Norihiro Yasue
Encyclopedia
Colonel
Norihiro Yasue (安江仙弘, Yasue Norihiro)(1886 – 1950) was an Imperial Japanese Army
officer who played a crucial role in the so-called Fugu Plan
, in which Jews were rescued from Europe and brought to Japanese-occupied territories during World War II
. Believing strongly in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, he was known as one of the "Jewish experts", along with Capt. Koreshige Inuzuka
.
. A Russian-language specialist, he was assigned to the staff of General Gregorii Semenov, a vehement anti-Semite
who distributed copies of the Protocols to all of his troops, along with weapons, rations, and the like. Along with a few dozen other Japanese soldiers, Yasue read and accepted the premises of the Protocols, and would allow this to guide much of his actions and views into the time of the beginning of World War II.
Beginning upon his return to Japan in 1922, Yasue sought to educate the Japanese people as to the dangers of the Jewish conspiracy outlined in the Protocols, and to influence his government to take action. Working in the Army Intelligence Bureau
, he began work on a Japanese translation of the document, while continuing to speak with Inuzuka and a handful of others about the perceived problem. Their group grew quickly, publishing articles in internal army journals, and holding informal lectures and discussion groups. Following the publishing of his translation of the Protocols, Yasue attracted the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(外務省, Gaimushō), and was sent in 1926 to Palestine to research the Jewish people. There, he traveled much of the country, and spoke to a variety of people, including popular Jewish leaders such as Chaim Weizmann
and David Ben-Gurion
, farmers, shopkeepers, and rabbis. He became particularly interested in the emerging kibbutz
movement, which he came to believe would be used by the Jews in their colonization of the world; his report to the Ministry, however, revealed that no one he spoke to mentioned anything about a conspiracy.
As war approached in the 1930s, Yasue's influence, and that of his comrades, deepened, particularly among those who were distraught by the lack of respect Japan received on the world stage, and who were wary of the cultural changes that accompanied "progress." It was at this time that Yasue and his "Jewish experts" met the so-called "Manchurian faction," a number of industrialists and military officers who saw Manchuria
as crucial to Japan's success. Gisuke Ayukawa in particular was interested in Yasue's ideas, and suggested to him that of using Jews to help develop Manchukuo
(Japanese-occupied Manchuria). Through this partnership, and later discussions, the idea for the "Fugu Plan" was born and developed.
The plan hit a major obstacle almost immediately after it was conceived; two years after the Mukden Incident
which spurred the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, a young Jewish man named Simon Kaspe
was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered. Jews fled the Manchurian city of Harbin
by the thousands; Yasue was placed officially in charge of stemming and reversing this exodus. To that end, he sought out Dr. Abraham Kaufman
, a prominent and respected figure among those Jews remaining in Manchuria. Gradually and carefully earning the respect and friendship of Dr. Kaufman, he helped the doctor form the Far Eastern Jewish Council in 1937, an official body representing the views of the Manchurian Jewish community. Yasue, now promoted to colonel, was assigned to the city of Dairen
(now called Dalian), but continued to commute to Harbin to speak with Kaufman and for other meetings and activities related to his plans regarding the Jewish communities.
The Five Ministers' Conference in 1938 provided the formal go-ahead for Yasue and his colleagues to begin setting up a Jewish settlement in Shanghai
.
In 1939, Yasue, along with Capt. Inuzuka and Ishiguro Shiro of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recommended that Japan set up an autonomous Jewish region near Shanghai; by providing a safe place for Jews to live, and granting them the autonomy to live as they desired, the three men hoped to attract more Jews to favor Japan. The three began meeting on a regular basis, either at the Shanghai Consulate, or on board the Japanese cruiser Izumo
anchored in the harbor, just off the Bund
. Yasue continued his activities in Harbin at this time, organizing a third Far Eastern Jewish community conference, becoming associated with the president of the South Manchurian Railway, Yosuke Matsuoka
, and Setsuzo Kotsuji, the only Japanese in the world at the time to speak and read Hebrew
. Yasue also arranged for Abraham Kaufman to be invited to Tokyo on a formal visit.
Over the next few years, Yasue was central to the operations of nearly every aspect of the Fugu Plan. Along with Inuzuka and a handful of others he coordinated everything from choosing and setting up sites for settlements, transporting Jews to the settlements, speaking with Jewish community leaders to gain economic and moral support, and working of course within the bounds granted him by the Japanese government and military. He organized missions to Jewish communities in the United States
, and considered the Manchurian Jewish community he wished to create an "Israel in Asia." Suggesting that the organized, localized community they were creating be placed in Manchuria, rather than in Shanghai or other locations preferred by some of his other comrades, Yasue also advocated that the community, while strictly designated geographically, be as autonomous as possible. The most idealistic of the group, according to Marvin Tokayer, Yasue was the most interested in the comfort and benefit of the Jews living there; he likely also believed that restrictions on the community would hamper the Jews' abilities to have the maximum positive influence on Japan's power, and could endanger the benevolent views of the Jewish community towards Japan. Against his wishes, the commander of the Middle China Expeditionary Army ordered that the community be closely supervised and guided, while being made to appear autonomous.
