Unity association
The unity of the Manchukuo Empire ( Chinese 滿洲 國 協和 會 , Pinyin Mǎnzhōuguó Xiéhéhuì , W.-G. Man 3 -chou 1 -kuo 2 Hsieh 2 -ho-hui 4 - "Harmony assembly Manshu-kuos "; Japanese after Hepburn Manshū-kaioku Kyōwaku ) , in German-language texts alternatively as Eintrachtsvereinigung , Eintrachtsgesellschaft , or, based on the English Concordia Association , Concordia Society , or also Kyowakai and Hsieh-ho Hui ) was a party-like association in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo . It was officially founded on July 25, 1932 to promote pan-Asian goals and the establishment of a multi-ethnic nation state in Manchuria, which was once Chinese and, after the Mukden incident, Japanese-occupied Manchuria . Originally it was supposed to establish administrative structures which enabled the transition from a military dominated to a civil government. Since it was unable to achieve this goal in the long term, it was increasingly transformed into an instrument of totalitarian state control by the leadership of the Japanese Kwantung Army , which exercised the actual power in Manchukuo .
background
The name Eintrachtverband comes from the concept of harmony of the peoples ( 民族 協和 , mínzú xiéhe , English Concord of the People ) of the Pan-Asian movements of the time. Through communal autonomy along ethnic-national lines, a limited right of peoples to self-determination was to be implemented in Manchukuo in order to build a national state based on the model of the Soviet "Union of Peoples" under a centralized state structure. The political theorist Tominaga Tadashi , author of the book Manshū no Minzoku (Peoples of Manchuria), who had also dealt intensively with the Soviet policy of national self-determination, was considered to be groundbreaking here. The harmony-of-the-peoples policy was presented as a way in which a federal system guaranteed the protection of minorities , while the strong central state prevented separatist movements that had weakened the late Russian Empire , for example .
development
After its establishment, Manchukuo was de facto controlled by the Japanese Kwantung Army along totalitarian lines of politics. A legislative council existed mainly to confirm decrees of the State Council , which it published on the President and later Emperor Manchukuos Puyi .
Although not officially a one-party state , political opposition in Manchukuo was severely suppressed, and the only party-like association remained the Eintrachtverband. Only immigrant nationalities were allowed to participate in political organization, mainly with the aim of being able to use them to exert influence in their home countries. These included a number of associations of the Belarusian movement that propagated fascism or the restoration of Romanov rule , as well as Zionist -oriented societies of Jewish refugees.
The structure of the Eintrachtverband was later adjusted to the Japanese Taisei Yokusankai, founded in 1940 . With this, all government officials and the bureaucracy, including state-employed teachers and other people regarded as socially important, were forcibly made members of the association. As early as 1937, all young people between the ages of 16 and 19 had to be members, so in 1943 around 10% of the population was nominally organized in the association.
In theory, at some point the Eintrachtverband should replace the Kwantung Army as the predominant political power. Mid-1930s, the associated army , however, the cleansing of the original management of the company to eliminate supposed left tendencies. As a result of these purges, the association was primarily used to mobilize and monitor the population instead of representing the goals of ethnic, cultural and national unity in the government.
The purges left an association similar to the totalitarian European parties of the time. Like its fascist counterparts, it represented corporatist , anti-communist and anti-capitalist goals and advocated overcoming class differences through the formation of professional and ethnic communities. This also included turning to economic dirigism . Due to its Pan-Asian roots, the company continued to feel that it represented the larger ethnic groups in Manchukuo such as the Mongols , Manchu , Hui , Koreans , Russians, Japanese and the majority Han Chinese and their traditions. This often also included the support of religious leaders from these ethnic groups, who adhered to Buddhism , Confucianism , shamanism , Islam and Christianity, among others . To control the population, political committees made up of association members were formed in religious and self-governing communities.
Japanese ideologues saw no contradiction between the goals of equality, modernization and republicanism on the one hand and the "Eastern" values of community, solidarity and the moral sovereignty of the state on the other. In reality, there was considerable tension along these lines and the different aims of the military and Panasianists, creating a polarized rather than harmonious society. For example, large parts of the Mongolian youth demanded access to modern education and the limitation of the power of the religious lamas . There were conflicts between monarchists and republicans among the Chinese. The outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War brought Manchukuo's political development to an almost complete standstill. After the conquest of Manchukuo by Soviet troops in 1945 , the unity association was dissolved together with the state and its institutions in August.
literature
- WG Beasley: Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945. Oxford University Press, New York 1987, ISBN 0-19-822168-1 .
- John Dower: War Without Mercy. Race and Power in the Pacific War. Pantheon Books, New York 1987, ISBN 0-394-75172-8 .
- Gustav Fochler-Hauke : Manchuria. A geographical-geopolitical study of the country (= writings on military geopolitics. Volume 3). Vowinckel, Heidelberg 1941.
- Ann Laura Stoler, Carole McGranahan, Peter C. Perdue: Imperial Formations. School for Advanced Research Press, Santa Fe 2007, ISBN 1-930618-73-5 .
- Louise Young: Japan's Total Empire. Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism. University of California Press, Berkeley 1998, ISBN 0-520-21934-1 .
- Arthur Morgan Young: Imperial Japan 1926–1938. Allen & Unwin, London 1938.
- Rudolf Walter: Hsieh ho. Folk and State Philosophy of Manchukuo. In: Monthly booklets for foreign policy. Volume 10, 1943, pp. 106-112.
Individual evidence
- ^ Wolfgang Seuberlich: Manchukuo. In: Franz Alfred Six , German Institute for International Studies (Hrsg.): Yearbook of world politics 1942 (= year book of world politics. Volume 2). Junker and Dünnhaupt, Berlin 1942, p. 817.
- ^ Richard Ernst: Manchukuo. Land of mines and farmers. Hohenstaufen-Verlag, Stuttgart 1944, p. 335.
- ^ Editors of Fortune magazine : Japan. Overseas Ecitions, New York 1944, p. 44.
- ↑ Togo Sheba (Ed.): The Manchoukou Year Book 1941 . The Manchoukou Year Book Co., Hsinking 1941.
- ^ Gustav Fochler-Hauke : The Manchuria. A geographical-geopolitical study of the country (= writings on military geopolitics. Volume 3). Vowinckel, Heidelberg 1941, p. 347.