#sugihara chiune

[eretzyisrael]

Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara and his wife Yukiko spent 18-20 hours a day writing and signing transit visas by hand in Lithuania for more than 6,000 Jews for 29 days from July 31 to August 28, 1940.

When it was time for them to depart, Sugihara said, "Please forgive me. I cannot write anymore. I wish you the best." When he bowed to the people before him, someone exclaimed, "Sugihara. We'll never forget you. I'll surely see you again!" It is estimated that actions undertaken by him and his wife are responsible for the present lives of around 100,000 people.

Rabbi Yisroel Bernath 

[todaysjewishholiday]

24 Tammuz 5784 (29-30 July 2024)

There is a midrashic saying that “whoever destroys a single life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed the whole world, and whoever saves a single life is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world” and the 24th of Tammuz is the yahrzeit of a gentile who saved the world many times over.

Chiune Sugihara was a minor functionary in the Japanese foreign service, posted in 1939 to a consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania. As the possibility of a German invasion became clearer, Ashkenazi Jews flocked to the consulate seeking exit visas to escape Lithuania. While the Japanese government insisted on issuing visas only to those with sufficient funds for self support, Sugihara was well aware of the Nazi regime’s aim to eradicate the Jewish people. When his petitions to his superiors for exceptions to the visa policy were denied, Sugihara decided that the humanitarian needs of the Jewish population overrode the importance of abiding by policy. From the 12th of Tammuz to Rosh Chodesh Elul 5700, Sugihara spent 18-20 hours a day writing transit visas for Jewish refugees by hand, saving thousands of Jewish families from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Lithuania. Sugihara’s one man campaign to provide documents for as many Jews as possible to escape the Nazis was stopped only by his own reassignment to Königsberg. He continued to write visas in his apartment and while traveling to the train station to depart, throwing them out the window to Jewish refugees gathered on the platform. Refugees report that Sugihara left his official stamp for use in forging additional visas after his departure, though his family denies that his violations of official policy went that far.

Sugihara lost his position in the Japanese foreign service after the war, possibly on account of the numerous unauthorized visas he distributed in Kaunas. It was several decades before any of the beneficiaries of his decision were able to find the man who had saved their lives by signing a single piece of paper. Sugihara lived the majority of his life in humble quiet. In 5745, he was recognized by Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations who had saved Jewish lives during the Shoah. He died on the 24th of Tammuz the following year.

[memories-of-ancients]

Eastern Orthodox style icon of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania during World War II who used his authority to rescue over 6,000 Jewish refugees from the Holocaust

[girlactionfigure]

[unhonestlymirror]

Chiune Sugihara was assigned as the vice-consul of the Japanese consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1939.

Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, and many Jewish refugees from Poland and other countries had gathered in Kaunas, hoping to find a way out of Europe.

They heard that Japan was a possible destination for them, as Japan had not yet joined the Axis powers and had maintained diplomatic relations with some European countries. However, they needed transit visas from the Japanese consulate to cross the Soviet Union and reach Japan.

Hundreds of Jews in desperate need of visas approached Sugihara, imploring him to assist them. Despite his efforts, Sugihara was unsuccessful in obtaining permission from his superiors in Tokyo to issue visas to the refugees. He made three separate requests, but each time his appeal was turned down. The Japanese authorities stipulated that only those individuals who possessed valid passports, adequate funds, and confirmed exit visas from Japan were eligible to receive transit visas.

Sugihara decided to disobey his government, and worked more than 18 hours a day issuing hand-written visas to the Jews.

He continued issuing visas until September 4th 1940 when he had to leave Kaunas with his family due to the closure of the consulate. According to eye witness accounts, he was still busy writing visas and tossing them out of the train as it departed. Overall, his efforts saved the lives of over 6000 people. Despite his heroic actions, his story remained largely unknown until 1985, just a year before his passing.

It is believed that up to 100,000 individuals who are alive today are descendants of people who received visas from Sugihara.

[sonimage1965]

Chiune Sugihara

[rickchung]

Courage Now x Firehall Arts Centre x Railtown. (via Youn Park)

Vancouver-based playwright/actress Manami Hara stars in her own remarkable dramatic stage play directed by Amiel Gladstone. Her intertwined script weaves dual timelines from the past to relate the true story of one Japanese diplomat’s tireless bravery, Vice-Consul Chiune “Sempo” Sugihara (aka “the Japanese Schindler”), in saving some six-thousand Jewish lives fleeing Nazi oppression in WWII-era Lithuania.

At its core, Courage Now is told as a ghost story through memories dramatized in traumatic flashbacks balancing the sacrifices of history and their ripples through time into the lives of generational descendants. Sugihara (Ryota Kaneko) as a character is a phantom in the lives of his widow, Yukiko (Hara), and a young “Sugihara Jew”, only a child (Katherine Matlashewski) when she fled, who later visits Japan as an adult (Advah Soudack) to learn more about her past. It’s a powerful historical retelling expressed creatively to heighten its heartbreakingly real drama.