Yasue was summarily dismissed from his post, and from the army, in 1940, as a result of the signing of the Tripartite Pact
which formally sealed Japan's alliance with Nazi Germany
. Though he remained a representative for the government, and continued to be active to a degree in the execution of the Plan, he could not formally retain his post as an overt member of a pro-Jewish faction. He immediately flew to Tokyo to urge the government to not allow foreign countries, i.e. Germany, to dictate Japanese policy. Offered reinstatement, he refused. Interestingly, though Yasue was originally quite anti-Semitic, Tokayer alleges that he truly became pro-Jewish around this point. Though he had contributed for a time to various publications on the Jewish situation, including Kokusai Himitsu Ryoku no Kenkyu (国際秘密力の研究, Studies in the International Conspiracy), under the pen-name Hokoshi, he ceased participating in such things upon his dismissal.
By 1942, the Plan fell apart. Japanese aid for Jews would not be tolerated by Japan's ally, Nazi Germany, and Japanese attempts to shuttle Jews through Russia were halted when Russia became an enemy of Germany and Japan. That same year, Gestapo
chief Josef Meisinger was sent to Shanghai and began preparations to exterminate the population of the Jewish community there, which was created in accordance with the Plan of Yasue and his comrades. This never came to fruition, as the community appealed to Yasue and others who revealed Meisinger's intentions to the government in Tokyo and saw it prevented entirely.
An advisor to the government of Manchukuo during the war, based in Dairen, Yasue became less and less involved in the Fugu Plan in any official capacity. He did, however, maintain contacts, and some involvement with the community in Shanghai which was formed as a result of his actions. When the Soviet Union
invaded Manchukuo in August 1945, just prior to the surrender of Japan
and the end of the war, Yasue did not attempt to flee the mainland. He arranged a formal farewell to his family, in which he expressed his view that his entire generation was to blame for the war, and its outcome. He did not feel it would be honorable to flee from his responsibility, and so he allowed himself to be captured by the Soviet forces.
Yasue died in 1950, in a labor camp in Khabarovsk
.
He saw the influence of Karl Marx
and Jacob Schiff
as powerful supporting examples for this ideology. Marx's ideas inspired the Bolshevik uprising, and thus altered the course of Russian history dramatically; Schiff, an American banker, contributed financially heavily to the Japanese government, allowing them to win the Russo-Japanese War
a decade or so earlier.
By 1940 or so, however, he had developed close relationships with a number of Jews, and with the Shanghai Jewish community in general, and became one of their strongest advocates. Though he may or may not have continued to believe in the racial and cultural ideas expressed in the Protocols, he also felt quite strongly for the happiness and safety of the Jewish people who lived in the Japanese Empire.
Army ranks of the Japanese Empire during World War II
The following tables present the rank insignia of the Japanese military before and during World War II. These designs were worn on shoulders as passants between the years 1911 and 1938, then on collars afterwards until 1945, when the Imperial Japanese Army was dissolved.- Officer ranks :- Enlisted...
Norihiro Yasue (安江仙弘, Yasue Norihiro)(1886 – 1950) was an Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
officer who played a crucial role in the so-called Fugu Plan
Fugu Plan
The Jewish settlement in Imperial Japan involved the movement of Jews to and through Japan to its occupied areas of China shortly prior to and during World War II, coinciding with the Second Sino-Japanese War...
, in which Jews were rescued from Europe and brought to Japanese-occupied territories during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Believing strongly in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, he was known as one of the "Jewish experts", along with Capt. Koreshige Inuzuka
Koreshige Inuzuka
Captain was the head of the Japanese Imperial Navy's Advisory Bureau on Jewish Affairs from March 1939 until April 1942. Like his Imperial Japanese Army counterpart, Col...
.
Life and career
At the age of 33, Captain Yasue was assigned to Siberia, to aid the Russian White Army in their struggle against the Communist Red ArmyRed Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. A Russian-language specialist, he was assigned to the staff of General Gregorii Semenov, a vehement anti-Semite
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
who distributed copies of the Protocols to all of his troops, along with weapons, rations, and the like. Along with a few dozen other Japanese soldiers, Yasue read and accepted the premises of the Protocols, and would allow this to guide much of his actions and views into the time of the beginning of World War II.
