The Myth of the Second Japanese Schindler: Saburo Nei
Deconstructing More Mythmaking...
Recently a second ‘Japanese Schindler’ who ‘saved jews from the Holocaust’ named Saburo Nei has been ‘discovered’ by the Japanese media as well as the mainstream media. (1)
Unfortunately for them; Nei’s activities have actually been known of since at least 2001 with Yutaka Taniuichi mentioning the subject in his book ‘The Miracle Visas’. (2) The problem for the narrative of the ‘Second Japanese Schindler’ is the same as the ‘First Japanese Schindler’ Chiune Sugihara: the timeline.
‘The Algemeiner’ gives the best summary of the claims made about Nei:
‘Saburo Nei — who served as Imperial Japan’s consul-general in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok during World War II — issued transit visas for Jews escaping persecution from Nazi Germany to pass through Japan.
Nei is now being compared to the diplomat dubbed the “Japanese Schindler” — Chiune Sugihara, who provided hundreds of visas to Jews in Lithuania, where he was stationed.
Akira Kitade — a Tokyo-based journalist who has extensively researched Japanese efforts to help Jews during the Nazi era — told The Mainichi daily newspaper that it was important for “people to know that there were Japanese diplomats other than Mr. Sugihara who saved Jewish people.”
Records found in Moscow indicate that Nei, who was stationed in Vladivostok in 1941, issued travel documents to Jews who had escaped from eastern Europe by taking the Trans-Siberian Railway to the Pacific port city, from where they attempted to reach a third country. It was believed, however, that none of the visas had survived.’ (3)
Think about this carefully for a moment and we notice that Nei – like Sugihara – was operating in 1941 and that alone throws doubt upon their status as ‘Holocaust Rescuers’ precisely because the so-called ‘Holocaust’ wasn’t even conceived of by the Third Reich according to the official narrative till the Wannsee Conference on 20th January 1942.
Therefore in order to consider both Nei and Sugihara as ‘Holocaust Rescuers’ then we have to assume that they ‘knew’ about the so-called ‘Holocaust’ before the Third Reich and the primary executors of the alleged genocide – the SS – even knew about it. That is obviously a stupid claim to make but it is the essence of what is being claimed about both Nei and Sugihara.
The rationale for Sugihara seems to have been at least a little philo-Semitic, but in the case of Nei. There is no actual evidence of his philo-Semitic motivations in the slightest other than that he honoured the visas that Sugihara issued in Lithuania.
This again has been known about since 2001 since Taniuchi quotes Nei’s reply to the Japanese Foreign Ministry concerning these visas:
‘It is absolutely impossible for the Jewish people arriving in Vladivostok to return to Lithuania. They are coming to the Consulate every day seeking permission to board Japanese vessels sailing for Japan. I can find no reason to warrant the refusal of boarding passes to those who possess valid visas issued by a Consol of the Great Japanese Empire. If I were to refuse to honor these visas, it would be tantamount to ignoring the official documents issued by Japanese Consulates and embassies throughout the world. I cannot invalidate the visas issued by Consul General Sugihara. Therefore, I will grant permission for these people to board vessels sailing to Japan.’ (4)
In other words:
A) Nei sees it as dishonourable to refuse to honour the visas issued by Sugihara.
B) Nei believes that ignoring such documents would bring the ‘Great Japanese Empire’ into disrepute.
C) Nei wanted to be rid of the jews turning up at his embassy in Vladivostok to beg for visas.
D) Nei believed that the jews couldn’t go back to Lithuania even if Japan refused to honour the visas issued by Sugihara.
Nei then is not ‘philo-Semitic’ in the slightest – despite Taniuchi trying to impute such a motive to him without bothering to evidence it – (5) but rather an officious Japanese diplomat who was concerned with the honour of the Japanese Empire and also removing a daily problem for him in the form of crowds of jews begging for visas.
Perhaps the worst thing about this whole ‘Second Japanese Schindler’ is that this whole ludicrous lie is based on one single surviving copy of a visa issued by Nei that was recently unearthed and then the whole ‘Japanese saviour of the jews’ kitsch has been simply stuck on to Nei without any consideration of the evidence.
So much for the ‘Second Japanese Schindler’.
References
(1) For example: https://www.archaeology.org/news/8743-200605-japan-refugee-visa ; https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3087596/second-japanese-schindler-uncovered-how-diplomat-helped ; https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/evidence-of-second-japanese-schindler-found-in-us-630826 ; https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200528/p2a/00m/0na/012000c
(2) Yutaka Taniuchi, 2001, ‘The Miracle Visas’, 1st Edition, Gefen: Jerusalem, p. 97
(3) https://unitedwithisrael.org/second-japanese-schindler-discovered-who-rescued-jews-from-nazi-persecution/
(4) Taniuchi, Op. Cit., p. 97
(5) Ibid.