Japanese Photographic Documentation of Jewish Refugees in Kobe in 1941 in the Context of 1930s Social Documentary Photography

The photo-reportage ‘Displaced Jews’ (1941) is a rare representation of Japanese views on Jewish refugees at a time of great historical change. The project was carried out by six members of the Osaka-based Tampei Shashin Kurabu (Tampei Photography Club), led by Yasui Nakaji. My thesis addresses how these photographs can be read in the context of 1930’s social documentary photography and how they are innovative in terms of the representation of refugees. It explores these matters through comparison of ‘Displaced Jews’ with other period photos of refugees, in particular early 20th century photojournalistic depictions of European refugees, U.S. Farm Security Administration photo-documentation of Great Depression victims (1935-44), and Roman Vishniac’s photographic portrayal of life in Jewish ghettos in Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Lithuania in 1935-39. I argue that the ‘Displaced Jews’ photographs have a unique style that manifest multiple Japanese and international visual influences, and that they reveal how exotic, ‘different’, and to some extent intimidating the Jewish refugees appeared to the Tampei Club photographers. The study concludes by arguing that beyond the historically important information contained in the ‘Displaced Jews’ imagery, it provides valuable insights into contemporaneous Japanese visual culture and the experience of World War II in Japan.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor dc:publisher

Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Skoropad, Kateryna

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Charrier, Philip

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ganev, Robin
• Germani, Ian

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.82465/4208

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uregina.scholaris.ca:10294/8517