In some current historical materials, we often see the saying that the old China was poor and weak and was at the mercy of others. In fact, this generalization can indeed reflect to a certain extent the historical fact that foreign powers ran rampant in China for almost 100 years from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, causing many sufferings to China. In China at that time, there had indeed been a situation where "foreigners" from all walks of life were rampant for a long time. In addition to the European and American powers, some relatively non-mainstream foreign communities also carried out willful tossing in China. , and even fought with each other to the death. For example, the battle between Belarusian and Jewish that we are going to talk about today was staged in Northeast China at that time. So why are these two groups at odds with each other? Why are they making trouble in Northeast China? What is the final outcome of their conflict?
Harbin Jews and White Russians
At the end of the 19th century AD, with the signing of a series of unequal treaties in the late Qing Dynasty that ceded power and humiliated the country, Tsarist Russia began to penetrate more and more into Northeast China. During this period, some Jews who originally lived in the Russian Empire gradually settled in Northeast China. In 1900, there were already 45 Jews living in Harbin, an important northeastern town. After the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded China, Jews began to pour into China at an accelerated pace. By 1902, the number of Harbin Jews had grown to 300. After that, the Jews in Harbin showed a geometric series of growth. By 1915, the number of Jews in Harbin had grown to 12,000.
Russian Jews at the end of the 19th century AD
Because these Jews are mainly from Russia, they basically all speak Russian. Because of the unique religious beliefs of the Jews, they quickly formed a highly organized community in Harbin. At that time, they built synagogues, schools, and medical, welfare and charity institutions specifically serving the Jewish community, and therefore became one of the more conspicuous foreign groups in Harbin at that time.
As we have just said, the arrival of Jews in Harbin was actually accompanied by the expansion of Tsarist Russia. At that time, Tsarist Russia also sent a large number of people to move to Harbin and its surrounding areas in order to build and maintain the Middle East Railway. In the ten years from 1914 to 1923, due to World War I and the Russian Revolution and Civil War, a large number of Russians who were hostile to Soviet Russia, that is, White Russians (which are two different things from Belaruss), swarmed into Harbin. . Many figures show that by the 1920s, the number of Belarusian groups living in Harbin had reached 100,000 to 200,000, becoming the most powerful foreign group in Harbin.
The Orthodox Church established by Belarus in Harbin
After the revolution in Russia, because most Jews did not support the Soviet Russian regime, most of the Jews in Harbin became stateless people. But although they and Belarus were both opposed to Soviet Russia, and they both lived in Harbin because of their opposition to Soviet Russia at the time, and even basically spoke Russian, due to the huge differences in religious beliefs and historical traditions, they soon became two people in Harbin. Groups that are hostile to each other.
Japanese Wishful Thinking
Since the two sides are hostile to each other on Chinese soil, they naturally want to embrace the other's thigh to use their strength to overwhelm the other. In this case, in addition to wooing Zhang Zuolin, the warlord who controlled the Northeast at the time, the two parties also competed to flatter the Japanese Kwantung Army, which had been entrenched in the Northeast for a long time and was eyeing the Northeast. They hoped to use the power of the Kwantung Army. Overwhelm the opponent and turn Harbin into his own sphere of influence.
Russian propaganda posters on the streets of Harbin at that time
At that time, these two groups also had certain use value in the eyes of the Japanese. First of all, White Russia has a large number of people and is a sworn enemy of Soviet Russia. Therefore, in the eyes of the Japanese, White Russia is an important ally in their fight against Soviet Russia in the Far East . It especially plays an important role in spreading anti-communist thinking in the Far East. effect. After the Russian Civil War broke out in 1918, Japan and other major powers sent troops to Russia, and one of its important purposes was to assist the White Russian army in the Russian Civil War.
But at the same time, the Japanese, who were already plotting to invade Northeast China, also valued the value of Jews. At that time, the Kwantung Army was already planning an armed invasion of Northeast China, and therefore began to plan how to make full use of the rich coal, steel and other resources in Northeast China after occupying Northeast China. However, because there was relatively little infrastructure related to coal and steel in the Northeast at that time, some Japanese came up with the idea of using Harbin Jews and wanted to use their connections with Jewish groups around the world to mobilize some wealthy Jewish businessmen to come to the Northeast to fight against Investment in infrastructure such as coal and steel will allow them to plunder more of China’s resources.
