People
4. Jean Charles Pabst

The Hague • March 8, 1873 – January 24, 1942 • Tokyo

Jean Charles Pabst was the Dutch envoy in Japan from 1923 through 1942.

Pabst’s appointment surprised many. He was not a diplomat, but a general who had served most of his military career in the Dutch East Indies, present-day Indonesia.

He had been the military attaché for Japan and China at the Dutch legation in Tokyo from 1910 through 1916. Thanks to this experience, he understood the region well, had many connections, and spoke the language. A helpful background for a post that was about to deal with severe crises.

One was economic. From the late 1920s, the Dutch East Indies and Japan effectively fought a trade war—at its highest point in 1934, 32% of imports came from Japan while exports to Japan were negligible.¹ The resulting trade imbalance persuaded the colonial government to impose massive trade restrictions on Japan. Another was Japan’s aggressive expansionism, culminating in the end of diplomatic relations when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

A letter that Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Herman Adriaan van Karnebeek (1874–1942) wrote to Pabst after his appointment suggests that he foresaw such issues, and considered Pabst’s military experience crucial. Van Karnebeek asked Pabst to keep him informed on how Japan was dealing with the 1921 Four-Power Treaty intended to prevent further territorial expansion in the Pacific.

The minister expected Japan to consolidate its position in the region and specifically wanted Pabst to find out how Japan was “making China subservient to its plans.” He added that the former general should pay attention to Japanese plans “for expansion in a southerly direction”—which could threaten the Dutch East Indies—and to keep “a watchful eye” on Japan’s army and fleet.²

It took a while before Pabst could fulfill this assignment. Only two and a half months after his arrival in June 1923, Tokyo was devastated by the Great Kantō Earthquake. It destroyed the Dutch legation and killed eight Dutch nationals. Countless others were homeless and without financial resources. Suddenly, Pabst had to lead rescue efforts, and build a new legation.

When Pabst got back to his original assignment, he was seen as alarmist. Pabst’s warnings about Japan did not lead to adequate protection of the Dutch East Indies. Even American ambassador Joseph C. Grew (1880–1965) wrote in his diary that Pabst was “essentially a pessimist” when the Dutch envoy told him in 1936 that he worried about the Japanese navy making a “southward advance” towards “some part of the Netherlands Indies producing petroleum.”

But this was exactly what happened in 1942. When Grew published his memoirs in 1944, he titled the entry, “Holland’s Minister Foresees Japan’s Southward Thrust.”³

Against his wishes, Pabst’s term was extended several times. In 1938, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Jacob Adriaan Nicolaas Patijn (1873–1961) wrote Pabst that he was “irreplaceable” and persuaded him to stay on for another year.⁴ When war broke out in Europe in 1939, Pabst was asked to extend his term again. In early 1941, it was extended again.⁵

As a result, Pabst was still the Dutch representative in Tokyo when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December of that year. On December 10, he handed the Dutch declaration of war to the Japanese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ohashi Chuichi (大橋忠一, 1893–1975).⁶ Like all the diplomats of enemy nations, Pabst was put under house arrest by the Japanese authorities. He never enjoyed freedom again. On January 24, 1942, Pabst died of a heart attack, a year short of his 70th birthday.

His funeral took place at the Anglican church of St. Luke’s Hospital. It was a most unusual affair. In the middle of the brutal war representatives of several of the adversaries in the conflict crowded together in a Tokyo church surrounded by police in civilian clothes. The heads of foreign missions—including those of Allied nations under house arrest—assembled under the same roof as Japan’s political, administrative, and economic leaders.

The service concluded with the Dutch national anthem, included as a hymn from the Dutch Bible. When it was sung, everybody in the church, including all the Japanese, stood up as one—Japan’s leaders effectively honoring an enemy.⁷

Although he was a general and diplomat, Pabst’s cultural legacy is especially important. Deeply interested in Dutch history in Asia, he frequently gave speeches about this, and attended unveilings of memorials that still exist. He owned a near complete collection of Nagasaki-e—Edo period (1603–1868) woodblock prints showing the Dutch in Nagasaki.⁸ Today, part of this collection is held by the British Museum. Occasionally, a former Pabst print still shows up in the art market.

Pabst’s most visible legacy is undoubtedly the legation that he built. The beautiful building miraculously survived the Second World War and now serves as the Dutch ambassador’s residence. It has become the embassy’s face.

Next: Trading Places

Notes

(Footnotes are only shown on this site, not in the book.)

¹ Dick, Howard (September 1989). Japan’s Economic Expansion in the Netherlands Indies between the First and Second World Wars, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies Vol. 20, No. 2 (pp. 244-272), 246.

² Nationaal Archief. 2.05.115 Inventaris van het archief van het Nederlandse Gezantschap in Japan (Tokio), 1923-1941: 98 Pabst, J.C., 1935-1941, 0434–0436. Letter of Minister of Foreign Affairs Van Karnebeek to Pabst, April 18, 1923:

“De sedert de Conferentie ten opzichte van China en Rusland door de Japansche Regeering gevolgde politiek schijnt er op te wijzen, dat die Regeering er ernstig naar streeft het wantrouwen weg te nemen, door haar optreden gedurende en onmiddellijk na den oorlog gewekt, en thans alles wenscht te vermijden wat als agressief zou kunnen worden beschouwd. De bedoeling daarvan kan wel nauwelijks eene andere zijn dan van de aldus te scheppen atmosfeer van rust gebruik te maken om Japan’s positie te consolideeren en daarvan zooveel mogelijk profijt te trekken. Het zou van het uiterste belang zijn, na te gaan in hoeverre de Japansche politiek, met name met betrekking tot China, wijziging ondergaat en in hoeverre Japan er in slaagt in even genoemd land zijne oogmerken te bereiken en China aan zijne plannen dienstbaar te maken.

…

Dat in niet mindere mate dient gelet op het geen geacht kan worden in verband te staan met plannen, tot expansie in Zuidelijke richting, behoeft wel niet uitdrukkelijk gezegd. Evenmin als dat een waakzaam oog dient gehouden op maatregelen op het gebied van leger en vloot.”

³ Grew, Joseph C. (1944). Ten Years In Japan: A Contemporary Record drawn from the Diaries and Private and Official Papers of Jospeh C. Grew, United States Ambassador to Japan, 1932–1942. April 25, 1936. New York: Simon and Schuster, 184, 224.

⁴ Nationaal Archief. 2.05.115 Inventaris van het archief van het Nederlandse Gezantschap in Japan (Tokio), 1923-1941: 98 Pabst, J.C., 1935-1941, 0010,0011, 0014, 0015.

⁵ Stolk, Dr. A.A.H (1997). Jean Charles Pabst: Diplomaat en Generaal in Oost-Azië 1873-1942. Zeist: Dr. A.A.H. Stolk, 116.

⁶ ibid, 106.

⁷ ibid, 119–121.

⁸ ibid, 117.

Published October 29, 2022
Updated November 2, 2022 5:16 PM