Sensō jukeisha sewakai

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The Sensō jukeisha sewakai ( 戦 争 受刑 者 世 話 会 English War Convicted Benefit Society ), German "Society for the support of those imprisoned because of the war" was one of several organizations that represented the interests of convicted war criminals in post-war Japan. After all remaining war criminals had been pardoned on July 4, 1957, the association lost its right to exist and dissolved in 1958.

Founding and Financiers

The initiative came from former Vice Admiral Hara Chūichi , who had been convicted in the war crimes trials in Guam . He was released from Sugamo War Crimes Prison in April 1951 . Soon afterwards he visited Shōriki Matsutarō and Fujiwara Ginjirō in order to get support with them for those still in prison . Shōriki was very influential as the pre-war head of the largest Japanese daily newspaper, Yomiuri Shinbun, in the circles of "old comrades," which determined Japanese post-war politics. He also agitated on behalf of the CIA for the introduction of nuclear power. Before the end of the war, Fujiwara's Ōji Seishi group had a market share of eighty percent of national paper production. Kishi Nobusuke (later Prime Minister), Ayukawa Yoshisuke , Ino Hiroya (pre-war minister ), Gōko Kiyoshi (head of Mitsubishi), Murata Shōzō (pre-war minister ) and Ishihara Hiroichirō were recruited as further major donors . All of the foregoing had been held in custody as alleged major war criminals without any convictions.

Those detained in Sugamo had expected that they would come under Japanese jurisdiction and pardoned immediately after the San Francisco Treaty was signed . The victorious powers, however, retained control and only released them in individual cases.

With Ino Hiroya and Hara at the top, a preparatory committee was created. 342 “voluntary” founding members were recruited. Many of these were ministerial officials in high positions. These included B. Masaki Hideki , son of Masaki Jinzaburō , a general against whom had been determined and Ichikizaki Hidemaru , vice admiral in the war, later admiral of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces .

All members of the preparatory committee became managing directors in the 22-member board of directors of the association when it was officially established in May 1952, immediately after Japan regained its sovereignty. Fujiwara Ginjirō acted as president. The membership list is a veritable “Who's Who” of former staff officers and Japanese revisionists of the post-war period.

Funded

Japanese war criminals who were released received fair compensation and full pensions from their government. The situation was different for those former members of the imperial army who came from the colonies but whose Japanese citizenship had been revoked after the peace treaty came into force, like all colonial subjects.

These "third country nationals", who had served their heavenly majesty ( Tennō ) loyally, initially received ¥ 20,000 from the association upon dismissal .

Soon the Society received 6.45 million yen from the Ministry of Social Affairs for distribution. By outsourcing the payments to a "private" organization, embarrassment for the government was avoided. To distribute these funds, the sub-organization Kōsei Kosei-kai ( 更生 助 成 会 ) was created, which soon merged into the associations Seikō-kai ( 清 交会 English Society of Pure Companionship ) and Yūwa-kai ( 友 和 会 English Society of Friendship and Harmony ) who took care of the support of Korean and Taiwanese war criminals and these apartments u. worried.

The group tried to influence public opinion to advocate a quick pardon for all convicts. The term for war criminals was also agitated to replace senpan ( 戦 犯 ) with the “more neutral” sensō jukei-sha ( 戦 争 受刑 者 ), “those imprisoned for the war”.

literature

  • Pan Keyao; Networking for War Criminal Amnesty: The Establishment of Japan's War Convicted Benefit Society; Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 18 (2020) No. 7
  • 豊 田 隈 雄; プ リ ズ ン の 解 消 に 寄 せ て - 戦 争 受刑 者 世 話 会 の 動 き; 刑 政 [“Japanese journal of correction” ISSN 02874628], Vol. 69 (1958), No. 7, pp. 44-52

Archival material

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Other groups were the "White Chrysanthemum Society" ( Shira Kiku Izokukai ), led by Imamura Hisako, wife of General Imamura Hitoshi, or the "National Society for the Support of War Victims" ( Zenkoku sensō gisei-sha engo-kai ) founded by the military official Nukada Hiroshi 1958.
  2. ↑ Section after: 豊 田 隈 雄 [Toyoda Kumao; Autobiography]; 『戦 争 裁判 余 録』 [ Sensō Saiban Yoroku ]; Tokyo 1986 (泰 生 社).
  3. ↑ Network presented in detail in Pan (2020).
  4. ↑ 第三 国人 daisangoku-jin ; today this expression has a negative connotation with racist undertones.
  5. ↑ Corresponds to around 20 times as much in 2020.
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Toyoda is the family name, Soemu the first name.