SDHF Newsletter No.324 Commemorative Symposium on the Establishment of an Association in Honor of Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro

Commemorative Symposium on the Establishment of an Association
in Honor of Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro

Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro (1888 – 1970) is inscribed in the Golden Book of the Jewish National Fund, headquartered in Jerusalem, fourth from the top as “Great humanitarian General Higuchi,” among great Jews, such as Moses, Mendelssohn and Einstein.

Beginning in 1938, when Lieutenant General Higuchi was chief of the Harbin Special Agency, he devoted himself to rescuing 20,000 Jewish refugees from Nazi persecution and allowed them to escape to Shanghai via Manchuria. General Higuchi’s humanitarian achievements are highly appreciated by the international community.

Towards the end of the War, the Soviet Army unilaterally broke the Soviet-Japan Neutrality Treaty and invaded South Sakhalin. Then, on August 18, after Japan’s surrender, the Soviet Army invaded Shumshu Island, the northernmost of the Kuril Islands. Lieutenant General Higuchi, as commander of the Fifth Area Army ordered a determined counter-attack and crushed Stalin’s goal of capturing Hokkaido and the Tohoku Region, thereby preventing communist occupation of northern Japan.

For Lieutenant General Higuchi’s feats to be remembered for generations to come, the “General Incorporated Foundation Association in Honor of Higuchi Kiichiro” was established. Fundraising is well under way for two bronze statues, one to be placed in Awaji Island, Lieutenant General Higuchi’s hometown, and one in Hokkaido, where he commanded the Fifth Area Army in service of the nation. Fundraising is currently ongoing not within Japan, but also in Israel, Jewish communities in the United States and all over the world in the promotion of international friendship.

On July 9 of this year, we held a commemorative symposium on the establishment of the Honorable Association at Kensei Kinenkan Hall in Tokyo. On this occasion, we received notes of congratulations from Rabbi Mendi Sudakevitch of Chabad-Lubavitch of Japan and Mr. Edward Luttwak, American author and strategist. We introduce these here:

Rabbi Mendi Sudakevitch’s address: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/RabbiE.pdf
Mr. Edward Luttwak’s address: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/LuttwakE.pdf

MOTEKI Hiromichi, Acting Chairman
for KASE Hideaki, Chairman
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact