The Hikawa Maru, a ship which took Jewish refugees from Japan to onward destinations in the early 1940s. It’s now stationed in Yokohama in Yamashita Pier

Part of our new seminar series, Humanitarianism, Refugees and the Holocaust

In the 1930s and 40s, many Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe fled their homes to search for safety in countries away from persecution. Some of these destinations, notably Britain and the United States, are widely known about. But journeys to Western Europe and North America are only one part of a global story. This talk focuses on Jewish refugees who travelled to Japan, and who in the process often made journeys covering multiple countries across land and sea. For example, many Jews who arrived in Kobe, a city in Japan, in the early 1940s arrived via Poland, Lithuania, and the Soviet Union, having used the Trans-Siberian railway and sea travel to cross multiple borders.

Following this history, and drawing on time spent researching in Japan, this talk will draw on key research questions: how and why did Jewish refugees come to Japan? What were the possibilities open and closed to them? How is this remembered today?

About the Speaker:

Niamh Hanrahan is a PhD student at the University of Manchester, based in the Humanitarianism and Conflict Response Institute. Her PhD project is titled Beyond Europe: Jewish Journeys and Humanitarian Aid in Japan (1931-1953), covering a history of movement by Jewish refugees from Europe to Japan. Niamh was the postgraduate representative for the British and Irish Association for Holocaust Studies in the 2022/23 academic year. She has published research in blogs for the academic website Refugee History and for The Holocaust Centre North and has been awarded fellowships to conduct research in the USA, Germany, Japan, and Australia.

Virtual seminar guidelines:

1. The Library will send you a Zoom link and joining instructions via email prior to the event. Please check your junk email folders.
2. Please try and join 5 minutes before the event start time and we will let you into the room (do try and bear with us if this takes a few minutes).
3. If you would like to ask a question during the event, the chair may invite you to raise your hand or type your question into the chat function, and we will endeavour to answer as many questions as possible during the Q&A.
4. This event will not be recorded. The seminar series is generally not recorded because the topics presented are works in progress.

This event is free, although registration via the link below is required. Please note that our free events are run by staff volunteers. Thank you for your patience should we have any technical or audio difficulties. We will do our best to correct them but this is not always possible.