The last Sokehs exiles are back from Palau.

What happened

The exiles had been deported to Palau by Germany in 1911. Japan began letting them return in 1917, but Sokehs land had been declared government property and leased to others, so the German archive says they came home “as strangers in their own homeland.” The return dates rest on Wikipedia; no Japanese record has been found.

Why it matters

By 1947 only 242 Sokehs people were counted, a lasting effect of the exile.