Neglected Yokohama grave of Jewish couple who fled to Japan on eve of WWII restored
Source: The Mainichi

YOKOHAMA — As German troops marched into Austria after annexing the country on the eve of World War II, a Jewish couple fled to Japan in what would be their final journey. They passed away soon after, and were buried in the Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery in this city’s Naka Ward.
Now, 85 years later, their grave has been restored thanks to the support of 80-year-old freelance author and researcher on Jewish refugees Akira Kitade. And descendants in the United States will make their first trip to Japan to visit their ancestors’ resting site.
The grave belongs to Leopold Patek, born in 1862, and his wife Irma, born 1863. When Austria was annexed by Germany in March 1938, local Jews faced persecution. The couple’s eldest son Paul, a Vienna factory worker, applied for a job as an engineer in Japan to escape the Nazis. He arrived in Yokohama in September of the same year after a journey through the Suez Canal, India and Shanghai. He began work at the Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, plant of the predecessor to metal components manufacturer IJTT Co., and in the summer of 1939 — just before the outbreak of World War II — summoned his parents and sister Hilde from Austria to Japan.
Paul reportedly won money in a lottery when leaving Vienna, which he used to cover the family’s travel expenses. At the time, there were Jewish organizations in Tokyo which helped refugee compatriots from Europe find employment, and Paul was apparently supported by them as well.

Leopold died shortly after arriving in Japan and was buried in the Yokohama cemetery. Irma and Paul moved to Hiroshima, but when the Pacific War broke out in December 1941, Paul was arrested on suspicion of espionage and detained for four months. Irma passed away in Hiroshima in 1943 and was buried in the same grave as her husband. After losing both parents, Paul soon moved to Beijing and finally returned to Austria via Shanghai in 1947, after the war.
Kitade learned about the Patek family’s unusual path when he visited Tel Aviv in January 2023 at the invitation of the Japanese Embassy in Israel. At a lecture there, he heard from a local journalist that Christopher Bock, a 46-year-old descendant of Hilde living in San Francisco, was writing a biography on Paul. Using clues from a book he obtained from the United States stating that Paul’s parents’ grave was in Yokohama, Kitade contacted the Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery to locate it. When he visited the site last October, he found the grave worn out after years of neglect. Only the headstone, with the couple’s names engraved, was visible.
Kitade contacted Bock with the distressing news about the grave’s condition, and the latter said he was willing to pay to have it restored. Kitade, known for works including “Visas for Life & the Epic Journey” about Jewish refugees during the war, stated that he couldn’t leave Jewish people’s graves neglected. He arranged for the restoration with a Yokohama mason, and the work was completed this January.
The restored Western-style grave measures 1.2 meters wide and 2.4 meters long, and is made of granite stone. The design includes the original tombstone of likely Greek marble, while incorporating the latest seismic-resistant construction.
Bock said he was thankful to Kitade for his efforts and guidance in beautifully refurbishing his great-great-grandparents’ grave. He added that many Jewish people who fled from Europe, including his family, were helped by unknown heroes in Japan, and that his family owes their lives to them. He plans to visit Japan with his wife in spring 2025 to pay their first visit to the grave.
(Japanese original by Hiroyuki Tanaka, Cultural News Department)
The original article: The Mainichi .
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