Russian Tatar man wearing and selling Imperial Japanese "National Uniform" in colonial Seoul (March 1941)

This photo features a Russian Tatar clothing retailer in 1941 Seoul dressed in National Uniform Type B (国民服乙号型) and holding what appears to be National Uniform Type A (国民服甲号型). Behind him is a sign that says "All sales on credit refused" (懸賣一切御断り). In the accompanying Imperial Japanese propaganda article, he is positively portrayed in a highly favorable light: as an Imperial patriot of Muslim warrior heritage who sells patriotic national clothing, in contrast to other retailers who supposedly push "flashy American-style clothes". These National Uniforms were not yet mandatory in 1941, but they would later be made mandatory when draconian clothing regulations were issued in 1943.

Originally from the Volga-Ural region of Russia, the Tatars fled the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 seeking refuge from religious and political persecution. Imperial Japan saw potential in them as political propaganda tools, and accepted about a thousand of them as refugees. Many took up the clothing retail business, where some apparently made considerable fortunes. About one hundred Tatars resided in Seoul by this time.

This photo article shows the "model minority" treatment that Imperial Japan gives them. What is striking here is the way the article showcases this man as an exemplary minority subject of empire. He is portrayed as loyal, useful, fluent in Japanese, commercially respectable, and fully aligned with wartime imperial values. In that sense, the article does not merely describe a Tatar shopkeeper. It uses him symbolically.

This kind of representation seems to have served at least two propaganda purposes. First, it fit Japan’s wartime effort to present itself favorably to Muslim audiences abroad. Second, within colonial Korea, it offered a pointed contrast: a foreign Muslim refugee could be depicted as visibly embracing the Japanese language, Imperial Japanese culture, and wartime mobilization, thereby implicitly shaming Koreans who did not do the same.

Before the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 8, 1941, the phrase “blue-eyed” (hekigan, 碧眼), a term used to refer to white foreigners, was often used to describe the Russian Tatars. However, this subsequently stopped during the war years from 1942 onward, and they would henceforth be referred to as belonging to the Asian race. A recent Korea Times article notes that this expression still survives in Korean usage today as byeokan, though many now view it as awkward or dated.

The Tatar man uses the expression "Chongoshi", but this may be an approximation or bastardized pronunciation of "정이 고우시네 (it has a warm, lovely feeling)" in Korean. A Japanese woman from the colonial period says this word, intending this meaning, with Koreans in a dialogue that is reproduced in this blog post [Link].

[Translation]

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo), March 19, 1941
Blue Eyes in “National Clothing” Too
A Turkic Tatar’s Pledge

“How is this? 정이 고우시네 (it has a warm, lovely feeling).”

He is a blue-eyed Turkic Tatar, wearing and selling the national uniform. It is difficult to see in his present appearance the fierce boldness with which, roused by the voice of the Prophet Muhammad, his predecessors once raised the banner of Islamism and struck fear into the mountains and fields of the medieval world. Yet there is much to ponder in the frank way he says that, in Seoul, flashy American-style clothes sell very well.

That is because there are so many gullible people who are delighted to think that ready-made clothing mass-produced around Kanda in Tokyo or Uemachi in Osaka is somehow “American-made.” It seems that once Turkic Tatars come to Seoul, they all decide to make it their permanent home, but that may be because they feel all the more deeply, in their very bones, their appreciation for Japan.

“For Japan, I will do anything. If I wear the national uniform, the military police will not get angry.”

This patriotic spring, his blue eyes are just a shade darker than the color of his national uniform.

