Ozaki Hotsumi

Ozaki Hotsumi

Ozaki Hotsumi ( Japanese 尾崎 秀 実 ; born April 29 or May 1, 1901 in Shirakawa , Gifu Prefecture ; † November 7, 1944 in Toshima , Tokyo City (today: Tokyo )) was a Japanese journalist , communist and spy on behalf of the Soviet Union .

Live and act

Ozaki Hotsumi was born in Tokyo but spent most of his childhood and youth in Taiwan . He studied at the University of Tokyo and during this time joined the socialist group " Shinjin-kai ". After graduating from university, he worked for the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

He was very interested in the Chinese revolution and the problems it caused and went to Shanghai as a special correspondent from 1928 to 1932 . Since his student days he had been interested in Marxism and had contact with various people from the left wing, but at no time did he join the Communist Party. He left Asahi in 1938 and worked part-time for the South Manchurian Railway . - His knowledge and views on China were widely recognized, as a member of the "Shōwa Kenkyūkai" he became an advisor to Konoe Fumimaro .

Ozaki belonged to Richard Sorge's circle and was arrested in connection with the Sorge incident in 1941, sentenced to death with it in 1943, and hanged on the same day in 1944 immediately before care . He was the only Japanese man hanged in Sugamo Prison for treason in Japan during World War II

While in custody, Ozaki wrote poems for his wife and daughter, which were successfully published after the war. As a result, Ozaki Hotsumi's image of the Japanese public changed from a traitor to a fighter against the war.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.kyousansyumi.net/old01/jiten.f/ozakihotumi.html
2. ↑ Personal entry on Ozaki Hotsumi in the Aozora Bunko

Remarks

1. ↑ The Shinjikai (新人 会) was founded in December 1918 at the University of Tokyo. Akamatsu Katsumaro (1894–1955) was one of the leading figures .
2. ↑ The Shōwa Kenkyūkai (昭和 研究 会) was a group of liberal democrats that formed in November 1936 to discuss the national and international political cooperation of Japan.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Ozaki Hotsumi . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X
• Hunter, Janet: Ozaki Hotsumi . In: Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. Kodansha International, 1984. ISBN 4-7700-1193-8 .
• Chalmers A. Johnson: An Instance of Treason. Ozaki Hotsumi and the Sorge Spy Ring . Stanford University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-8047-1766-4

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Ozaki is the family name, Hotsumi the first name.