Author: Zhong Yi
The October Revolution brought us the truth with the sound of a cannon. In fact, truth has affected not only China, but also Japan. Many progressive people in Japan, armed with progressive ideas, fought against the Japanese military state, and Hidemi Ozaki was one of them.
A few months before the end of World War II, Hidemito Ozaki was hanged by the Japanese authorities. He was the only Japanese to be executed in World War II on a Japanese basis for "treason." He had long been lurking with Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe, the head of the invasion of China, to gather intelligence, and his partner was Richard Sorge, the most legendary spy of World War II.
Hideaki Ozaki
Hidemi Ozaki was born in 1901 in a small town in the Gifu region of Japan, where his ancestors were feudal samurai. When Hidemi Ozaki was only a few years old, the family moved to the Treasure Island area to live. He grew up in Taipei, was deeply influenced by Chinese culture, and fell in love with China.
In 1922, Hidemito Ozaki returned to Japan to study at Tokyo Imperial University. School education and family education are all about making him "loyal" forever. In this environment, he also had a lot of admiration for the emperor. Then something happened afterwards that completely changed his perception.
On September 1, 1923, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the Kanto region of Japan, killing 150,000 people and leaving more than 2 million homeless. In Japan at that time, there were many Pilgrims living here, and the Japanese hooligans and bandits, who pretended to be the Asagiri, set fires and looted everywhere. Without careful investigation, the Japanese authorities blamed the Koreans for their crimes, and they took the simplest and most brutal way: when they saw a person, they killed a person.
The Great Kanto Earthquake
The Japanese not only killed the Koreans, they also used the killing as an excuse to massacre a large number of Japanese progressives and Chinese in Japan. On September 16, for example, Japanese soldiers stormed the home of Ei Ōsugi, the core figure of the progressive organization, took their family to the gendarmerie, and brutally strangled them to death.
The massacre by the Japanese authorities was eventually brought under control. But the Japanese do not admit their massacres and try to cover up their crimes. Hidemito Ozaki witnessed all this, and he was very disappointed in the Japanese authorities and abandoned the idea of tadaoki.
After this, Hidemi Ozaki began to learn progressive ideas and found the right path for himself.
Sorge
In 1925, Hidemiko Ozaki left school and subsequently joined a Japanese news agency. In 1928, Hidemito Ozaki, a member of the Japanese Communist Party, came to Shanghai as a special correspondent. In Shanghai, he met many progressive people.
Lu Xun admired him very much, once saying: "He is not only knowledgeable, but also honest and reliable. ”
Soon, Hideyoshi Ozaki met the "spy king" Sorge in Shanghai. Together, the two of them set up an intelligence network to spread important news about Japan in China to Moscow, and at the same time to relay important international news to our personnel. While collecting intelligence on Japan in China, Hidemito Ozaki also conducted in-depth research and observation of China. He told Sorge in early 1937: "The Japanese are likely to attack Shanghai. The subsequent Battle of Songhu confirmed his speculation.
In 1934, Hidemichi Ozaki returned to Japan. His in-depth knowledge of China attracted the attention of Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe. Konoe Fumimaro later created a think tank and had Hidemi Ozaki serve as an advisor. Hidemi Ozaki gradually became a close confidant of the Prime Minister and joined Fumimaro Konoe's breakfast club.
Konoe Fumimaro
The members of this club are the most trusted people in Konoe Fumimaro's heart, and they will gather every week for breakfast to discuss national affairs. During the breakfast exchange, Hidemichi Ozaki learned that Japan wanted to avoid immediate war with the Soviet Union. Hideshi Ozaki then informed Sorge of the information, and Sorge immediately sent the information to Moscow.
In July 1941, at the repeated suggestion of Hidemi Ozaki and other members of the Breakfast Club, Japan decided to invade the Dutch East Indies and Singapore first, abandoning the idea of attacking the Soviet Union. Japan's decision dashed Hitler's expectations, which hitler expected to attack the Soviet Union and inflict enemies on its backs, thus relieving the german army of the pressure.
In October 1941, Hidemito Ozaki was implicated in the Sorge espionage case and arrested by the Japanese authorities. After being imprisoned for three years, the Japanese authorities deliberately chose the day of the 27th anniversary of the October Revolution and secretly executed Hidemi Ozaki and Sorge.
Although Hidemichi Ozaki is dead, his thoughts have survived. During his three years in prison, Hidemi Ozaki wrote a book. Shortly after the end of World War II, his book sold well in Japan. Many people who were deeply persecuted by the Japanese military gradually woke up by Hidemiko Ozaki's book and saw the real face of the authorities.