourages students to reflect on the refugee experience, resilience, and the importance of recognizing and confronting prejudice before it takes hold.
About Evelyn
Evelyn Blum is a member of the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center’s Speakers’ Bureau. Through her presentations, she shares her family’s remarkable journey from Nazi Germany to Shanghai and ultimately to the United States, highlighting the experiences of Jewish refugees who found sanctuary in China during the Holocaust.
Drawing on her parents’ stories and her own childhood, Evelyn helps students understand the refugee experience, the lasting effects of persecution across generations, and the importance of recognizing how prejudice and discrimination can grow if left unchallenged.
She now lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where she continues to educate audiences and preserve her family’s legacy.
Parents: Paul Blum and Dorit Korn
Before the War
Paul Blum grew up in Munich, Germany, as the only child of Arthur and Hannah Blum. His family lived comfortably, as his father owned a business that manufactured metal parts for shoes. Dorit Korn was born in Berlin, Germany, the youngest of seven children. After her father died when she was four years old, her family struggled financially, and she and her brother Eli spent time living in a Catholic orphanage because their mother could not afford to care for all of her children.
Their Holocaust Story
As the Nazis came to power, Paul and Dorit experienced increasing persecution. Paul was imprisoned in a forced labor camp before his family arranged for his escape from Germany at the age of twenty. His parents were unable to flee and were later murdered during the Holocaust. Dorit endured growing antisemitism before escaping Germany with her mother, brother, and sister-in-law. Both eventually found refuge in Shanghai, China, one of the few places in the world that accepted Jewish refugees without entry visas. There they met, married, and survived the war under extremely difficult conditions in the Shanghai Ghetto, where Evelyn was born in 1941.
After the War
Following the end of World War II, Paul and Dorit sought to rebuild their lives in the United States. After several years of waiting, they immigrated in 1947 aboard the S.S. General Gordon, arriving in San Francisco before settling in Louisville, Kentucky. Like many refugee families, they rebuilt their lives from the beginning while carrying the lasting emotional impact of their wartime experiences.