Tatsuo Osako (大迫 辰雄 Ōsako Tatsuo; 1917–2003), of Chiba, Japan was a citizen of the Japanese Empire during World War II who is most notable for transporting Jews to safety. He worked as a clerk for the tourism bureau in Tsuruga, a port city in Japan. His role involved aiding refugees, particularly Jewish and other Europeans, who were traveling from Vladivostok, Russia's Pacific port, to Japan before the Pearl Harbor bombing. In his capacity as the ship's escort and clerk, he distributed funds provided by Jewish organizations to assist the refugees.[1]

He escorted over 2,000 Jews who came from German-occupied countries from Vladivostok, Russia to Tsuruga, Japan.[2] Many of them continued from Japan on to the United States.[3] These refugees had transit visas issued by Chiune Sugihara, who is often referred to as the Japanese Schindler.[4]

Osako's work and a photo album he kept of refugees he helped inspired his co-worker, Akira Kitade, to write a book about Japanese people helping Jews escape from the Nazis titled "Visas of life and the epic journey: how the Sugihara survivors reached Japan".[5][3] He died in 2003.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Carola, Chris. "Web sleuths identify Jews helped to flee Nazis by Japanese clerk". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  2. 1 2 "Photos ID'd of European WWII refugees saved by Japanese tourism official". The Japan Times Online. 2015-12-14. ISSN 0447-5763. Archived from the original on December 17, 2015. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  3. 1 2 "Book on "Sugihara Survivors" Published in English | The Hawaii Herald". www.thehawaiiherald.com. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  4. ↑ "Old photos reveal tale of Japan and Jews of WWII". Herald Online. October 18, 2010.
  5. ↑ Kitade, Akira; 北出明 (2014). Visas of life and the epic journey : how the Sugihara survivors reached Japan. Tōkyō: 朝文社. ISBN 9784886952615. OCLC 881605347.


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