Harbin during the Puppet Manchukuo period
In addition, after launching the September 18th Incident and invading Northeast China and establishing the puppet regime of the Puppet Manchukuo, the Japanese also took advantage of the global influence of the Jews to mobilize the United States. European countries recognized the idea of the puppet Manchukuo regime. Therefore, the Jewish community in Harbin has also become a potentially valuable chess piece in the eyes of the Kwantung Army.
The " blowfish project " that many friends have heard of was launched under this background. In the early 1930s, Yosuke Matsuoka, who was then the vice president of Japanese-controlled Manchuria, and Yosuke Ayukawa, president of Manchuria Heavy Industry Development , proposed the idea of introducing 50,000 Jewish immigrants to Northeast China. In their vision, the arrival of Jewish immigrants would bring a large amount of capital, as well as some technology and management capabilities, helping Japan better utilize and plunder various resources from the Northeast.
Matsuoka Yosuke advocated the introduction of Jewish immigrants to Northeast China.
This plan was later summarized as the "Pufferfish Plan" by some scholars. The reason it was so called was that some Japanese at the time also felt that the Jews were a difficult group to deal with. If Their long-term presence in the society they control may also cause trouble. But they also believe that if they know how to deal with and use Jews, and fully monitor them, then Jews can also bring great benefits to themselves, which is similar to the highly poisonous but also extremely delicious puffer fish.
Therefore, at that time, the Japanese adopted a divide-and-conquer approach towards the White Russian and Jewish groups in the Northeast, allowing the two groups to check and balance each other. On the one hand, they allowed Belarus to carry out a large amount of anti-Semitic propaganda, and allowed radicals in Belarus to form the Belarusian Fascist Party in Harbin, which openly called for the killing of Jews. On the other hand, they took a series of measures to deal with the strong anti-Semitic actions of the Nazis after they came to power. The measures helped a large number of Jews settle in the Japanese-occupied areas of Asia, including Harbin and the Japanese Concession in Shanghai. At the same time, the Japanese Kwantung Army repeatedly promised to the Jewish community leaders in Harbin that it would suppress anti-Semitic behavior in Belarus and ensure the safety of the Harbin Jewish community.
However, Japan's situation of maintaining a balance between White Russians and Jews did not last long before it was broken. First of all, although Japan's policy of attracting Jewish immigrants achieved some results and attracted approximately 17,000 Jewish refugees in the early 1930s, these refugees mainly went to the Japanese concession in Shanghai and did not go to the Northeast region. Secondly, in August 1933, the Nazi German authorities and the Jewish authorities in British Palestine reached a "Haavara Agreement" (Haavara Agreement), allowing some German Jews to immigrate to Palestine without bringing any foreign exchange. , then about 60,000 German Jews immigrated to Palestine, so the number of Jews willing to come to the Far East was greatly reduced.
Jewish ghetto in the Japanese Concession in Shanghai
In addition, the Japanese invaders at that time still overestimated the influence of Jews in various countries around the world, because although Jewish capital was already very established at that time, its political influence on European and American countries was still relatively limited. . Even in the United States, where Jews have the greatest influence, the influence of Jews before the United States actually participated in World War II was relatively limited. For example, until 1938, of the 125,000 Jews who fled Germany and Austria and applied to enter the United States, only 27,000 were allowed to enter the United States. The vast majority of Jews were blocked by the United States.Therefore, Japan's plan to accept Jews to settle in Northeast China, thereby driving Jewish capital investment and helping it plunder China's resources, soon came to nothing. In addition, the Japanese's attempt to lead European and American countries to recognize the Puppet Manchukuo by accepting Jews did not achieve the expected results.
Therefore, in this context, Jews quickly fell out of favor with the Japanese. At about this time, another sensational kidnapping case against Jews occurred in Harbin, which greatly panicked the Jewish community in Harbin and completely reversed the trend of Jewish immigration to Northeast China.
