As detailed in the book "The Fugu Plan", Jacob Schiff's generous loan to the Japanese government later nearly resulted in the ratification of a grand plan at the upper echelons of the WW2 Japanese government to enable the emigration of thousands of Jews to Harbin and other places in Manchuria (a captured northern territory that Japan had taken from the Chinese but was having difficulty to develop and populate with Japanese settlers). That secret deal ultimately fell through, but a few thousand Jews were treated kindly when granted transit visas by a magnanimous Japanese diplomat in Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara (who is honored by Yad Vashem), granted them transit visas to leave Europe safely and go through Kobe, Japan to Shanghai or Curacao. (The book, by Marvin Tokayer, is highly recommended).
Ironically, the reason my great grandfather came to America from Russia was because he dodged the draft for that war and also led a protest against it and wanted to escape the authorities
As detailed in the book "The Fugu Plan", Jacob Schiff's generous loan to the Japanese government later nearly resulted in the ratification of a grand plan at the upper echelons of the WW2 Japanese government to enable the emigration of thousands of Jews to Harbin and other places in Manchuria (a captured northern territory that Japan had taken from the Chinese but was having difficulty to develop and populate with Japanese settlers). That secret deal ultimately fell through, but a few thousand Jews were treated kindly when granted transit visas by a magnanimous Japanese diplomat in Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara (who is honored by Yad Vashem), granted them transit visas to leave Europe safely and go through Kobe, Japan to Shanghai or Curacao. (The book, by Marvin Tokayer, is highly recommended).
ReplyDeleteIronically, the reason my great grandfather came to America from Russia was because he dodged the draft for that war and also led a protest against it and wanted to escape the authorities
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