Japanese Diplomats and Jewish Refugees: A World War II Dilemma

(Hardback)

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In the late 1930s and early 1940s, European Jews traveled east to seek refuge in the West. Three thousand refugees transited Japan and China, and more than 21,000 spent the war in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. Japanese diplomats in Europe were caught off guard by the flood of visa applicants, and the Foreign Ministry belatedly confronted a refugee problem. Unexpected visitors became uninvited guests. Vice Consul Sugihara Chiune might have faded into history as a minor diplomat in Lithuania had he not issued thousands of transit visas to refugees, including those who fulfilled few visa requirements. Sakamoto demonstrates how he helped thousands escape Europe; in the end, as she points out, a number of Japanese diplomats saved Jews by issuing visas, but very few issued visas to save Jews. Sakamoto focuses on the extensive archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which have not been treated at length before. By examining the cable traffic between diplomats and the ministry headquarters, she reveals the uncensored reactions of Japanese diplomats to Jewish refugees. Through the files of Jewish organizations and the American government, she presents the dimensions of the crisis as Germany's emphasis on emigration changed to extermination. Interviews with former diplomats, refugees, and those who knew Sugihara give human dimensions to a fascinating and little-known episode of the war.

Reviews

,,"."a unique and important work dealing with a subject that has not adequately been addressed in Holocaust history.""-Shofar
.,."a unique and important work dealing with a subject that has not adequately been addressed in Holocaust history."-Shofar
[W]hat makes Sakamoto's book so good is that it is probably very close to the truth.-Points East Newsletter
A fascinating and well-researched account of Jews fleeing Europe through Asia before and during the Holocaust.-The Jewish State
Japanese Diplomats And Jewish Refugees is an important, informative, and seminal contribution to Jewish experience and history arising from the holocaust.-Wisconsin Bookwatch
Mrs. Sakamoto's search through Japanese, Russian, Jewish, and other primary and secondary sources has been thorough and comprehensive, and her presentation of her findings is admirably done....The coverage of the subject provided in the text of Mrs. Sakamoto's book and the photographs it includes, together with its extensive bibliography and workable index, make the work an indispensable addition to the literature of the Holocaust for both the specialist and the lay reader.-Cpngress Monthly
What is at stake in this issue of Jewish refugees in Shanghai is nothing less than our understanding of the character of Japan's behavior during World War II. Pamela Rotner Sakamoto's clear-headed new book helps settle this issue. Based on primary research in the Foreign Ministry archives, this dispassionate and meticulous work makes clear that the influx of large numbers of Jewish refugees to Shanghai via Japan on the eve of the Pacific War was the result, not of any "pro-Jewish policy" or "conspiracy of good," but rather of the rudimentary state of Japanese immigration policies, Japan's overestimation of Jewish influence in the United States, and poor coordination among various branches of the Japanese government....This may not be the most satisfying conclusion, but what makes Sakamoto's book so good is that it is probably very close to the truth.-The Journal of Asian Studies
"What makes Sakamoto's book so good is that it is probably very close to the truth."-Points East Newsletter
"[W]hat makes Sakamoto's book so good is that it is probably very close to the truth."-Points East Newsletter
.."."a unique and important work dealing with a subject that has not adequately been addressed in Holocaust history.""-Shofar
"A fascinating and well-researched account of Jews fleeing Europe through Asia before and during the Holocaust."-The Jewish State
"Japanese Diplomats And Jewish Refugees is an important, informative, and seminal contribution to Jewish experience and history arising from the holocaust."-Wisconsin Bookwatch
"Mrs. Sakamoto's search through Japanese, Russian, Jewish, and other primary and secondary sources has been thorough and comprehensive, and her presentation of her findings is admirably done....The coverage of the subject provided in the text of Mrs. Sakamoto's book and the photographs it includes, together with its extensive bibliography and workable index, make the work an indispensable addition to the literature of the Holocaust for both the specialist and the lay reader."-Cpngress Monthly
"What is at stake in this issue of Jewish refugees in Shanghai is nothing less than our understanding of the character of Japan's behavior during World War II. Pamela Rotner Sakamoto's clear-headed new book helps settle this issue. Based on primary research in the Foreign Ministry archives, this dispassionate and meticulous work makes clear that the influx of large numbers of Jewish refugees to Shanghai via Japan on the eve of the Pacific War was the result, not of any "pro-Jewish policy" or "conspiracy of good," but rather of the rudimentary state of Japanese immigration policies, Japan's overestimation of Jewish influence in the United States, and poor coordination among various branches of the Japanese government....This may not be the most satisfying conclusion, but what makes Sakamoto's book so good is that it is probably very close to the truth."-The Journal of Asian Studies

Author Bio

PAMELA ROTNER SAKAMOTO lives and writes in Tokyo. She has been a lecturer at Doshisha University and Baika Junior College, and her articles have appeared in Points East and The Fletcher Forum. She is presently working as an expert consultant for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which is preparing a special exhibition in 2000, concerning the flight of Polish Jews to Japan and Asia in 1940 and 1941.