Whhat is Repatriation
- Collapse of the Japanese Empire and Repatriation
- The Soviet Entry into the War and Attacks in Manchuria
- Background to the Internment of Japanese People in the USSR
- Repatriation and Maizuru
- Repatriation Port: Maizuru
The Soviet Entry into the War and Attacks in and biginning of Repatriation
The Soviet Entry into the War and Attacks in Manchuria
At the Yalta Conference, held in February 1945 in the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, American President Franklin Roosevelt asked Premier Stalin of the USSR to participate in the war against Japan. Stalin agreed that the USSR would enter the war two or three months after Germany’s surrender on the conditions that the USSR would obtain Southern Sakhalin, the Kurile Islands, and economic interests in Manchuria.At midnight on August 9, 1945, the USSR abrogated the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, and its troops advanced into Manchuria, Southern Sakhalin, and the Kurile Islands. Battles with the USSR continued even after August 15, when Japan officially surrendered, until they were finally stopped on August 23.
Repatriation
After accepting the Potsdam Declaration, the Japanese government signed a surrender document on September 2, 1945. Although the government initially intended to have overseas Japanese people stay in their respective settlements, it changed its policy to repatriate all Japanese people under the influence of the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers (GHQ), led by the United States. While repatriation from China, the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, and Southeast Asia was relatively smooth, the repatriation of civilians and military personnel interned in the USSR did not proceed smoothly.