[Transcription]

京城日報 1941年3月19日

碧眼も”国民服”
トルコ・タタールの誓い

『これ何うです。チョンゴシです』

国民服を着て国民服を売る碧い眼のトルコ・タタールだ。預言者マホメットの声に蹶起してイスラミズムの旗を立て、中世の山野を脅畏せしめた剽悍さを今のその姿に見るのは難しいが、アメリカ風の派手なものなら京城では幾らでも売れますと正直にも云ってのける言葉には多くの示唆がある。

東京の神田や大阪の上町辺りで多量生産するレディ・メードをアメリカ物？だと思って喜ぶ甘いのが多いからだ。従って一度京城に来たトルコ・タタールは一様にここを永住の地にしようと思い決めるらしいが、裏から見ればそれだけに日本の有難さが身に沁みて感じられているのでもある。

『わたくし、日本のためなら何でもします。国民服着ても憲兵隊怒らんです』碧い眼のよくさんの春は国民服の色よりちょいと濃い。

Source: Digital Newspaper Archive, National Library of Korea

Here is an excellent academic paper about the history of the Russian Tatar refugee community in Imperial Japan from their origins in the Volga-Ural region through the Russian Revolution in 1917, migration to Imperial Japan, and later emigration to the United States and Turkey after the war: [Link]

Imperial Japan’s support of Islam and Muslim communities has a fascinating historical background. For those interested in delving deeper, here’s a link to an academic paper on the topic: [Link] 

Other Keijo Nippo Articles:

• Russian Tatar refugee Shamshinoor Nugman in colonial Seoul after fleeing the Bolsheviks with the White Russians (November 1941) [Link]
• Shamseinoor Berikova, 19-year-old blue-eyed Russian Tatar refugee woman and Seoul resident in 1938, featured in Keijo Nippo as a pro-Imperial Japan patriotic model minority speaking fluent Japanese and supporting Imperial soldiers on their way to China [Link]
• The Sulemans were a Russian Tatar refugee family in Seoul who gained acceptance as assimilated Imperial Japanese people while holding strong to their Muslim faith, and left for Turkey amid warm farewells in 1939 [Link]
• Spotlight on 1943 Seoul: A Glimpse into the Russian Tatar Refugee Community, Marja Ibrahim’s Poetry Tribute to Tatar National Poet Ğabdulla Tuqay on the 30-year anniversary of his death [Link]
• Small community of ~100 Russian Tatars in Seoul featured in 1942-1944 propaganda articles: a young 19-year-old Tatar girl is praised for filling out immigration forms for her neighbors, a Tatar woman is commended for scolding her friends with red fingernails for wearing ‘British-American’ cosmetics [Link]
• In 1942 Busan, Korean pastors and foreign residents (Russian Tatar family, English woman, Chinese consul) praise Imperial Japan as British POWs captured in Malaysia start arriving in the city [Link]

Russian Tatar refugee Shamshinoor Nugman in colonial Seoul after fleeing the Bolsheviks with the White Russians (November 1941)

This 1941 article introduces Mrs. Shamshinoor Nugman, a Russian Tatar refugee living in colonial Seoul. The immediate occasion for the article is her donation of one hundred comfort bags to the Imperial military, although it also notes that, following her late husband’s wishes, she had earlier donated a large vehicle for transporting wounded patients. The article then briefly recounts her family’s flight from the Bolshevik Revolution, tracing a long refugee journey across Siberia into Manchuria and, eventually, to Japan and Korea.

Mrs. Shamshinoor Nugman in Seoul

I have posted several articles about the small Russian Tatar community in colonial Korea, with links for further reading below. In another article, Mrs. Nugman (also referred to as Nugmanov) appears as a prominent benefactor within that community, helping fund a Tatar school where children learned the Tatar language, the Muslim faith, and the official imperial curriculum. Other articles suggest that clothing retail was a common line of work among Tatars in Seoul.

Originally from the Volga-Ural region of Russia, the Tatars fled the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 seeking refuge from religious and political persecution. The community fled across Siberia into Manchuria and then settled in several cities throughout Imperial Japan, including Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, Kumamoto, Seoul, and Busan. The Russian Tatar community in all of Imperial Japan numbered about 1000 residents, and there were about one hundred residents living in Seoul.

