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Shigenori Togo | |
|---|---|
東郷 茂徳 | |
 Tōgō as ambassador to Germany,c. 1938 | |
| Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 9 April 1945 – 17 August 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Kantarō Suzuki |
| Preceded by | Mamoru Shigemitsu |
| Succeeded by | Mamoru Shigemitsu |
| In office 18 October 1941 – 1 September 1942 | |
| Prime Minister | Hideki Tojo |
| Preceded by | Teijirō Toyoda |
| Succeeded by | Masayuki Tani |
| Minister of Greater East Asia | |
| In office 9 April 1945 – 17 August 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Kantarō Suzuki |
| Preceded by | Kantarō Suzuki |
| Succeeded by | Mamoru Shigemitsu |
| Minister of Colonial Affairs | |
| In office 18 October 1941 – 2 December 1941 | |
| Prime Minister | Hideki Tojo |
| Preceded by | Teijirō Toyoda |
| Succeeded by | Hiroya Ino |
| Member of theHouse of Peers | |
| In office 1 September 1942 – 13 April 1946 Nominated by theEmperor | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Shigenori Boku (朴 茂徳,Boku Shigenori) (1882-12-10)10 December 1882 |
| Died | 23 July 1950(1950-07-23) (aged 67) |
| Alma mater | Tokyo Imperial University |
| Occupation | Diplomat, Politician, Cabinet Minister |
Shigenori Tōgō (東郷 茂徳,Tōgō Shigenori; 10 December 1882 – 23 July 1950) wasMinister of Foreign Affairs for theEmpire of Japan at both the start and the end of thePacific War. He also served asMinister of Colonial Affairs in 1941, and assumed the same position, renamed theMinister for Greater East Asia, in 1945.[1]
Tōgō was born inHioki District, Kagoshima, in what is now part of the city ofHioki, Kagoshima. His family was a descendant of Koreans who settled inKyushu after theToyotomi Hideyoshi'scampaign against Korea (1592–98). His father took up "Tōgō" as the last name in 1886, replacing the original Korean surname "Boku", or "Park". He was a graduate of the Literature Department ofTokyo Imperial University in 1904, and subsequently studied theGerman language atMeiji University. He entered theMinistry for Foreign Affairs in 1912, after applying for a post five times.
Tōgō’s first overseas posting was to the Japanese consulate atMukden,Manchuria, in 1913. In 1916, he was assigned to the Japanese embassy inBern,Switzerland. In 1919, Tōgō was sent on a diplomatic mission toWeimar Germany, asdiplomatic relations between the two countries were reestablished following the Japanese ratification of theTreaty of Versailles. He returned to Japan in 1921 and was assigned to the Bureau of North American affairs. In 1926, Tōgō was appointed as secretary to the Japanese embassy inUnited States, and moved toWashington DC. He returned to Japan in 1929, and after a brief stay in Manchuria, was sent back to Germany. He was the head of the Japanese delegation to the largely unsuccessfulWorld Disarmament Conference held inGeneva in 1932. Tōgō returned to Japan in 1933 to assume the post of director of the Bureau of North American affairs, but was in a severe automobile accident which left him hospitalized for over a month.
In 1937, Tōgō was appointed as Japanese ambassador to Germany, serving in Berlin for a year. After Tōgō was replaced as ambassador to Germany byHiroshi Ōshima, he was reassigned toMoscow as the ambassador to theSoviet Union 1938–1940. During this time, he negotiated a peace settlement following theBattles of Khalkhin Gol between Japan and the Soviet Union, and successfully concluded theSoviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941. He was then recalled to Japan by then Foreign MinisterYōsuke Matsuoka for reassignment.