Cast: (left to right) Matlashewski, Kaneko, and Hara.

Running live on stage now until Dec. 4.

[proudzionist]

Source : Jewishpridwalways on Instagram 🇮🇱💙

Chiune Sugihara saved 6,000 Jewish refugees lives by issuing then visas .

He was honored as Righteous among the nations by Yad Vashem .

I had know idea that Japan had a Jewish population. This is beautiful ❤️❤️❤️

[david-goldrock]

Righteous Among the Nations Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara street

Japan's consol in Lithuania in WW2

Rescued thousands of jews by giving visas to Jews asking to leave Lithuania

[everythingismadeofchaos]

This is my list of (IMHO) genuinely heroic people. I keep this list so that when I'm feeling uninspired I can pick a name at random, look them up, and be inspired. My memory kinda sucks so I've usually forgotten about them in the interim so it's like hearing some inspiring story for the first time. Please feel free to use this list for that purpose or for whatever purpose helps you. This is a private thing I've been absent-mindedly curating for years, so it's a little discombobulated; maybe I should put it in alphabetical order, for example. Since it works for what I use it for, though, I've never had the need for that, although there may be some duplicates specifically because of that.

If you have any additions, I'd love to hear them.

If you know of a reason somebody should not be on here, I'd love to hear that too. There are some controversial choices here, some people I've hemmed and hawed about, but in the end they're still on the list.

In no particular order:

Rachel Corrie

Aaron Bushnell

Sophie Scholl

Irena Sendler

Eugeniusz Łazowski

Mary Schweitzer. I know who she is but I'm including her anyway. Takes guts to do what she did

Temar Boggs

Juan Pujol García

Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson

Robert Smalls

Temar Boggs

Henrietta Swan Leavitt

Aitzaz Hassan Bangash Shaheed. Might already be on here; I need to alphabetize this list

Sal Khan. Yeah, I'm including him

Irena Sendler

Neerja Bhanot

Iqbal Masih

Tank man

Stephen Ruth. The guy with the cameras. He's no tank man, but why not, he's on the list

Narendra Dabholkar

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Sophie Scholl

Charles Hazlitt Upham

Wang Weilin

John Rabe (? ... Kind of questionable for obvious reasons. He saved a couple hundred thousand Chinese people though. I don't know. He was what he was.)

Baron Jean Michel P.M.G. de Selys Longchamps, DFC

Aitzaz Hasan Bangash

Daniel Hale

Hannie Schaft

Reality Winner … I guess

Aki Ra

Norman Borlaug

Neil Armstrong

Stanislav Petrov

Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov

William Kamkwamba

Donald A Henderson

Freddie Oversteegen

Daryl Davis and his collection of robes

Jacinto Convit

Sir Nicholas Winton

August Landmesser

Jonas Salk

Carl Lutz

Giorgio Perlasca

Derrick Nelson, principal of Westfield High School in New Jersey

Giles Corey

Chiune Sugihara

Sophie Scholl

Ronald McNair? Why not

Khader Adnan

Mordechai Vanunu

Corollary:

I'm not sure how to phrase "the opposite of this list," so I'm just going to call it the opposite of this list. Genuinely villainous people? Too easy, and honestly not what I'm going for. Anyway, I'm going to leave out the obvious like Hitler, Trump and Gaddafi because they're, well, obvious. Actually I'm not really sure what the goal of this list is so I'm just kind of winging it. People not to emulate?

Marvin Heemeyer

[jewishpositivity18]

The Japanese Diplomat who helped Jewish people escape the Holocaust

This is Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Lithuania in 1940.

Many Jewish refugees found themselves trapped between the Nazi army, who had just conquered Poland, and the Soviet army, who were about to take Lithuania.

Sugihara defied orders from his own government and issued thousands of transit visas to Jewish refugees, enabling them to leave Europe for safer countries.

Many of the visas covered entire families as well as people who had no passports or any way of escape.

Sugihara was in the right place at the right time and did the right thing, using his office to save thousands of lives.

The entire Mirrer Yeshiva of Lithuania, over 300 students and rabbis, were able to escape Europe thanks to Sugihara's visas.

Today Sugihara is honored as "Righteous Among the Nations".

[estebanlopezgonzalezcom]

"Cuando hagas algo noble y hermoso y nadie se de cuenta, no estés triste. El amanecer es un espectáculo hermoso y sin embargo la mayor parte de la audiencia duerme todavía".