Imperial Japan appears to have seen political value in hosting Muslim refugees such as the Tatars, as part of its broader effort to cultivate Muslim goodwill under its wartime Islamic policy. In colonial Korea, that made the Tatars a 'model minority': they could be held up as loyal and assimilated Imperial subjects even while openly practicing their Muslim faith and speaking their language. That contrast would likely not have been lost on Koreans, who were seeing the public use of the Korean language becoming increasingly restricted and Korean culture becoming increasingly drowned out by militaristic Imperial Japanese culture.

Before the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 8, 1941, the phrase "blue-eyed" (hekigan, 碧眼), a term used to refer to white foreigners, was often used to describe the Russian Tatars. However, this subsequently stopped during the war years from 1942 onward, and they would henceforth be referred to as belonging to the Asian race. A recent Korea Times article notes that this expression still survives in Korean usage today as byeokan, though many now view it as awkward or dated.

After World War II, most of the Russian Tatar refugees in Japan and Korea left for the U.S. and Türkiye.

[Translation]

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo), November 21, 1941
Grateful for Japan’s Benevolence
Blue-Eyed Woman Donates Comfort Packages to the Army Patriotic Association

Early in the morning on the 20th, a horse cart piled high with comfort packages arrived at the Korean Army Patriotic Association. A blue-eyed woman in Western dress came to visit and, in fluent Japanese, offered them to the Army, saying, “It is only a small gesture, but please send these to the soldiers serving at the front.”

This blue-eyed woman was 36-year-old Shamshinoor Nugman, the widow of Mr. Nugman, a White Russian of Turkic background who had run a clothing store at 2-19 Honmachi, Seoul. This past spring, as he lay on his deathbed, he left these final words: “We are foreigners who lost our homeland, yet we have been able to live in peace and security thanks to Japan. As a small token of our gratitude, please donate 20,000 yen as a relief contribution for the soldiers.” With that testament, he passed away.

“In accordance with my late husband’s wishes, we had the honor of donating one large motor vehicle for transporting wounded patients. We cannot easily find the words in Japanese to express our gratitude, and so we feel terribly sorry that the main way through which we express our feelings of gratitude and patriotism is through our donations of money and goods. What we truly feel from the bottom of our hearts is simply that we must be grateful, again and again, for the blessings of the Imperial nation. Today, though it is only a small gesture, we prepared and sent one hundred comfort packages.”

She spoke with faint tears of emotion in her eyes. Captain Hirai of the Patriotic Association was also deeply moved by her words and gladly accepted the donation.

Behind the deepening gratitude felt by this foreign woman, who had escaped to Japan and was able to live a peaceful and happy life, lay a strange and wandering past, full of memories too painful to recall. The story she told of her past was as follows:

“It was 1917 when the Red Revolution broke out. At that time I was still only thirteen years old, a schoolgirl in Penza Oblast near Moscow. We White Russians were pursued by the revolutionary forces. Together with my parents and siblings, with only the clothes on our backs, we fled Moscow by horse wagon. Shivering in the freezing cold, through falling snow, we changed at times to sleds and kept going east, farther and farther east, passing through Zabaikalsk, until at last we escaped to Hailar in Manchuria. It was still March, and the cold was severe. My husband Nugman had been in Samara, which is now known as Kuybyshev under Soviet rule. While he was in his first year at Kseniya University in Kazan, he too was driven out and fled to Hailar.

“After that we married, moved to Japan, lived in Kobe for six years, and then moved to Seoul, where we have now lived for sixteen years. Now we are in the process of applying for Japanese naturalization. Our homeland is now at the center of the calamity of the German-Soviet War. It seems that the hateful Red regime is gradually beginning to waver. We are filled with emotions beyond words. Compared with that, how can we ever adequately express my gratitude that Japan, even while at war, extends such warm-hearted kindness to foreigners like us?”

