MikeLigalig.com

Chiune Sugihara (杉原 千畝 Sugihara Chiune, 1 January 1900 – 31 July 1986) was a Japanese diplomat who served as Vice-Consul for the Empire of Japan in Lithuania.

During World War II, he helped several thousand Jews leave the country by issuing transit visas to Jewish refugees so that they could travel to Japan. Most of the Jews who escaped were refugees from German-occupied Poland and residents of Lithuania.

http://www.kosherdelight.com/

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71210.0

In 1939, he became a vice-consul of the Japanese Consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania. His other duty was to report on Soviet and German troop movements.

Sugihara is said to have cooperated with Polish intelligence, as part of a bigger Japanese-Polish cooperative plan. As the Soviet Union occupied sovereign Lithuania in 1940, many Jewish refugees from Poland (Polish Jews) as well as Lithuanian Jews tried to acquire exit visas. Without the visas it was dangerous to travel, yet it was impossible to find countries willing to issue them. (wikipedia)


The former Japanese Consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71210.0

The Conspiracy of Kindness

By 1940, most of Western Europe had been conquered by the Nazis, with Britain standing alone. The rest of the free world, with very few exceptions, barred the immigration of Jewish refugees from Poland or anywhere in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Against this terrible backdrop, the Japanese Consul Chiune Sugihara suddenly became the linchpin in a desperate plan for survival. The fate of thousands of families depended on his humanity. The Germans were rapidly advancing east. In July 1940, the Soviet authorities instructed all foreign embassies to leave Kaunas. Almost all left immediately, but Chiune Sugihara requested and received a 20-day extension.



Except for Mr. Jan Zwartendijk, the acting Dutch consul, Chiune Sugihara was now the only foreign consul left in Lithuanania's capital city. They had much work to do. (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/)

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71210.0

Sugihara continued to hand write visas, reportedly spending 18–20 hours a day on them, producing a normal month's worth of visas each day, until 4 September, when he had to leave his post before the consulate was closed. By that time he had granted thousands of visas to Jews, many of whom were heads of households and thus permitted to take their families with them. On the night before their scheduled departure, Sugihara and his wife stayed awake writing out visa approvals.


A younger Chiune Sugihara

According to witnesses, he was still writing visas while in transit from his hotel and after boarding the train at the Kaunas Railway Station, throwing visas into the crowd of desperate refugees out of the train's window even as the train pulled out. (wikipedia)

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71210.0

also:

Polish intelligence produced some false visas.

there were also "some Jesuits in Vilna who were issuing Sugihara visas with seals that he had left behind and did not destroy, long after the Japanese diplomat had departed" which means that some Jews could have escaped Europe with forged visas issued under Sugihara's name. (wikipedia)

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71210.0

In 1968, Jehoshua Nishtri, an Israeli diplomat in Tokyo and one of the Jews Sugihara had helped save, finally tracked Sugihara down.  Together with others, he lobbied the Israeli government for Chiune Sugihara’s inclusion in the Yad Vashem memorial, which was granted after extensive research, in 1985.  By this time, Chiune was ill.  Yukiko went to Israel and accepted the honor on his behalf.  In gratitude for his deeds, Chiune Sugihara and his descendants were granted Israeli citizenship in perpetuity.


Yukiko and Chiune Sugihara with Itzhak Shamir, Prime Minister of Israel

Nobody knows exactly how many visas Chiune Sugihara issued to Jewish refugees. He reported to the Japanese Foreign Ministry that he had issued 2,132 visas of which 1,500 were to Jews.  It is estimated that he helped save anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 Jews. At least 40,000 descendants of Sugihara visa-holders are alive today.



In Japan, Chiune Sugihara was honored in the year 2000 on the 100th anniversary of his birth. He had been born on January 1, 1900 – the first day of the 20th century.  In 2002, a bronze statue of him was erected in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles in the United States. ((http://vilnews.com/))

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71210.0

Chiune Sugihara Humanity Center
Yaotsu, Japan





Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71210.0

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71210.0

"You want to know about my motivation, don't you? Well, it is the kind of sentiments anyone would have when he actually sees refugees face to face, begging with tears in their eyes. He just cannot help but sympathize with them. Among the refugees were the elderly and women. They were so desperate that they went so far as to kiss my shoes, Yes, I actually witnessed such scenes with my own eyes. Also, I felt at that time, that the Japanese government did not have any uniform opinion in Tokyo. Some Japanese military leaders were just scared because of the pressure from the Nazis; while other officials in the Home Ministry were simply ambivalent.

People in Tokyo were not united. I felt it silly to deal with them. So, I made up my mind not to wait for their reply. I knew that somebody would surely complain about me in the future. But, I myself thought this would be the right thing to do. There is nothing wrong in saving many people's lives... The spirit of humanity, philanthropy... neighborly friendship... with this spirit, I ventured to do what I did, confronting this most difficult situation— and because of this reason, I went ahead with redoubled courage."

-Chiune Sugihara
in 1985, 45 years after the Soviet invasion of Lithuania

wikipedia/

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71210.0