By 1942, a great number of Jews had sought refuge in Japan from Eastern Europe, settling in Kobe before being moved to the Shanghai Ghetto in China. As early as 1941, the local Gestapo chief Josef Meisinger (The Butcher of Warsaw) visited the ghetto, and proposed plans to exterminate its Jewish population. Kaufman, through his influence and contacts in the Japanese government, prevailed upon Tokyo to prevent Meisinger's plans being carried out.[8] Ultimately, Kaufman succeeded and Meisinger's schemes were rejected by Tokyo, but not before the doctor along with seven other Jewish community leaders were arrested, imprisoned, and maltreated by the Kempeitai (Japanese military police) as traitors for accusing Japan of plotting genocide.