Simon’s kidnapping case and the demise of the Harbin Jewish community
The protagonist of this kidnapping case was a Harbin Jew named Simon Kaspé. Simon Kasper's father was Joseph Kasper, a wealthy Jewish businessman who came to Harbin from Tsarist Russia in 1907. After he arrived in Harbin, he opened a high-end hotel not necessarily named Hôtel Moderne. He soon also started a chain of movie theaters and became the owner of most of the movie theaters in Harbin at that time. However, although Joseph Caspe had been running a business in Harbin, he obtained French citizenship shortly after leaving Russia.
His son Simon Casper was born in Harbin in 1909 and grew up in Harbin since then. But after completing middle school at a Jewish school in Harbin, he went to France and entered the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Music and Dance in Paris. In the summer of 1933, he returned to his home in Harbin from Paris for the summer vacation, but was kidnapped a few days after returning to Harbin.
The former address of Harbin Jewish Middle School
The day after his kidnapping, his father Joseph received a letter demanding that he immediately pay a ransom of $100,000. But this Joseph did not pay the ransom as required. Instead, he approached the French Consulate in Harbin for help. The French Consulate also asked him not to pay the ransom and quickly reported the case to the Japanese who were in charge of various affairs of the puppet Manchukuo. However, by this time the Jews had begun to fall out of favor with the Japanese, so although the Japanese promised to solve the case as soon as possible and rescue his son, they had been tepid about the matter and were not particularly serious about arresting the kidnappers.
After dawdling like this for a month, the kidnapper sent a letter to Joseph again, asking him to pay immediately, otherwise he would tear up the ticket. Along with the letter, half of Simon's ear was sent. But after that, the Japanese colonial authorities still asked Joseph not to pay, waiting for them to solve the case and rescue Simon. As a result, the matter was delayed until December 3 of that year, when the police discovered Simon's body at a location 58 kilometers west of Harbin. The autopsy showed that he suffered long-term starvation and numerous beatings, his ears were indeed cut off, his fingernails and fingernails were also pulled out, and he was eventually shot to death.
After the case was exposed, it immediately triggered a strong reaction among the Harbin Jewish community, and thousands of people attended Simon's funeral. In this way, the Japanese had to pay attention to this case and quickly identified and captured the kidnappers. These kidnappers are the Belarusian members of the Belarusian Fascist Party mentioned above. After that, the Harbin Jewish community immediately launched a large-scale protest and sent a large number of letters to the then Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Aoi Shigemitsu, asking him to intervene and severely punish the kidnappers.
When the Belarusian Fascist Party formed a paramilitary force
, but because at this time the Japanese already felt that the Jews could not bring expected benefits to Japan, they had completely turned to the Belarusian side. So although the kidnappers were tried shortly afterwards and sentenced to heavy sentences by a Chinese judge who presided over the trial. However, the judge was accused of "treason" by the Japanese shortly after the verdict was pronounced and was thrown into prison. Later, the Japanese-controlled Manchukuo court retried the case. Although several kidnappers were sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison, they were pardoned and released after only a few weeks in prison. After these people were released from prison, they were highly praised by Rozaevsky, the leader of the Belarusian Fascist Party, and they enjoyed great glory for a while.
Such a result soon caused panic among the Jewish community in Harbin. A large number of Jews began to flee Harbin after learning that the Japanese had completely turned to White Russia.Also around this time, the alliance between Japan and Nazi Germany continued to heat up, and Nazi Germany's anti-Semitic attitudes began to affect Japan more and more, especially after the formal alliance between Japan and Germany in 1936. At the same time, after having some contact with the Jews, Japan seemed to feel that the Jews would also pose a threat to itself once they held a conference, so they also began to deliberately alienate the Harbin Jews.
Under such circumstances, the once prosperous Harbin Jewish community quickly shrank significantly, from about 12,000 to more than 3,000 in a few years. Eventually, with the end of World War II and old China, Harbin’s Jews, like the White Russians, disappeared in the long river of history. This period of history took place entirely in China, but was completely dominated by mainstream or non-mainstream foreigners from all walks of life, with basically no Chinese participation. It can also be said to be a true portrayal of one aspect of that absurd era. (Pictures from the Internet)
