2. Asia
since 1933: Flight from Nazism to
Bombay
from: Bombay; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, Vol. 4
<The political events in Europe and the advent of Nazism brought a
number of German, Polish, Romanian, and other European Jews to Bombay,
many of whom were active as scientists, physicians, industrialists, and
merchants. Communal life in Bombay was stimulated by visits of Zionist
emissaries.> (col. 1194)
1941-1945: Big Flight from
Barbarossa to Asia
from: Asia; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, Vol. 3
<With the commencement of Nazi persecution, a considerable increase
in the number of Jews in Russian Asia was reported, although the actual
figures are not known. World War II completely changed the Far Eastern
picture. Many refugees from the German-occupied countries and Russia
escaped to territories under Japanese rule. The Japanese although
introducing anti-Semitic measures, did not carry them out to the
extreme. The communist victory in China after the war made it
impossible for the Jews to continue there in their former occupations.
the recently established communities disappeared.> (col. 744)
-----
China
[1937-1945: Jews in China]
from: China; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, Vol. 5
<Jews settled in China from the 1840s with the cession of *Hong Kong
to Great Britain and the establishment of foreign concessions in
*Shanghai, *Tientsin, and other cities. In Hong Kong the Jews were
predominantly British subjects. Many of them went there from India and
Iraq. By 1937, about 10,000 Jews were living in China. Some 2,000 lived
in Shanghai, consisting of about 1,000 of various European
nationalities (250 old-timers and 750 early refugees from Nazism); some
500 from Russia; some 400 British subjects, mostly from India and Iraq;
and some 50 from America. Tientsin had a Jewish population of about
2,000, about half of whom were of Russian origin, the remainder of
various European nationalities. The Russian-Jewish population in
*Harbin amounted to some 5,000 people, not counting small Jewish
communities in other Japanese-occupied Manchurian cities, especially
Dairen. Most of these Russian Jews were refugees from the Russian
Revolution of 1917.
The greatest influx of Jews in China was, however, caused by Hitlerism.
Some 18,000 to 20,000 victims of Nazism found a precarious shelter in
Japanese-occupied (col. 470)
Shanghai between 1938 and 1941. After the outbreak of war in the
Pacific in 1941, the Japanese deported their own Jewish community via
*Yokohama to Shanghai. Transient Jewish refugees from Europe on their
way to other parts of the world, who were stranded in Japan due to the
outbreak of the war, suffered the same fate. Thus, on the eve of the
Pacific War a total of between 25,000 and 30,000 Jews were living in
China, including *Manchuria.
[1945-1971: Jews in China mostly
leaving]
After the end of World War II the Jews in China, most of whom were
living under miserable conditions in Shanghai, were given an
opportunity to proceed to other parts of the world, largely with
American aid. Russian Jews were urged by diplomatic representatives of
the Soviet Union to return to that country. Those Jews of Russian
origin who were unable to reach North or South America, Israel, or
other countries automatically had to return to the Soviet Union.
Practically all the Russian Jews in Manchuria were in this position,
because Manchuria was cut off from the rest of the country by civil war.
A few elderly Jewish residents without families were allowed to live
out their days in Shanghai. Neither the Nationalist Chinese Government
on Formosa (Taiwan) nor the Chinese People's Republic on the mainland
have any diplomatic relations with Israel. At present there are
virtually no Jews living in China except in Hong Kong.>
-----
Indonesia
[1933-1945: Flight country
Indonesia
for Jews]
from: Indonesia; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, Vol. 8
<An early Jewish settlement existed in the Sunda Islands but its
date and extent are not known. In the 1850s the Jerusalem emissary
Jacob *Saphir, who visited Batavia (Jakarta), Java, met an Amsterdam
Jewish merchant who named 20 Jewish families of Dutch or German origin
there, including members of the Dutch colonial forces, and some Jews
living in Semarang and Surabaya. They had few links with Judaism.
At Saphir's request, the Amsterdam community sent a rabbi who tried to
organize congregations in Batavia and Semarang.
A number of Jews from Baghdad, or of aghdadi origin, and from Aden also
settled on the islands, and in 1921 the Zionist emissary Israel Cohen
estimated that nearly 2,000 Jews were living in Java. The resident of
Surabaya was a Dutch Jews; several held government posts; and many
engaged in commerce. The Jews of Baghdadi origin formed the most
Orthodox element.
There were also Jews from Central Europe and Soviet Russia, whose
numbers increased in the 1930s. In 1939 there were 2,000 Dutch Jewish
inhabitants and a number of stateless Jews who underwent the trials of
the Japanese occupation.
Indonesian independence marked the decline of the Dutch Jewish element,
and the Jewish population subsequently dwindled for political and
economic reasons. There were 450 Jews in Indonesia in 1957.> (col.
1363)
-----
Japan
[1931-1941: Jews in Japan - flight
from Nazism and from Barbarossa to Japan - and then to Shanghai]
from: Japan; In Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, Vol.9
<When Japan embarked upon a program of military expansion in
Manchuria in 1931, the fortunes of thousands of Jews were directly and
indirectly affected. Though for a while the Jewish communities in
Manchuria, especially in *Harbin, were subjected to no special
discriminatory actions, in time many of the erstwhile refugees from
Russia, finding Japanese rule unpalatable, decided to emigrate
elsewhere. Many transferred their homes and business to *Tientsin,
*Shanghai, and *Hong Kong, while a few settled down in Japan.
At the same time the development of closer relations with Nazi Germany
resulted in a tremendous expansion of anti-Semitic literature in Japan.
After 1937 many anti-Semitic works were translated into Japanese from
the German (col. 1281)
and additional works were written de novo in Japanese. But, by and
large, the Japanese government and people remained indifferent to this
inflammatory literature which circulated in limited circles.
A stream of Jewish refugees from Nazism poured into the Far East during
the early years of [European] World War II. Many of them, coming by
sea, found temporary homes in the International Settlement at Shanghai.
Others, coming overland through Siberia from Eastern Europe, stayed a
while in Japan. Perhaps the best known contingent of such refugees were
the members of the *Mir yeshivah in Lithuania who arrived in Japan in
1941. Though they were not permitted to remain until arrangements had
been made of their transit to Shanghai.> (col. 1282)
[1941-1945: Japan occupies
Shanghai -
concentration camps for the 50,000 Jews in Shanghai]
<When shortly thereafter the International Settlement was occupied
by Japanese forces, about 50,000 Jews came under Japanese military
rule. Many of the refugees were placed in an internment camp for the
duration of the war. Strict as this military administration was, it was
a far cry from the Nazi-occupied areas of Europe.> (col. 1282)
[1945-1952: Japan under "US" rule:
More influx of Jews]
<After World War II.
During the American occupation of Japan (1945-52) the number of Jews in
the islands reached its highest figure, some officials of General
MacArthur's regime and many "G.I.s" being Jewish. When many of these
servicemen returned home after the termination of the occupation and
the Korean War (1950-53) the number of Jews in Japan dwindled. [...] By
190 the size of the Jewish community in Japan had stabilized at about
1,000, most of whom lived in Tokyo and Yokohama.> (col. 1282)
