Name Setsuzo Kotsuji | Died 1973 | |
Setsuzō Kotsuji (Japanese: 小辻 節三, 1899, Kyoto - 1973) was a Hebrew professor in Japan, and the son of a Shinto priest who descended from a long line of Shinto priests. During the Holocaust he helped Jewish refugees to escape the Nazis, arranging for them to stay first in Kobe and later in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. He also fought against Nazi-inspired anti-Jewish propaganda. A book about how he helped Jewish refugees was written by Japanese actor Yamada Jundai and published in April 2013 by NHK Shuppan.
He converted to Judaism in 1959 after converting to Christianity from Shinto in his youth. In his book "From Tokyo to Jerusalem" he explained that he never was satisfied from his conversion to Christianity.
He first encountered Jews while working for the South Manchuria Railroad Company during World War II.