Exhibition on aid to civilians in wartime. In 1937, during the Sino-Japanese War, civilians were the first victims of the conflict during the Battle of Shanghai.
At the initiative of a French Jesuit, Robert Jacquinot, and thanks to the mobilization of several organizations, the first refugee zone was created in November 1937.
Recognized by Chinese troops and Japanese forces, spared by the fighting, it welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees for more than two years. They had to be fed, cared for, organized…which was done successfully.
A few years later, in the commentaries to the 1949 Geneva Convention, the Jacquinot zone is cited as an example. This area of refuge is not the work of a single man. It was created with the help of an international committee, the mobilization of several charitable organizations, the financing of multiple donors, the presence of French naval forces and the daily help of several religious orders.
Extensive research has enabled the collection of numerous documents (maps, photographs, press articles of the time, testimonies, etc.) from the collection of the library of the Centre Sèvres – Jesuit Faculties of Paris. In the form of a dozen panels made by the library of the Centre Sèvres, the presentation of this historical episode will be punctuated by the continuous projection of a film.