- John Lennon, 1940-1980.

https://estebanlopezgonzalez.com/2013/07/15/chiune-sugihara/

[1americanconservative]

This is Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara and his wife Yukiko. They spent 18-20 hours a day writing and signing transit visas by hand in Lithuania for thousands of Jews for 29 days from July 31 to August 28, 1940. Yukiko described their last days in Lithuania: "He was so exhausted, like a sick person. Even though he was ordered to go to Berlin, he said he couldn't make it to Berlin and suggested we go to a hotel and rest before leaving. When we got to the hotel, the Jewish people came looking for us there. So he wrote some more visas in the hotel. The next day when we got to the train station, they were there too. So he wrote more visas on the platform until the train left. Once we were on board, they were hanging on the windows, and he wrote some more. When the train started moving, he couldn't write anymore. Everyone was waving their hands. One of them called out, 'Thank you Mr. Sugihara, we will come to see you again,' and he came running after the train. I couldn't stop crying. When I think about it, even now, I can't help crying." As the train left the station, Sugihara said, "Please forgive me. I cannot write anymore. I wish you the best." It is estimated that the actions undertaken by him and his wife are responsible for the present lives of around 100,000 people. After the war, Sugihara was forced to resign and work menial jobs (selling light bulbs door to door). He languished in relative obscurity until 1968 when an Israeli diplomat managed to find him and finally got him the recognition that he deserved. Sugihara never told anyone what he had done during the war. Even his closest friends had no idea. "I may have disobeyed my government, but if I didn't, I would be disobeying God. In life, do what's right because it's right, and leave it alone."

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Today in Christian History

Today is Sunday, October 8th, 2023. It is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 84 days remain until the end of the year.

451: The Council of Chalcedon opens to deal with the Eutychians, who believe Christ’s divinity swallowed up his humanity “like a drop of wine in the sea.”

1664: Benjamin Keach is hauled before a magistrate and accused of scandalous behavior for printing a Baptist primer for children.

1708: Burial of John Blow at Westminster Abbey, where he had been organist. He had composed many lovely religious works such as “Salvador Mundi.”

1744: Lawyer Elisha Paine, imprisoned in Windham, Connecticut, for preaching illegally, writes his wife to say he preached on the prison grounds, with the result many people came under spiritual conviction.

1797: Jacob Albright, an evangelist among German speakers, preaches his first known sermon—in an open marketplace at Shafferstown, Pennsylvania. His text is Hebrews 2:3, “How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” The gathering is broken up by a mob.

1871: Ex-con Jerry McAuley opens the Water Street Mission of New York, one of the first rescue missions in the world.

1888: Russian Emperor Alexander III (pictured above) and several family members attend a stone-laying ceremony for the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Baku, Azerbaijan, where the Tsar hopes to encourage the spread of Russian Orthodoxy. The church, designed to hold 1,700 worshipers, will be dedicated exactly one year later. Baku churches with the same name had been built in 1815 and 1858.

2008: Death of Mrs. Yukiko Sugihara, who had helped her husband, Chiune Sugihara, rescue thousands of Jews from Lithuania during World War II.

[girlactionfigure]

This is Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara and his wife Yukiko.⁣

⁣

They spent 18-20 hours a day writing and signing transit visas by hand in Lithuania for more than 6,000 Jews for 29 days from July 31 to August 28, 1940.⁣

Yukiko described their last days in Lithuania: "He was so exhausted, like a sick person. Even though he was ordered to go to Berlin, he said he couldn’t make it to Berlin and suggested we go to a hotel and rest before leaving. When we got to the hotel, the Jewish people came looking for us there. So he wrote some more visas in the hotel.⁣

The next day when we got to the train station, they were there too. So he wrote more visas on the platform until the train left. Once we were on board, they were hanging on the windows and he wrote some more. When the train started moving, he couldn’t write any more. Everyone was waving their hands. One of them called out, ‘Thank you Mr. Sugihara, we will come to see you again,’ and he came running after the train. I couldn’t stop crying. When I think about it even now I can’t help crying."⁣

As the train left the station, Sugihara said, "Please forgive me. I cannot write anymore. I wish you the best." It is estimated that the actions undertaken by him and his wife are responsible for the present lives of around 100,000 people.⁣

After the war, Sugihara was forced to resign and work menial jobs (selling lightbulbs door to door). He languished in relative obscurity until 1968 when an Israeli diplomat managed to find him and finally got him the recognition that he deserved.⁣⁣

Sugihara never told anyone what he had done during the war. Even his closest friends had no idea. "I may have disobeyed my government, but if I didn’t I would be disobeying God. In life, do what’s right because it’s right, and leave it alone."⁣

Source: Liphshiz, Cnaan (23 May 2019). "Holocaust hero Chiune Sugihara's son sets record straight on his father's story". Times of Israel.History Cool Kids

[unhonestlymirror]

It's sakura time in Lithuania!

In Vilnius, there is the whole sakura park in the name of Chiune Sugihara - a Japanese man who saved a lot of Lithuanians during WW2.