Beginning upon his return to Japan in 1922, Yasue sought to educate the Japanese people as to the dangers of the Jewish conspiracy outlined in the Protocols, and to influence his government to take action. Working in the Army Intelligence Bureau
Imperial General Headquarters
The as part of the Supreme War Council was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime...
, he began work on a Japanese translation of the document, while continuing to speak with Inuzuka and a handful of others about the perceived problem. Their group grew quickly, publishing articles in internal army journals, and holding informal lectures and discussion groups. Following the publishing of his translation of the Protocols, Yasue attracted the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)
The is a cabinet level ministry of Japan responsible for the country's foreign relations.The ministry is due to the second term of the third article of the National Government Organization Act , and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Establishment Act establishes the ministry...
(外務省, Gaimushō), and was sent in 1926 to Palestine to research the Jewish people. There, he traveled much of the country, and spoke to a variety of people, including popular Jewish leaders such as Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann, , was a Zionist leader, President of the Zionist Organization, and the first President of the State of Israel. He was elected on 1 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952....
and David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
, farmers, shopkeepers, and rabbis. He became particularly interested in the emerging kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
movement, which he came to believe would be used by the Jews in their colonization of the world; his report to the Ministry, however, revealed that no one he spoke to mentioned anything about a conspiracy.
As war approached in the 1930s, Yasue's influence, and that of his comrades, deepened, particularly among those who were distraught by the lack of respect Japan received on the world stage, and who were wary of the cultural changes that accompanied "progress." It was at this time that Yasue and his "Jewish experts" met the so-called "Manchurian faction," a number of industrialists and military officers who saw Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
as crucial to Japan's success. Gisuke Ayukawa in particular was interested in Yasue's ideas, and suggested to him that of using Jews to help develop Manchukuo
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
(Japanese-occupied Manchuria). Through this partnership, and later discussions, the idea for the "Fugu Plan" was born and developed.
The plan hit a major obstacle almost immediately after it was conceived; two years after the Mukden Incident
Mukden Incident
The Mukden Incident, also known as the Manchurian Incident, was a staged event that was engineered by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for invading the northern part of China known as Manchuria in 1931....
which spurred the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, a young Jewish man named Simon Kaspe
Simon Kaspé
Simon Kaspé was a Jewish resident of Harbin, Manchuria, who was kidnapped, ransomed, tortured and murdered by a gang of fascist Russian criminals under the influence of Konstantin Rodzaevsky...
was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered. Jews fled the Manchurian city of Harbin
Harbin
Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...
by the thousands; Yasue was placed officially in charge of stemming and reversing this exodus. To that end, he sought out Dr. Abraham Kaufman
Abraham Kaufman
Dr. Abraham Josevich Kaufman was a Russian-born medical doctor, community organizer and Zionist who helped protect some tens of thousands of Jews seeking safe-haven in East Asia from Nazi atrocities during World War II.As a consequence of his contacts with Japanese authorities during World War II...
, a prominent and respected figure among those Jews remaining in Manchuria. Gradually and carefully earning the respect and friendship of Dr. Kaufman, he helped the doctor form the Far Eastern Jewish Council in 1937, an official body representing the views of the Manchurian Jewish community. Yasue, now promoted to colonel, was assigned to the city of Dairen
Dalian
Dalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning province, Northeast China. It faces Shandong to the south, the Yellow Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west and south. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Dalian is the southernmost city of Northeast China and China's...
(now called Dalian), but continued to commute to Harbin to speak with Kaufman and for other meetings and activities related to his plans regarding the Jewish communities.
The Five Ministers' Conference in 1938 provided the formal go-ahead for Yasue and his colleagues to begin setting up a Jewish settlement in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
.
In 1939, Yasue, along with Capt. Inuzuka and Ishiguro Shiro of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recommended that Japan set up an autonomous Jewish region near Shanghai; by providing a safe place for Jews to live, and granting them the autonomy to live as they desired, the three men hoped to attract more Jews to favor Japan. The three began meeting on a regular basis, either at the Shanghai Consulate, or on board the Japanese cruiser Izumo
Japanese cruiser Izumo
was an armored cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Although very similar to the s and , its differences are significant enough to classify it as the lead ship in the separate , which also included its sister ship, the...
anchored in the harbor, just off the Bund
The Bund
The Bund is a waterfront area in central Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District...
. Yasue continued his activities in Harbin at this time, organizing a third Far Eastern Jewish community conference, becoming associated with the president of the South Manchurian Railway, Yosuke Matsuoka
Yosuke Matsuoka
was a diplomat and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Empire of Japan during the early stages of World War II. He is best known for his defiant speech at the League of Nations in 1933, ending Japan’s participation in that organization...
