Die Judenpolitik der japanischen Kriegsregierung

Refutes the allegations of Japanese revisionist historians that Japan was hospitable to Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. Japanese attitudes to Jews were ambivalent: on the one hand, there was an exaggerated perception of the Jews' financial power and political influence; on the other, there was antisemitism, promoted by "experts" who had absorbed it partly from White Russian émigrés in Manchuria. "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" was translated into Japanese and underwent many editions. Despite an official declaration in 1938 that foreigners of all nationalities were to be treated equally, the Foreign Office directed the consulates to deny visas to Jews. Sugihara did not have the backing of the Foreign Office when he issued transit visas to Jewish refugees in Kovno. Refutes, also, tales of large groups of Jewish refugees passing through Manchuria. Jews who did arrive in Japan were under pressure to proceed quickly to another country. Those who could not were shunted off to Shanghai, where after February 1943 they were interned in a ghetto under miserable conditions. Argues that this measure was taken not to please the Germans, but to eliminate competition for Japanese and Chinese businesses. Jews who were long-time residents in Japan were also put under strict control. States that Japan's anti-Jewish policy was part of its general distrust and hostility toward non-Japanese, which has not abated even today. 1. Aufl. 236 pages ; 24 cm.