Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese government official who served as vice consul for the Japanese Empire in Lithuania. During the Second World War, Sugihara risked the lives of himself and his entire family by helping by issuing transit visas to thousands of Jews so that they could flee Europe through Japanese territory … And this was no easy task, seeing as how Japan demanded that anyone granted a Japanese visa must already have a visa enabling them to exit Japan to a third country – and very few Lithuanian Jews could procure such a document.  So instead of shrugging his shoulders and looking the other way, Chiune decided to do something about it, and began granting visas on his own authority – writing most of them by hand, and often doing so for 18-hours a day.  And he continued to do every single day, producing an entire month’s worth of visas in every one of those days, until he was forced to leave his post shortly before the Japanese Consulate was closed.  And even then he didn’t stop.  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.

 

Needless to say, considering both the inferiority of his position in the Japanese Foreign Service, as well as the Japanese culture in general which places a heavy onus on adhering to rules and authority, this choice was an exceptionally courageous one.  And his courage paid off, as his efforts directly saved the lives of at least 6000 men, women, and children.

 

“I cannot allow these people to die, people who have come to me for help with death staring them in the eyes.  Whatever punishment may be imposed upon me, I choose to follow my conscience … We should do what is Right because it is Right, and then leave it alone.” ~ Chiune Sugihara

Filed under: In LOVE with Humanity by Scaughdt