, and Setsuzo Kotsuji, the only Japanese in the world at the time to speak and read Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. Yasue also arranged for Abraham Kaufman to be invited to Tokyo on a formal visit.
Over the next few years, Yasue was central to the operations of nearly every aspect of the Fugu Plan. Along with Inuzuka and a handful of others he coordinated everything from choosing and setting up sites for settlements, transporting Jews to the settlements, speaking with Jewish community leaders to gain economic and moral support, and working of course within the bounds granted him by the Japanese government and military. He organized missions to Jewish communities in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and considered the Manchurian Jewish community he wished to create an "Israel in Asia." Suggesting that the organized, localized community they were creating be placed in Manchuria, rather than in Shanghai or other locations preferred by some of his other comrades, Yasue also advocated that the community, while strictly designated geographically, be as autonomous as possible. The most idealistic of the group, according to Marvin Tokayer, Yasue was the most interested in the comfort and benefit of the Jews living there; he likely also believed that restrictions on the community would hamper the Jews' abilities to have the maximum positive influence on Japan's power, and could endanger the benevolent views of the Jewish community towards Japan. Against his wishes, the commander of the Middle China Expeditionary Army ordered that the community be closely supervised and guided, while being made to appear autonomous.
Yasue was summarily dismissed from his post, and from the army, in 1940, as a result of the signing of the Tripartite Pact
Tripartite Pact
The Tripartite Pact, also the Three-Power Pact, Axis Pact, Three-way Pact or Tripartite Treaty was a pact signed in Berlin, Germany on September 27, 1940, which established the Axis Powers of World War II...
which formally sealed Japan's alliance with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. Though he remained a representative for the government, and continued to be active to a degree in the execution of the Plan, he could not formally retain his post as an overt member of a pro-Jewish faction. He immediately flew to Tokyo to urge the government to not allow foreign countries, i.e. Germany, to dictate Japanese policy. Offered reinstatement, he refused. Interestingly, though Yasue was originally quite anti-Semitic, Tokayer alleges that he truly became pro-Jewish around this point. Though he had contributed for a time to various publications on the Jewish situation, including Kokusai Himitsu Ryoku no Kenkyu (国際秘密力の研究, Studies in the International Conspiracy), under the pen-name Hokoshi, he ceased participating in such things upon his dismissal.
By 1942, the Plan fell apart. Japanese aid for Jews would not be tolerated by Japan's ally, Nazi Germany, and Japanese attempts to shuttle Jews through Russia were halted when Russia became an enemy of Germany and Japan. That same year, Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
chief Josef Meisinger was sent to Shanghai and began preparations to exterminate the population of the Jewish community there, which was created in accordance with the Plan of Yasue and his comrades. This never came to fruition, as the community appealed to Yasue and others who revealed Meisinger's intentions to the government in Tokyo and saw it prevented entirely.
An advisor to the government of Manchukuo during the war, based in Dairen, Yasue became less and less involved in the Fugu Plan in any official capacity. He did, however, maintain contacts, and some involvement with the community in Shanghai which was formed as a result of his actions. When the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
invaded Manchukuo in August 1945, just prior to the surrender of Japan
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...
and the end of the war, Yasue did not attempt to flee the mainland. He arranged a formal farewell to his family, in which he expressed his view that his entire generation was to blame for the war, and its outcome. He did not feel it would be honorable to flee from his responsibility, and so he allowed himself to be captured by the Soviet forces.
Yasue died in 1950, in a labor camp in Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk is the largest city and the administrative center of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia...
.
Beliefs & Ideology
Following the ideas set out in the Protocols, Yasue came to believe in a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, and in the innate economic and political power of the Jewish people. Thus, he agreed with Inuzuka and others in the idea of turning the attitude of the global Jewish community to Japan's favor, believing that they could thus reap incredible economic and political gains for their country.He saw the influence of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and Jacob Schiff
Jacob Schiff
Jacob Henry Schiff, born Jakob Heinrich Schiff was a German-born Jewish American banker and philanthropist, who helped finance, among many other things, the Japanese military efforts against Tsarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese War.From his base on Wall Street, he was the foremost Jewish leader...
as powerful supporting examples for this ideology. Marx's ideas inspired the Bolshevik uprising, and thus altered the course of Russian history dramatically; Schiff, an American banker, contributed financially heavily to the Japanese government, allowing them to win the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
a decade or so earlier.
By 1940 or so, however, he had developed close relationships with a number of Jews, and with the Shanghai Jewish community in general, and became one of their strongest advocates. Though he may or may not have continued to believe in the racial and cultural ideas expressed in the Protocols, he also felt quite strongly for the happiness and safety of the Jewish people who lived in the Japanese Empire.