[Photograph: Widow Nugman]

[Transcription]

京城日報 1941年11月21日

日本の恵みに感謝
碧眼婦人が軍愛国部へ慰問袋

二十日早朝一台の荷馬車に慰問袋を山と積んで碧眼洋装の婦人が朝鮮軍愛国部を訪れ、『僅かですが戦地で活躍されている兵隊さんに贈って下さい』と巧みな日本語で献納を申し出た。この碧い眼の婦人はこの春死の枕辺に『郷土を失った異国人の我々が安穏な生活が送れるのは日本のお蔭だ。感謝の微意に二万円を恤兵金として献金せよ―』と遺言して逝った異邦人京城本町二の一九洋服商白系土耳古人ヌグマン未亡人シャムシノール・ヌグマンさん（三六）だ。

「亡夫の遺志で患者輸送用大型自動車一台を献納させて戴きました。私達は言葉が不自由で感謝愛国の気持を物とお金に託すのは大変済まないことだと思います。私たちの心底から思うことは、ただただ皇国のお蔭に感謝しなければならぬことです。きょう僅かですが慰問袋百個を作って贈らせて貰いました」と眼にうすく感激の涙すら浮かべて語るのだ。愛国部平井大尉も此言葉にいたく感激喜んで受納した。この異邦人が日本に脱出して来て安穏幸福な生活が送られる感謝の念を強めさせる陰には数奇な流転の過去が余りにもいたいたしかった思い出があるからだ。彼女が語る過去は

「赤色革命の巻起った一九一七年でした。当時私はまだ一三歳でモスコーの近郊ペンザ県の小学校の生徒でした。私達白系は革命軍に追われ、両親、兄弟と手をとり着のみ着のまま馬車に揺られてモスコーを避け凍りつく寒気に慄え雪のふりしきるうちを橇に乗り換えなどして東へ東へ、ザバイカルを経てやっと満州国ハイラルへ脱出しました。まだ寒さのきびしい三月でした。私の夫ヌグマンもまたサマラ（現在ソ連政府のあるクイビシェフ）に在りカザンのクサニヤ大学の一年在学中追われてハイラルに落ちのびたのでした。

その後私達は結婚して日本に移り神戸に六年住み、京城へ移って十六年。目下日本人帰化の手続中です。いま私達の郷土は独ソ戦の禍乱の中心になっています。恨みの赤色政権はだんだん動揺しているようです。私たちは感慨無量のものがあります。それに較べ戦争している日本が私たち異邦人に温かい心やりを下さるのは何と感謝してよいか分りません」

【写真＝ヌグマン未亡人】

Source: Digital Newspaper Archive, National Library of Korea

Here is an excellent academic paper about the history of the Russian Tatar refugee community in Imperial Japan from their origins in the Volga-Ural region through the Russian Revolution in 1917, migration to Imperial Japan, and later emigration to the United States and Turkey after the war: [Link]

Imperial Japan’s support of Islam and Muslim communities has a fascinating historical background. For those interested in delving deeper, here’s a link to an academic paper on the topic: [Link] 

Other Keijo Nippo Articles:

• Shamseinoor Berikova, 19-year-old blue-eyed Russian Tatar refugee woman and Seoul resident in 1938, featured in Keijo Nippo as a pro-Imperial Japan patriotic model minority speaking fluent Japanese and supporting Imperial soldiers on their way to China [Link]
• The Sulemans were a Russian Tatar refugee family in Seoul who gained acceptance as assimilated Imperial Japanese people while holding strong to their Muslim faith, and left for Turkey amid warm farewells in 1939 [Link]
• Spotlight on 1943 Seoul: A Glimpse into the Russian Tatar Refugee Community, Marja Ibrahim’s Poetry Tribute to Tatar National Poet Ğabdulla Tuqay on the 30-year anniversary of his death [Link]
• Small community of ~100 Russian Tatars in Seoul featured in 1942-1944 propaganda articles: a young 19-year-old Tatar girl is praised for filling out immigration forms for her neighbors, a Tatar woman is commended for scolding her friends with red fingernails for wearing ‘British-American’ cosmetics [Link]
• In 1942 Busan, Korean pastors and foreign residents (Russian Tatar family, English woman, Chinese consul) praise Imperial Japan as British POWs captured in Malaysia start arriving in the city [Link]

Note: The article mentions that Mr. Nugman studied at "Ksenia University" in Kazan, but I could not find information online about any university by that name in Russia. It is unclear what Russian academic institution the article was referring to.

