Message to Adolf

Plot

In 1936, Japanese reporter Sohei Toge travels to Berlin for the Olympic Games and discovers his younger brother has been murdered. The brother, a student in Germany, had ties to Communist groups, and all records of his studies have disappeared. Toge learns the killing is linked to documents his brother mailed to Japan, which contain proof that Adolf Hitler has Jewish blood. Wolfgang Kaufmann, a Nazi living in Japan, is ordered to retrieve these documents.

He expects his son Adolf Kaufmann to support Hitler, but the son hesitates because his best friend Adolf Kamil is the child of German Jews. Wolfgang dies after complications from the search, and with his last breath forces Kaufmann to join the Hitler Youth in Germany. At the academy, Kaufmann witnesses Kamil's father brought to execution and is forced to shoot him as a loyalty test. As Kaufmann becomes indoctrinated, his mother Yukie grows distant from German ties.

Kaufmann later falls in love with Eliza, a Jewish girl from China, and smuggles her to Kamil in Japan, though her family cannot leave. Japan then invades China, starting the Second Sino-Japanese War. During this period, Kamil becomes close to his teacher Ms. Ogi, who is involved in the Japanese anti-war movement.

Characters

Sohei Toge is a Japanese reporter who goes to Germany for the 1936 Olympics and finds his brother murdered, leading him into wartime espionage. He was born in Niihari, Ibaraki. Isao Toge, his brother, was a student in Germany and a Communist whose organization discovered a secret, resulting in his murder. Acetylene Lampe, a Nazi Party member and Far East Chief of German Intelligence, pursues Toge for the documents and revenge.

Rosa Lampe, Acetylene's daughter and a Gestapo informant, reports Isao and later Sohei, leading to Sohei's torture; she commits suicide after Sohei rapes her. Nigawa, a Japanese police chief, aids Toge and is killed in a shootout with the Gestapo. Mieko Nigawa, the chief's daughter, falls in love with Yoshio and later runs a bar with Okei. Okei, a tattooed widow, shelters Toge during a pursuit.

Sachi Honda, a geisha working for Communists, is murdered by Kaufmann during a tryst. Honda, Sachi's brother and an Imperial Army officer, loves Yukie and helps Toge; he kills himself to avoid war crime accusations. Yoshio Honda, his son, joins Sorge's spy network after witnessing Japanese oppression in Manchukuo, becomes friends with Toge and Kamil, and is killed by his father after revealing his spying. Adolf Kaufmann, half-Japanese and half-German, initially opposes Nazis but develops hatred for Jews in Germany, later joining the Sicherheitsdienst, Gestapo, and PLO; he is killed by Kamil in revenge for his father's murder.

Publications

The manga was first published in English in the 1990s by Viz Media under their Cadence Books imprint as a five-volume set flipped to read left to right. In 2012, Vertical, Inc. released a two-volume edition, also flipped, under the title Message to Adolf with a new translation by Kumar Sivasubramanian. The series has been published in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Poland.