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Authentic b/w German Press photo, retouched, by Scherl Bilderdienst, Berlin.
Size: 5.1 x 7.1 inches.
Prince Fumimaro Konoe (sometimes Konoye, 1891 - 1945) was a Japanese politician and the 34th, 38th, and 39th Prime Minister of Japan.
In June 1937, he became Prime Minister in an attempt to balance the growing power of the military, but he turned increasingly militaristic himself. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937 and under pressure from hard-liners, his cabinet agreed to expand operations in China and handed the entire conduct of the conflict in China to the military leaders to progress without government oversight. In November, Konoe announced Japan's aim of a new order in Asia, what would become the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, and pressed China for concessions to end the Sino-Japanese War.
He resigned 1939 over his failure to negotiate an end to the conflict in China, having broken off the Trautmann Mediation with Chiang Kai-Shek (Jiang Jieshi). This action was also of great importance for the Communist Party of China, as it has been argued that following the Rape of Nanking Chiang Kai-Shek's failure to break off the Trautmann Mediation led to the perception that the entire Kuomintang was weak.
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