Nazi Germany donated copies of Mein Kampf to Seoul Imperial University in 1941 to teach Korean students “the great path of building a New World Order”

This February 1941 Keijō Nippo article documents something that is rarely discussed in the history of colonial-era Korea: the active, state-level transfer of Nazi German ideological materials into the university system in Seoul.

Professor Hupper overseeing the donation of Nazi German books at Seoul Imperial University.

According to the report, more than seventy German books were formally donated to Keijō (Seoul) Imperial University, including Mein Kampf, with explicit emphasis on its value for teaching students how Germany “fought, and how it achieved victory,” and for guiding Imperial Japan's youth along the path of constructing a “New World Order.” The article frames the donation as a deliberate effort to unite Japan and Germany not only politically, but spiritually and ideologically, through education.

The donation was overseen by Eugen Ott, Germany’s ambassador to Imperial Japan at the time, and Professor Hupper at Seoul Imperial University. Within a year, Ott would be dismissed from his post after his close associate Richard Sorge was exposed as a Soviet spy. Professor Hupper would later be featured in a December 12, 1941 article praising Imperial Japan's declaration of war against the United States.

What makes this article significant is not merely the presence of German books, but the explicit endorsement of Mein Kampf as instructional material for educating college students. This is rare evidence that Nazi ideological influence did reach Korean universities during the colonial period, mediated through Japanese imperial institutions and justified as part of the "New World Order" envisioned by the Axis powers.

[Translation]

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijō Nippo), February 25, 1941

From Germany to Keijō (Seoul) Imperial University
Gift of Books in the Spirit of Friendship
More Than Seventy Volumes Arrive in the First Shipment

As a profound token of friendship from Germany, an allied nation, more than seventy newly published scholarly books have recently been presented to the preparatory division of Keijō (Seoul) Imperial University. The donation was conveyed by German Ambassador Ott to Japan, through Professor Hupper.

From the time of its founding, the university’s preparatory division has made German a core subject, instilling in its students the robustness of the German spirit. Deeply impressed by this, Ambassador Ott reported the matter to his home country. In Germany as well, voices arose among the people to the effect that the sincere scholarly dedication of these young students should not merely bind the two nations through international relations, but should unite them spiritually as well. As a result, the books were sent directly to the preparatory division in the name of the German state.

Going forward, it has been decided that new books will be presented twice each year, with more than ten volumes donated on each occasion. The preparatory division is currently considering how it might appropriately reciprocate this friendship that transcends national boundaries.

The donated books are housed in the preparatory division’s affiliated library and are freely available for students to read. They have become daily companions, a source of personal cultivation, and indispensable materials for the study of the German language. The more than seventy donated volumes may be broadly classified as follows: nineteen on literature, sixteen on art, seventeen on history, and numerous other valuable works on politics, architecture, industry, and related fields. All are excellent resources for understanding conditions in Germany.

Among them, Hitler’s Autobiography stands out in particular. Through the greatness of Hitler himself, it vividly portrays “how Germany fought, and how it achieved victory,” clearly expounding the nation’s powers of leadership and guidance. Under the new system, it points the way for Japanese youth to walk the great path of building a new world order together.

For the past three years, Ambassador Ott has also personally funded annual awards recognizing excellence in German language studies at the preparatory division, presenting commemorative books as prizes through the German Consulate General in Dalian, Manchukuo. The number of recipients has already reached ten as of this year.

