Divided loyalties: Russian emigrés in Japanese-occupied Manchuria

This article describes how the changing political situation in Manchuria from the 1920s to the 1940s affected the lives of the Russian émigré community. The establishment of Manzhouguo (1932–1945) and growing international conflict in Northeast Asia exacerbated internal differences within the Russian community, producing multiple loyalties and shifting commitments. Partly as a result of their diversity and different earlier loyalties (Tsarist and Civil War periods), the Russian emigres in Manzhouguo found it difficult to attach to any one ideal, leader, political group or state. Facing very few choices, Russian émigré organizations and their leaders collaborated with the Japanese authorities. The escalation of war in China made their lives even more unsettled and unpredictable, as they became vulnerable to manipulation by different political forces. Although the notion of singular loyalty had been a virtue for them, it was perforce betrayed as recourse to weak multiple loyalties became the means of survival.