The Japanese Schindler: The Story of Chiune Sugihara

Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese vice consul stationed in Kaunas, Lithuania (then known as Kovno). It was a one person consulate. The main reason why the Japanese government had sent him here was because it was a prime location for spying on both the Nazi regime and the Soviets. Sugihara was selected mostly because of his language skills. He spoke Japanese, Chinese, Russian, English, French, and German.

The rescue

Although he was only at this post from 1939 to 1940, Chiune Sugihara single-handedly (with the encouragement of his wife Yukiko) saved the lives of an estimated 10,000 (some claim 40,000) Jews by issuing visas to Tokyo to anyone who applied.

In doing research for his recent biography of Chiune Sugihara, author Hillel Levine searched through the Japanese Foreign Ministry records and found Sugihara's "list" of over 2,000 Jews. Most were given to the heads of families. Back then, one visa could be issued to an entire family.

On of the more notable instances was when the envoy issued visas to all the students and the entire faculty of a famous Jewish religious school, the Mir Yeshiva.

From Japan, most of the rescued Jews went on to Shanghai, China, where they survived the war.

The aftermath

In 1944, the Soviets arrested Chiune Sugihara and his family, and they were held for over a year. In 1947, he returned to Japan where he was retired from government service and granted a small pension.

The reunion

In 1969, after a 30 year search, Yehoshua Nishri, one of the Kaunas rescuees, finally found Sugihara. This news brought more survivors forward to attest to the former vice consul's grand deeds.

The honor

In 1985, one year before his death, Chiune Sugihara was honored by the state of Israel's Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, with the title "Righteous Among the Nations". Although Chiune was too ill to attend the ceremony, his wife Yukiko and his son traveled to Israel on his behalf.

A little more about Chiune Sugihara

His first Japanese government official position was as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs in Manchuria, China in 1933, not long after Japan's invasion. In 1934, Sugihara resigned his post in protest of the Japanese military's brutal and racist treatment of the Chinese people.

When later asked why he risked his life saving some many strangers, Chiune Sugihara replied, "They were human beings and they needed help. I'm glad I found the strength to make the decision to give it to them."

SOURCES:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/sugihara.html

"Sugihara's longer list", John Berlau, Insight on the news, URL: (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n16_v13/ai_19356643)

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005594

http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.aspx?c=hkLTJ8MUKvH&b=475889