Suchergebnisse

Military cooperation between Poland and Japan, including cooperation of intelligence officers, began after the two countries established diplomatic relations in March 1919 when Japan recognized Poland as an independent state. This cooperation thrived during the 1930s. Tokyo decided that Warsaw can be a valuable strategic point and a Japanese intelligence coordination centre for Europe, which would be oriented towards the East and the West (the USSR and Germany). In exchange for information, the Japanese allocated Polish intelligence liaison officers in their diplomatic posts in Germany, the Baltic states and Scandinavia. The Japanese enabled them to send reports in the Japanese diplomatic mail and issued suitable forged documents. The centre for this cooperation was Riga and Kaunas, later Berlin, Prague, Königsberg and Stockholm.

After World War II Japan and Poland found themselves on the opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. Japan became an ally to the West and Poland to the East. How did the bilateral diplomatic relations of our two states form after reestablishing them in 1957? The authoress has decided to tackle in more detail problems connected to organization, personal, propaganda and ideology issues which took place in the first years after the normalization of the relations, since she has arrived at the conclusion that focusing on this period of few years will enable to understand how difficult the beginning of Polish-Japanese bilateral relations were and what matters and to what extent were most important and attainable to both governments.

Bilateral relations between Poland and Japan were generally friendly since the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), throughout the entire interwar era, after the government of Japan recognized independent Poland after WWI (on 6 March 1919), and even during WWII. What was seen as important was a mutual support on the international arena during international conflicts (such as those in Upper Silesia, Manchuria, etc.) and especially military and espionage cooperation. How did the Cold War influence Polish-Japanese relations? Did the relations, which were until that time friendly, play a role in this period – a time of trouble for the entire world? The author tries to answer these questions, relying on selected and important events and issues from the period of the Cold War (until 1989).

Emperor Hirohito (1901–1989) began his reign on December 25th, 1926. It was the beginning of a new era in Japanese history, an era that was named Shōwa (1926–1989; e Illuminated Peace). In all of Japanese history, it was the longest, and yet a very diverse, reign by a single emperor. Japan was undergoing democratization and modernization, then, due to internal crisis opposed to Western in uences, led wars. A er the wars Japan once again turned towards democratization and development, nally becoming the third largest economic power in the world. e Shōwa period can be divided into three main sub-periods: 1926–1945: democratization, nationalism and war; 1945–1952: occupation; 1952–1989: peace, democratization and economic growth. In a nutshell, the author pre- sents the life and works of Emperor Hirohito along with the main events that took place during his reign.