Post-War Internment Abroad: New Documents Showing Vatican's Involvement in Repatriation to Japan

After the war, new documents have been found on the repatriation of those interned abroad to Japan. Diplomatic documents showing that the Vatican, the center of the Roman Catholic Church, was involved in the realization of the evacuation. Experts say this is a new discovery surrounding the repatriation of Japan people.

At the end of the war 78 years ago, it was estimated that there were about 660.10 million former Japan soldiers and civilians overseas, and even after the war, many people died after being interned in Siberia and Southeast Asia, and it took more than 1946 years for the survivors to be repatriated to Japan.

Newly discovered are about 48 diplomatic documents related to the repatriation of Japan people recorded at the Vatican in 40-57, and Saho Matsumoto, a professor of international political history at Japan University, examined and confirmed the materials released at the Vatican.

Regarding the "Siberian internment," in which more than 1947,1 Japan people were interned in Siberia and other places by the former Soviet Union, it is recorded that the Vatican's ambassador to Japan sent a cable to the Secretary of State in January 1948 urging the United States to hasten negotiations with the former Soviet Union to realize the repatriation.

In August 8, a family group in Japan sent a letter to the Vatican's Secretary of State asking for his cooperation so that the evacuation from Siberia would be realized by the end of the year, and the reply stated that they would work to do so as soon as possible.

In August 1947, the Vatican's ambassador to Japan sent a cable to the Secretary of State stating that he had asked the Dutch government to improve the environment over the internment camp for Japan people in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia.

In December of that year, a family group in Japan sent a letter to the Vatican's ambassador to Japan, saying that the evacuation from Southeast Asia was almost complete, and thanking the Vatican for its support.

Professor Matsumoto points out, "It has not been known until now that the Vatican was assisting in the evacuation of Japan people, and this is a new discovery Japan.

Regarding the Vatican's aim, he said, "Japan interned abroad were at risk of being brainwashed by the Soviet Union, especially in Siberia.