HAIFA (Press Release)–New facts are being revealed about another Jewish population that was persecuted during WWII: Indonesian Jewry – of which very little has been known to date. This community suffered greatly under Japanese occupation, and in a study that set out to provide a first and in-depth examination of the causes for the prejudice suffered by this population and other minorities, Prof. Rotem Kowner of the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Haifa reveals a number of reasons that led to this affliction. The complete findings of the paper will be presented at an international conference that will be treating Indonesian Jewry and its demise for the first time, on Sunday-Monday December 26-27, 2010, at the University of Haifa.
At the time of Japan’s occupation of Indonesia, which until then had been a Dutch colony, the Jewish population numbered about 3,000. Most were Dutch subjects, some were from other European countries, and a few hundred originated from the Baghdad Jewish community. Soon after Japanese occupation, most European subjects were placed in detention camps – first just military personnel, then the young males, and finally most of the European population. At this point, for all intents and purposes Japanese treatment of the Jews as Europeans and negative conduct toward them was similar to that suffered by the rest of the Europeans. Hence, the Baghdad Jews and those Jewish subjects of European countries allied with Japan were not placed in the camps.
Such treatment of European subjects in other Japanese-occupied colonies, including the Jewish population (with a large community in Shanghai), did not change. But the Jews of Indonesia experienced deteriorating conditions. The European Jews of Indonesia were separated from other Europeans and placed in separate detention camps, where they were joined by the Baghdadi, German and Italian Jews.
According to Prof. Kowner, the worsening treatment resulted from a combination of elements that were unique to the situation of Indonesian Jewry, prompting the great sufferings experienced by that community. As suggested by other scholars too, German pressure to worsen the Jew’s conditions doubtless was a significant factor, but this alone does not explain why the degenerated treatment was only felt in Indonesia. “Indonesia enjoyed an abundance of natural resources, especially raw rubber, which was a vital material for the German war machine. Critical trade agreements between Japan and Germany focused on the exchange of Indonesian rubber for German military technology. These trade agreements, along with the compelling personage of the German representative responsible for signing them, landed much attention on Indonesia and, consequently, more weighty German pressure on the Japanese authorities to persecute the Jewish population,” Prof. Kowner noted.
However, he states, this explanation does not suffice, since it cannot account for Japan’s submission to Germany’s demands to implement its racial doctrine, when Japan did not submit to it in any other of its occupied territories. Here a number of Indo-Japanese traits come into play, making compliance to German pressure somewhat easier for the Japanese. One such trait was imported by the Japanese representatives in Indonesia: many of them arrived there with anti-Semitic baggage from their service in Manchuria, making it easier for them to accept the German demands. Added to that was the fact that Indonesian Jewry was relatively small. Overall, the Japanese, who were non-believers in the German racial doctrine, were afraid of harming the Jews too much for fear of a worldwide Jewish response that would hit hardest on the Japanese economy. But in the Indonesian case, the Japanese could easier relent to German pressure with the assurance that this small community would not be of any interest to global Jewry.
Finally, a key aspect in the factors leading to Jewish suffering in Indonesia was one known in other areas too. Indonesia’s economic position and the ongoing war inevitably led to a severe financial crisis. As part of the Japanese effort to pacify the local population in these difficult times, a scapegoat was targeted: the Jew. With a Muslim majority, anti-Semitic incitement and mobilizing a war on the Jewish “enemy” was no great challenge.
“This distinctive combination of causes led to greater suffering for the Jews of Indonesia, compared to the other minorities – including Jews – in other regions under Japanese occupation. Unlike the calculated German racial doctrine, this was not part of some Japanese ideology or planned policy; but the results were tragic for the Jewish community,” Prof. Kowner summed up.
The international conference, “The Demise of a Jewish Asian Community: Indonesian Jews during the Japanese Occupation at the End of Dutch Colonialism”, will be held at the University of Haifa on Sun.-Mon. 26-27 December. This is the first academic conference to discuss the fate of Indonesia’s Jewish community, and some of the panels will include personal testimonies by survivors of the Japanese concentration camps, who will be telling their story for the first time.
Open to the public.
Click here for full program <http://asia.haifa.ac.il/pdf/indonesian_jews_poster.pdf>
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Preceding provided by the University of Haifa