Fumitaka Konoe (近衛 文隆, Konoe Fumitaka; April 3, 1915 – October 29, 1956) was the eldest son and heir of Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe and the 13th-generation descendant of Emperor Go-Yōzei. He served as a lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. At the end of the war, he was taken as a prisoner of war by the Soviet Union. He died in a Soviet prison camp in 1956.
Biography
Fumitaka Konoe was born in Kyoto as the eldest son of Fumimaro Konoe and his wife Chiyoko, (from a branch of the Mōri clan). The Konoe family were members of the kazoku nobility and the line was part of the Fujiwara northern house, the leading go-sekke (five houses) lineage.
After graduating from Gakushūin Junior High School, Konoe was sent to the United States to study as a diplomat. He graduated from Lawrenceville School and studied at Princeton University. He actively participated as an amateur golfer during his stay in America and worked as the manager of a golf club. He returned to Japan in 1938 to become his father's secretary.
The following year, in 1939, he became a lecturer at Toa Dobunshoin University (Tung Wen College) in Shanghai concurrently becoming became a student director. With the diplomatic situation in China between the Kuomintang government and the Imperial Japanese Army becoming increasing strained, Konoe felt the need for direct negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek to avoid open warfare. He cultivated an association with the daughter of an important government official who guided him to Chongqing; this private diplomacy was discovered by the Kempeitai, and he was then recalled to Japan because this was seen by the cabinet as a problem. The woman he had made an acquaintance with was a Chinese spy - there is also a theory that he was ordered to return home for fear that he would leak confidential information to Zheng Pingru.
After his return to Japan, Konoe created a youth political organization called the Shonen Doshi-kai (青年同志会) to continue to insist on direct negotiations to prevent war in China. His actions were regarded as a problem by military authorities, in February 1940 he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army. Due to his education and background, he was selected as an officer candidate and was promoted to lieutenant. He was assigned to an artillery regiment in Manchukuo.