Professor Hupper, who served as the intermediary for the present donation, commented as follows [Photo: Donated books]:

“I would be delighted if this occasion encourages even greater enthusiasm for the study of the German language in the future. For understanding Germany, and for understanding Germany’s traditional spirit as well, it has long been hoped that our two nations, which share similar historical circumstances, would become ever more closely bound in the cultural sphere in this way. From now on as well, books will continue to be sent from Germany, permanently, as serious research materials for young students.”

[Transcription]

京城日報 1941年2月25日

独逸から城大へ
友愛の贈書
初回分七十余冊着く

盟邦ドイツから深き友愛の証しとして学術による新刊書籍七十余冊が、この程オットー駐日ドイツ大使より、フッパー講師の手を通じて城大予科に贈られて来た。これは開校当時からドイツ語を正科としてドイツ精神の逞しさを学生に吹き込んでいた城大予科に感激したオットー大使がこれを本国に報告。ドイツでもまたこれら若人の真摯な研究心は両国の親善を単に国際的に結びつけるものではなく、精神的にも合一すべきである―との国民の声が大きくなって、ドイツ国の名において直接城大予科に贈られて来たものであるが、今後毎年二回、その都度十余冊の新刊書籍を贈呈されて来ることになっており、城大予科ではこの民族を超越した友誼に対して何らか報いる方法はないものかと考慮中である。

贈書は予科附属図書館に保管されて学生達の自由閲覧を許され、日々の好き伴侶ともなり、修養の糧ともなって、独逸語研究には、なくてはならないものとなっている。寄贈の書籍七十余冊を大別すれば、文学に関するもの十九冊、美術十六冊、歴史十七冊、その他政治、建築、工業等に関する貴重な文献多数であるが、何れも独逸の国情を知る好個の資料ばかりであり、中でも”ヒトラー自伝”はヒトラーそのものの偉大さを通じて”ドイツは如何に戦い、如何に勝利を得たか―”を克明に描いて、独逸国民の統率ぶりを明らかに説き、新体制下、日本青年に同じ世界新秩序建設の大道を歩むべきを先達している。

オットー大使は三年前から毎年城大予科の独逸語優秀性に自費を割いて満州国大連独逸総領事を通じ賞品として記念の書籍を贈っていたものであるが、この受賞者は今年で既に十人を算えている。贈呈の仲立ちを引受けたフッパー講師は語る【写真＝贈られた書籍】

"これを機会に将来独逸語の研究が熾んになれば結構です。独逸を知る上に、また独逸の伝統的精神を知る上にも、同じ歴史国情を持つ両国が、こうして更に文化的な方面から、年達に結びついて行くことは、ながい間希望せられていたものなのですからー。これからも永久に青年学徒の真剣な研究資料として独逸から贈られて来ることになっています"

Source: National Library of Korea, Digital Newspaper Archive

Nazi German community in Seoul December 1941 celebrating Imperial Japan’s declaration of war

At the beginning of the Pacific War in December 1941, there was apparently a small community of German residents working and living in Seoul, many with Nazi ideological leanings as demonstrated in this photo and article. Here are the four German residents featured in this article:

• Mrs. Weske and her child (featured in the accompanying photo with a Nazi flag)
• Mr. Budewell (44 years old), missionary
• Mr. Hupper (36 years old), lecturer at Keijo Imperial University
• Mrs. Rita Buchwald (30 years old), married to deceased Dr. Jeon 

One interesting note is that Mrs. Rita Buchwald was married to a deceased Korean medical doctor by the name of Dr. Jeon. He is described by Mrs. Buchwald as "Japanese (日本人)", but that was not unusual in those times. To clarify that the "Japanese" person was ethnic Korean, she would have probably used the word 半島人 (literally, "peninsular person") or 朝鮮人 (literally, "Joseon person"). Unfortunately, the two Hanja of his first name are smudged and too hard to read on the scanned newspaper articles.

