A Diplomat who Issued Life Saving Visas Against Orders

SUGIHARA Chiune

Sixty years ago in May 1945, Japan's wartime ally Germany accepted an unconditional surrender and Japan did the same in August. Thus World War 2 came to a close. This tragic conflict began when Hitler's Germany invaded Poland in 1939. At that time there was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania who granted life saving visas to many Jewish who were being persecuted by the Nazis. His name was SUGIHARA Chiune, who is often referred to as the 'Japanese Oscar SCHINDLER.' Many people now know about Oscar Schindler since Director Steven SPIELBERG produced the Academy Award winning movie "Schindler's List."

Many Jewish escaped from Nazi-occupied Poland into Lithuania, which was regarded as a neutral country like Swizerland. However, on July 15, 1940, a pro-Soviet Union regime was born in Lithuania and it was only a matter of time before Lithuania would merge with the Soviet Union. If they merged, Jews would lose their freedom to travel to foreign countries, so they had to leave Lithuania before that occurred. German already occupied Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France and the diplomats and their staff at foreign embassies and consulates were already leaving before the Soviet Union closed the country's border.

There wasn't a moment to lose, but they had only one escape route - to depart to a third country by obtaining a transit visa from Japan. Many Jewish refugees rushed to the Japanese consulate to obtain this visa. At that time, the Japanese government had a neutral policy against Jewish people, but Japan, which was allied with Germany, had intentions to shut them out by raising the visa qualification conditions impossibly high.

At 6:00 a.m. on the morning of July 18, 1940, the Japanese consulate was surrounded by a crowd of 200 Jewish people asking for visas. As most of them did not meet the qualification requirements, Chiune asked the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to permit him to grant the visas for them. However, his wish was turned down. He made the request again and again, but the answer was the same. After considering the situation overnight, Chiune decided to issue visas by himself - against the Ministry's wishes - to desperate Jews including those who couldn't even provide the required documents to apply for the transit visa to Japan. It was a very risky decision. He then worked very hard to issue visas every day to Jewish people who were rushing to leave.

I can't issue any more ...
On August 3 of that year, Lithuania merged with the Soviet Union. One day before, Chiune received an order from the Ministry to leave the consulate, but he ignored it and continued to issue visas. He received another leave order from the Ministry and also from the Soviet Government again and again, but he refused to obey. On August 26, the consulate was finally closed. However, even after that, Chiune continued to issue travel certificates, which could substitute for visas, from his hotel.

On September 5th, when Chiune's family left for the station to leave for Berlin, many Jewish people still wanting help had gathered on the station platform. Chiune issued more travel certificates, even while on the departing train and apologized to those he could not help by saying, "Forgive me. I can't issue any more. I pray for your safety."

At present, 2139 names are on Sugihara's list held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Taking into account their families and those not on the list, the number of Jews Chiune helped is said to be between 6,000 and 8,000. When you compare this with Schindler who saved 300 Jews, you can understand just how many people he saved.

After Lithuania merged with the Soviet Union, Chiune worked at Japanese consulates in Germany, Czechoslovakia, East Prussia and Rumania. After World War 2, he was sent to a concentration camp in Bucharest before returning to Japan in 1947. However, he was forced by the Ministry to retire, supposedly because he disobeyed orders.

In 1985, Chiune was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations' by the Israeli Government. Even after making the news about his issuance of visas, he humbly commented, "It is not the matter that newspapers and TVs make a fuss about. I did only what I should."

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