Japan Uses Anti-semitism to Extednd Sway in Mongolia

Efforts to introduce the anti-Semitic element into the campaign against Soviet Russia, with a view to the annexation of Soviet Mongolia have now been started by Japan, under the cloak of the Manchukuo Government.

The official Japanese-Manchukuo Telegraphic Agency reprots that a very serious insurrection recently took place in Urga, the capital of Soviet Mongolia, in the course of which “40 Commissars and Jews” were killed by the insurgents. It is an open secret that Japan, either directly, or through its dependency Manchukuo, is the instigator of these riots and the miniature pogrom that accompanied them.

Having conquered Manchuria and Inner or Chinese, Mongolia, Japan soon turned her eyes to other possible spheres of expansion. The closet at hand was Soviet Mongolia, and Japan has consquently adopted her usual policy of first starting internal dissensions, and then using these as a pretext of intervention.

MONGOLIA AFTER THE WAR

Soviet Mongolia, which was before the War a part of China, passed through a number of very turbulent years immediately after the War, and ultimately became a Soviet Republic, closely allied to Soviet Russia. But this was only after the gangs of Russian Tsarist ex-officers and pogromists, led by the bloodthirsty Baron Ungern-Sternberg had been driven from the country, which they had made their stronghold, and the reign of terror which they had set up had come to an end. The White Russians had made it their one aim to root out all the Jews in Urga, the capital, and 27 innocent Jews were murdered the moment they entered the town.

Soviet Mongolia has a considerable Jewish population, consisting chiefly of cattle, leather, fur and tea dealers, as well as a number of small traders and artistans. In Urga, alone, over 400 Jewish families lived. After the War, a considerable number of Jews immigrated from Manchuria, and trade unions were established by Polish Jewish artisans who had been left stranded in Manchuria during the War. The Jewish colonies in Mongolia are very scattered, and lie hundreds of miles from each other. Communications with the outside world are extremely difficult, for even the capital of the country lies about 800 miles from the nearest railway line. In addition, the country is infested with White Russian bandits, who hold travelers up to ransom and rob them of whatever they possess.

JEWS IN MONGOLIA

Of late years the position had, however, changed considerably. The Soviet authorities began communising the country. Private traders were suppressed and State and co-operative trading enterprises took thier place. The lot of private traders became an extremely difficult one, and as a result many of the Jews gave up their trades and took up positions in the Government undertakings and offices, receiving fairly good salaries. At the same time, Mongolia became more and more isoloted, as a result of the internal dissensions in China as well as of the steady advance of Japan towards the Russian frontier.

This, then, is the country on which Japan has set its eyes. As usual, the Jews are the first to suffer. On the surface, there is no connection between the uprising in Soviet Mongolia and the Japanese. But there is not the slightest doubt that the Japanese government is planning to use the anti-Semitic element in its campaign against Soviet Russia. And here, as in Manchuria, the Russian ex-officers provide a very fertile ground for their propaganda.

The present uprising, as the despatch reports, has been vigorously suppressed by the Soviet Government Troops aeroplanes and tanks were immediately sent over, and these remained there after the revolt had been put down, to help the local authorities to keep order in future. But Japan can be counted on to continue its present activities at the expense of the Jews, and the position of these scattered and isolated Jewish communities will inevitably become even more difficult than it has been in the past.