Jews and the Russo-Japanese War: The Triangular Relationship between Jewish POWs, Japan, and Jacob H. Schiff

The beginning of the twentieth century marked a crucial period both in Japanese and Jewish history. While Japan sought to develop itself as a leading Asian nation, Jews experienced the enlightenment, mass immigration to America, and antisemitism that dominated Jewish concerns. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, the first war of the twentieth century, brought the fate of the two geographically distant people together. Both the Japanese and the Jews were, in different ways, transformed by this war. The subsequent story of the "Japanese and the Jews" has its roots in this critical and much-neglected historical episode. My dissertation, based on research in multiple archives and Japanese-language sources that have never before been utilized by Jewish historians, focuses upon five different topics, concerning Jews and the Russo-Japanese War: (1) the American Jewish response to the war, (2) the social movement of Jewish POWs, (3) Jacob H. Schiff's influential ties to Japan, (4) Japan and Schiff's mission to help Russian Jewish refugees during the Russian Civil War and (5) the early formation of the image of "the Jew" in Japan. As this dissertation demonstrates, the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05 actually had a significant transnational impact on Jews - from the Russian Jews who became prisoners of war in Japan to the American Jewish leaders who utilized the war to further their own agendas, to the Japanese, whose image of Jews was transformed. After the war ended in 1905, it continued to have repercussions on Jews long afterwards, especially during World War I. The Russo-Japanese War may not have been one of the most major events of the twentieth century for Jews, but important figures such as Jacob H. Schiff and Joseph Trumpeldor, a Zionist hero, were involved. Its impact was felt in World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the Russian Civil War. This dissertation shows that the war brought Jews and Japanese in close contact for the first time in history and deepens our understanding of Jews in Asia.