Ho Fengshan

Ho Fengshan, born September 10, 1901 in Yiyang, Hunan and died September 28, 1997 in San Francisco, was a Chinese diplomat in Vienna who risked his own life and career during World War II to save more than one thousand Jews. Ho's actions were recognized posthumously when the Israeli organization Yad Vashem in 2000 decided to award him the title "Righteous among the Nations". 

From 1938 to 1940, Ho was the former Chinese consul general in Austria. He defied the Nazi threat and the warnings of the Chinese ambassador in Germany, his immediate superior, to issue more than 2,000 "life visas" to Jews to help them flee Vienna. 

More than 50,000 Jews are estimated to have fled Europe to China during the war. The Jewish community in Shanghai was the largest in the Far East at that time. 

Ho neither sought nor got recognition for his deeds during his lifetime. It was only by chance that his heroic act came to light. That was in 1997 after his death. 

Israel honored Ho with its highest award for non-Jews, the Righteous Among the Nations, in 2001. His name was carved on the Honor Wall of the Garden of the Righteous of Nations, with the inscription "a Chinese should never be forgotten". 

Source: Chinadaily