Tōgō adamantly opposed war with theUnited States and the other western powers, which he felt was generally unwinnable. Together withMamoru Shigemitsu he made unsuccessful last-ditch efforts to arrange for direct face-to-face negotiations betweenPrime MinisterFumimaro Konoe and US PresidentFranklin Roosevelt in an attempt to stave off armed conflict. In October 1941 Tōgō became Foreign Minister in theTōjō administration. Once the Empire had decided on attacking, Tōgō signed thedeclaration of war, as he disliked pressing the responsibility of the failure of diplomacy on others. Following the 7 December 1941attack on Pearl Harbor that signalled the start of thePacific War, he worked quickly to conclude an alliance between the Japanese Empire andThailand on 23 December 1941 (based on theTreaty between Thailand and Japan (1940)).
As part of a more reconciliatory policy towards the western powers, Tōgō announced on 21 January 1942 that the Japanese government would uphold theGeneva Convention, even though it did not sign it.[2] On 1 September 1942, he resigned his post as Foreign Minister due to his opposition to establish a special ministry for occupied territories within the Japanese government (the new ministry, theMinistry of Greater East Asia eventually emerged in November of that same year). Although appointed to theUpper House of theDiet of Japan, throughout most of the war he lived in retirement.
Upon the formation of the government of AdmiralKantarō Suzuki in April 1945, Tōgō was asked to return to his former position as Minister of Foreign Affairs. In that position, he was one of the chief proponents for acceptance of thePotsdam Declaration which, he felt, contained the best conditions for peace Japan could hope to receive. Up until the last, Tōgō hoped for favorable terms from theSoviet Union. At Tōgō's suggestion, Japan made no official response to the Declaration at first, though a censored version was released to the Japanese public, while Tōgō waited to hear from Moscow. However,Allied leaders interpreted this silence as a rejection of the Declaration, and allowed bombing to continue.
Tōgō was one of the Cabinet Ministers who advocatedJapanese surrender in the summer of 1945. He instructed AmbassadorNaotake Satō to tell the USSR that Japan was willing to surrender but not unconditionally.[3] Several days after theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and following Japanese defeats in theAugust Storm operation, the Japanese government agreed to unconditional surrender.
Following the end of World War II, Tōgō retired to his summer home inKaruizawa, Nagano. However, theSupreme Commander of the Allied Powers soon ordered his arrest onwar-crime charges, along with all former members of the Imperial Japanese government; he was held atSugamo Prison. During theInternational Military Tribunal for the Far East,Haruhiko Nishi agreed to act as his defense attorney. On 4 November 1948 the Tribunal sentenced Tōgō to 20 years' imprisonment.
In 1922, despite the strenuous objections of Tōgō's family, he married Carla Victoria Editha Albertina Anna de Lalande (nee Giesecke 1887-1967), the widow of noted German architect George de Lalande (1872-1914) who designed numerous administrative buildings in Japan and its empire, including theJapanese General Government Building in Seoul. Their wedding was held at theImperial Hotel in Tokyo. His wife had four daughters and one son from her first marriage, Ursula de Lalande, Ottilie de Lalande, Yuki de Lalande, Heidi de Lalande and Guido de Lalande; together they had one daughter named Ise.
In 1943 Ise married Fumihiko Honjo, a Japanese diplomat, who, out of respect for his wife's family, adopted her surname Tōgō. Fumihiko Togo (1915-1985) later served as theJapanese Ambassador to the United States from 1976 to 1980.[4] The couple's sonKazuhiko Tōgō (born 1945) is a Japanese diplomat and scholar on international relations.
Tōgō, who suffered fromatherosclerosis, died ofcholecystitis in Sugamo Prison on 23 July 1950. A volume of his memoirs entitledThe Cause of Japan was published posthumously; it was edited by his former defense counselBen Bruce Blakeney.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister for Colonial Affairs 1941 | Succeeded by |
| Minister for Foreign Affairs ofJapan 1941–1942 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Minister for Foreign Affairs ofJapan 1945 | Succeeded by |
| Minister for Greater East Asia 1945 | ||
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | Japanese Ambassador toNazi Germany 1937–1938 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Japanese Ambassador to theSoviet Union 1938–1940 | Succeeded by |
