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)
