Letters sold at an auction reveal how Adolf Hitler rejected Chiang Kai-shek''s request for help, at a time when Japan was mounting an invasion of China.
This package of correspondence dates between 1936 and 1938, around the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Its contents show Chiang pleading with Hitler to step in and sway the Japanese, to get China a better peace deal.
For months, Hitler turned down Chiang''s requests, giving Japan time to ramp up its assault to a full-scale war.
Alexander Historical Auctions has kicked off its 2021 summer session. Already sold is a package of letters between Chiang Kai-shek and Adolf Hitler during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The lot contains 17 diplomatic letters collected from Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Reich Chancellery, and the embassy of the Republic of China in Germany, among other institutions. Going up for auction on Thursday is another historical rarity - a letter and signed envelope by Mao Zedong. This lot is expected to fetch up to US$150,000, or about NT$4.2 million.
Chiang’s diplomatic letters have sold for US$8,000, or about NT$223,000. The correspondence shows how Hitler rejected Chiang’s plea for help in the lead-up to World War II.
Hsueh Hua-yuan
National Chengchi University
Before the Sino-Japanese War, relations between the Nationalist government and Germany were extremely good. The Nationalist governments’ main military advisers all came from Germany. But afterward, there was conflict during the Second Sino-Japanese War, after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. That shifted relations between Germany, China and Japan, and relations weren’t so good anymore.
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937 is regarded as the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It came after years of Japanese occupation in Northern China. In August 1937, the devastating Battle of Shanghai erupted. Three months of fighting later, the battle ended in a victory for Japan. Japanese troops then captured Nanjing, starting a six-week episode of atrocities known as the Nanjing Massacre. Over the course of these events, Chiang implored Hitler to intervene and negotiate better terms for China in a peace treaty with Japan.
Hsueh Hua-yuan
National Chengchi University
A third country could have stepped in to mediate. But for this third country - it was very obvious that for Germany, its relationship with Japan was more important than its relationship with the Nationalist government. In the end, Germany chose to support Japan. Because of that, in the end the Nationalist government had to seek support from other countries for things such as military advisers.
At the auction, Chiang’s letters piqued strong global interest. Mao’s rare items are also expected to draw intense bidding. The two figures’ famous rivalry is set to play out under the hammer.
Негізгі бет Rare letters show Hitler rejected Chiang Kai-shek’s plea for help against Japan
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