Pan Jun Shun

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Pan-Jun-Shun (1889-1974), was the first Chinese national to be awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations for hiding and sheltering a Ukrainian Jewish girl during the occupation of part of the Soviet Union during World War II.

Pan Jun Shun moved to Russia in 1916 looking for work. He settled in Moscow where he found work as a laborer. He was unable to return to China due to events surrounding the Russian Revolution. He married and had two sons while living in Moscow, after which he moved to Kharkov, Ukraine in 1936. His wife died before the outbreak of World War II. This loss was further compounded when his two sons were drafted into the Soviet Army at the beginning of the war, they never returned home and were presumed to have been killed during the war.

He survived the war and continued to live there until his death in 1974.

[edit] Reason for Righteous award

Pan Jun Shun provided shelter and hiding for a Ukrainian Jewish girl who had escaped from a detention area set up by the occupying German Army. She escaped through the efforts of her father who realized that his children were likely to be killed as they were being transferred to another town.