Another interesting observation is that Dr. Jeon and Mrs. Buchwald lived at 84 Gwanhun-dong in Jongno District, only a few house numbers away from the Lim family (address 90 Gwanhun-dong), which was prominently featured in a December 10, 1943 article proudly sending their son to be enlisted in the Imperial Army. 

[Translation]

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) December 12, 1941

Emotion of Axis Nationals in Residence
Victory Already Certain
German Lady Ms. Weske Speaks

Living by the spirit of the Japan–Germany Axis—hands clasped firmly together—she has, under the skies of a foreign land, devoted herself to praying for the growth of her homeland Germany and wishing for the prosperity of Japan. When this reporter visited the home of the German lady Mrs. Weske at 70 Tongui-dong, Seoul, and brought her the joyful news of the Tripartite Pact between Japan, Germany, and Italy, Mrs. Weske was beside herself with delight, almost leaping for joy. Her blue eyes, shining behind her spectacles, burned with hope as she spoke animatedly. Though her Japanese was not fluent and could not fully carry her feelings, she expressed a joy too great to contain.

“Ever since before, I had wished for just such a deep and firm agreement. For someone like myself who lives in Japan, it brings a very real sense of certainty. And so long as I am German, this feeling is one that runs through the entire German people, a shared national feeling. When Japan and Germany, together with Italy, unite their young and surging energies, it seems to me inevitable that true peace will be brought to the world. The results Japan has achieved in the Pacific this time strike me as the victory of precisely that youthful spiritual power which must bring about such inevitability. I felt I understood this with complete clarity, more than anything else. It is curious, is it not? Just hearing that the pact has been concluded makes the people around one feel suddenly closer, as though they were compatriots.”

[Photograph: Mrs. Weske speaking emotionally together with her beloved child]

Now Comes the Final Hammer Blow
The Fiery Spirit of Professor Hupper of Keijo Imperial University

At a residence in 1-1 Yeonji-dong, Seoul, the German missionary Mr. Budewell (44), together with Mr. Hupper (36), a lecturer in the preparatory division of Keijo Imperial University, with whom he had been anxiously sharing concern for their homeland, spoke with mingled joy and deep emotion upon hearing the news that Germany, honoring its bond of trust with its ally Japan, had joined hands with Italy and firmly pledged itself to attack the U.S. and Britain.

“At last, it has been done. That is exactly how it should be. Anything else would be a lie. How could Germany possibly remain silent when our ally Japan has struck the U.S. and Britain with the hammer blow? The Nazi spirit would never permit it. From this point on, even if it means dying together, the peoples of Japan, Germany, and Italy must unite as one and fight through to the complete destruction of the U.S. and Britain. At that point, all the boasting of the U.S. and Britain will amount to nothing more than fragments of delusion. The Japanese Navy’s command of the Pacific on this occasion is the clearest possible proof. Let us raise a cheer for the brave officers and men of Japan and for the glorious German Army—banzai!”

Praying for Unending Military Fortune
Remarks by Mrs. Rita, Widow of the Late Medical Doctor Jeon

Raising the rallying cry of annihilating the enemies of humanity, Britain and America, in order to build a new world order, Germany and Italy, our allied powers, have finally risen to action. On the eleventh, the day of this robust advance, a German resident of Seoul, Mrs. Rita Buchwald (30), born in Berlin and widow of the late Dr. Jeon [illegible first name](전, 全) , a medical doctor, living at 84 Gwanhun-dong, spoke with emotion, her emerald-colored eyes shining, as she expressed gratitude for the great victories of our Imperial forces and took heart from Germany’s declaration of war against the United States.

