Asian Heroes of the Holocaust

The Holocaust was an unforgettable tragedy that echoed around the world throughout its reign of terror prior to and during World War II. Its brutality was horrendous and its memory continues to be a permanent stain on the consciousness of humanity itself. But with great tragedy came great heroism in the few who stood up against it, whether they were members of allied nations or even hostile nations at the time. And the countries of Asia were no exception to this. The Righteous Among the Nations is a title given to all non-Jews who risked their lives, during the Holocaust, to save the lives of Jews from the Nazi extermination. Out of all those who received this honor, three of them were Asian and below are their stories.

Chiune Sugihara

Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat who was living with his wife and children in Lithuania around the time that the Holocaust was at its full swing. In late July of 1940, hundreds of Jewish refugees appeared at his doorstep asking for transit visas to escape German persecution. When this occurred, the Japanese government forbade Chiune to issue visas without adhering to strict protocol, which could have easily delayed the issuing of all visas indefinitely. But in defiance of his government's order and with the help of other individuals, Chiune issued as many transit visas as he can resulting in the saving of over 6,000 lives. Chiune is the first and only Japanese to have received the Righteous Among the Nations honor.

Ho Feng Shan

Ho Feng Shan was a Chinese consul general who issued exit visas to Shanghai during his diplomatic term in Vienna, Austria from 1938-1940. After Hitler had overtaken Austria, anti-Semitism and the open persecution of Jews became full blown within only a short period of time. In fact, within less than a month following the annexation of Austria to Germany, the first Austrian Jews were already being sent to concentration camps. As a result, foreign consulates all across the country were flooded with Jews desperately seeking visas to escape the persecution. In defiance of official instructions from his country and against all the critical attitudes of his fellow Chinese diplomats, who cared little for the Jews and their plight, Ho Feng Shan chose to authorize visas to Shanghai for any and all who asked for it. This was important because many other foreign consulates had a habit of turning down many visa applicants for various reasons. And although Shanghai didn't require visas to enter into it at the time, such visas were still necessary for allowing persecuted Jews to escape Nazi controlled territories. It is estimated that the amount of lives saved by Ho Feng Shan could easily number into the thousands. On April 8, 1939, about a year after issuing the visas, Shan was punished with a demerit by the Chinese government.

Pan Jun-Shun

Pan Jun-Sun was a Chinese laborer who was working in the Ukraine around 1941, during the time that the Germans occupied that territory and forced the Jewish population of that area into a detention center. While there, the Jews were forced to work and live in hardship, with hardly any food or water, forcing some of them to eat snow. At one point in time, the Germans announced the transportation of all the Jewish children within that area to another town, when in truth, they were actually planning to kill them in transit. With the help of her mother, a Ukrainian Jewish girl, Ludmilla Genrichovna, managed to escape this fate and travel to her former home. There, she ran into Pan Jun-Shun who was living in the home at the time, along with other Chinese laborers. Pan Jun-Shun, who had lost his own wife a few years earlier and his own sons to the Soviet Army draft, took Ludmilla under his wing and even provided education for her well after the liberation of that territory from German occupation. Eventually, Ludmilla went on to marry and, in 1974, Pan Jun-Shun passed away. Pan Jun-Shun was the first Chinese to ever receive the honor of Righteous Among the Nations.

Many times, when people think of the Holocaust, they tend to associate it as one of the greatest, if not the greatest atrocity ever committed towards the Jewish ethnicity. But, the truth is, the Holocaust was an atrocity committed against all of humanity, regardless of race or ethnicity. And just as it was an atrocity against all races, those who stood up against it were individuals from all races, whether they were diplomats who handed out visas, low-class laborers who hid survivors, or soldiers who fought in the front line against an evil regime. For just as the memory of the Holocaust must be preserved in the annuls of history for sake of its victims, it must also be preserved for the sake of its heroes as well.