The German East Asiatic Society (OAG) during the Nazi Era

Abstract

As a Tokyo-based independent academic association run by Germans according to Japanese laws, the German East Asiatic Society (OAG) undoubtedly occupies a special place within German-Japanese relations, at the very least because of the extent of the OAG’s cooperation with Japanese members and benefactors. Closer examination of the society’s history during the first half of the twentieth century shows how far international relations interfered with the activities of this group of a few hundred Germans abroad, whose declared aim it was to study East Asia. This is especially the case for the most active branch groups in Shanghai (1931–1945) and Batavia (Jakarta, 1934–1940), which were seriously affected by Japanese and German expansionism.1