Defending The Enemy by Elaine B. Fischel

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Bascom Hill Books (February 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935456032
• ISBN-13: 978-1935456032

LOS ANGELES – As the 69th anniversary of Pearl Harbor approaches, Americans remember those who lost their lives on Dec. 7, 1941. But when 28 Japanese military and government leaders were charged for the atrocities committed, waging a war of aggression and other horrific crimes, America responded by adhering to its ideals of justice and fair trial and provided legal counsel for even the most hated of defendants.
 
Longtime lawyer Elaine Fischel is a strong defender of these American ideals. Despite having lost friends in the attack, a 23-year-old Fischel was sent to Japan in 1946 to serve as part of the American legal team that defended these Japanese war criminals.
In “Defending the Enemy: Justice for the WWII Japanese War Criminals” (Bascom Hill Books, 978-1935456032, February 2010), Fischel, possibly the only remaining living member of the defense team, chronicles her journey, recounts the relationships she built with the defendants and shares her account of how these American principles were upheld in the Tokyo trials.
“Like so many other Americans, I judged the Japanese people by the horrific hallmark event that took place at Pearl Harbor,” says Fischel. “To me the Japanese were evil subhuman, people. When I finally came home from the Tokyo trials, I had a completely different perspective of these people and their culture, experiences that continued to broaden my life through all these years.”With dreams of attending law school, Fischel worked as a legal secretary for the defense team and absorbed as much as possible from 
her brilliant bosses. Fischel struggled with her increasing fondness for the defense’s clients and recalls the resistance she felt from her fellow Americans back home, including her family. 
Hoping to bring a level of human understanding to this historic trial, Fischel recalls her immersion into Japanese culture. Some of her most memorable experiences include attending social engagements with high-ranking military, befriending the daughter of accused Navy admiral Shigetaro Shimada and playing tennis with Prince Takamatsu, the brother of Japan’s emperor during World War II, Emperor Hirohito. 
“I hope to provide recognition for the efforts and struggles of the American attorneys who so vigorously guarded our ideals of fair play and justice for even the most hated of defendants,” Fischel says. “Whether this trial proved they were right or wrong, justified or unjustified, is not half as important as the demonstration the Japanese people saw of the American concept of democracy.” 
Elaine Fischel currently lives in Los Angeles where she provides counsel to two area lawyers. After returning home from the Tokyo trials, Fischel graduated from the University of Southern California School of Law and went on to practice law for 57 years. For more information on “Defending the Enemy,“ please visit www.defendingtheenemy.com.

About the Author

Elaine B. Fischel was born in New York. Her widowed mother moved her girls out of the big city and raised Elaine and her sister in Southern California. Elaine attended UCLA, where she was a National Intercollegiate Tennis Champion.
The end of World War II found Elaine working in Tokyo for two-and-a-half years during the trial of the twenty-eight accused Japanese war criminals. After the trial concluded, Fischel returned home and attended the University of Southern California School of Law. She went on to practice law for fifty-seven years. 

My Thoughts:

 An amazing woman and an amazing story. Elaine B. Fischel is not your average woman in the 40's who accepts a job to go to Tokyo, Japan to be a legal secretary on the defense team that would defend the men accused of war crimes. This journey takes her through WWII, two and a half years in Japan, law school and onto becoming a lawyer herself, a career that would last 57 years. Defending the Enemy is filled with the history of the time, pictures , accounts of the men on trial, friendships developed in the two and a half years she spent in Japan and her personal life all combined in this amazing story. A very descriptive story of what it was like to "defend the enemy". Part memoir and part history book, this true story will appeal to anyone who enjoys reading about different aspects of WWII. A must read for any historian.

I received this book from Lindsay at Phenix & Phenix and I was not monetarily compensated for my review.