“Following your country’s lead, my Germany and Italy have also declared war on the United States. I had been so restless, waiting and waiting for my homeland Germany to follow Japan and declare war on America. Now I feel relieved. Since strong Japan will strike down Britain and America, Germany’s victory is already clear. Japan and Germany together will fight bravely to build the happiness of a new world. I am the wife of a Japanese man. I take the greatest pride imaginable in having become the wife of a fine Japanese man. The joy of my homeland Germany joining hands with Japan to strike the U.S. and Britain is beyond words. I pray for the everlasting fortune of the Imperial forces.”

[Transcription]

京城日報 1941年12月12日

在留枢軸人の感激
勝利は既に確実
ドイツ系夫人ウさん語る

はっしと手を握り合った日獨枢軸の精神に生きて異国の空にひたすら故国ドイツの生長を祈り日本の繁栄を希っているドイツ系夫人ウヰスケーさんを京城通義町七〇の自宅に訪い日獨伊三国協定の快報を齎せば雀躍せんばかりに喜んだウヰスケーさんは眼鏡の底の碧眼を燃え出る希望に輝かしながら派手に語り得ない日本語をもどかし気に包み切れない喜びを語った。

『以前からそうした底深い協定が欲しいと思っていました。それは私のように日本に生活している者にとっては確固とした一つの実感でそしてこの実感は私がドイツ人である限り全ドイツに通じる民族の実感でありましょう。日本とドイツとそしてイタリー、この三国が若い沸り上る力を合せれば世界に真の平和を紊すことは必然だと私には想えます。日本がこの度放った太平洋での戦果はそうした必然をもたらすべき若き精神力の勝利だと私には想えるのです。そのことが私には何よりはっきりと判るのでした。不思議ですね。協定を結んだと聞いただけで周囲の人が同国人のようにぐっと近づいて感じられるのは』【写真＝愛児と共に感激を語るウ夫人】

今ぞ最後の鉄槌
城大フ教授の気焰

城内蓮池町一ノ一宣教師ドイツ人ブデウェル氏（四四）万で祖国を案じ合っていた城大予科講師フッパー氏（三六）は祖国ドイツが盟邦日本との信義を重んじてイタリーと手を執り、米英爆撃の約束を固めた報に喜びながら感激を交々に語る。

『とうとうやりましたな。それでよいのです。そうこなくちゃ嘘ですよ。盟邦日本が米英に鉄槌を下したのになんでドイツが黙っていられましょうか？ナチス魂が断じて許しません。この上は死なば諸共日獨伊の国民が一丸となって米英覆滅を期して戦い抜くことです。そこには米英の豪語も一片の囈言にすぎなくなるでしょう。今回の日本海軍の太平洋制圧こそは最も如実な証拠です。日本の勇敢なる将兵と栄あるドイツ軍のため万歳をやりましょうー』

祈る武運長久
故全医博夫人
リータさん談

世界新秩序建設のため人類の敵米英を抹殺せんの合言葉を翳して盟邦獨伊も遂に起った。この逞しき進発の十一日、わが皇軍の大いなる戦果に感謝し獨の対米宣戦布告に勇を鼓して戦う在城ドイツ人寛勲町八四医博故全[illegible]氏未亡人ベルリン生れリータ・ブクバウルド女史（三〇）はエメラルド色の瞳を輝かせて感激を語る。

『お国の後を追ってわがドイツとイタリーも対米戦を宣告しました。私は早く祖国ドイツが日本に従って対米宣戦をしないものかと気が気でなりませんでした。これでほっとしました。強い日本が米英をやっつけて呉れる以上はドイツの勝利は明かですわ。日本とドイツは共に新しい世界の幸福を建設するため勇ましく闘うのです。私は日本人の妻です。立派な日本人の妻となったことをこの上なく誇りとするのです。故国ドイツが日本と手をとって米英を撃つ喜びは何とも言えません。皇軍の武運長久を祈ります。』

Sources:

• National Library of Korea, Digital Newspaper Archive
• Internet Archive, Keijo Nippo December 12, 1941