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NEWS
Japanese Emperor Pays Homage to Rescuer of Jews
by Yated Ne'eman Staff
Japanese Emperor Akihito paid homage to Chiune Sugihara,
known as "the Japanese Oscar Schindler," for his role in
saving thousands of Jewish refugees from occupied Lithuania
by issuing them transit visas just before the implementation
of the Nazi "Final Solution" of murdering all the Jews.
During the course of the Emperor and Empress' 10-day tour of
Europe, they visited a memorial site set up in Vilna to honor
the late diplomat. The visit was covered in detail by the
Japanese media, which had to explain who the unfamiliar
figure was and what he did.
Sugihara, then vice consul at the Japanese Consulate in
Kovno, Lithuania, issued the visas despite the risk to
himself and his family for defying orders. Even when he
boarded the train to Berlin with his family, he continued
filling in the last visa and handed the stamp to one of the
refugees, who continued to use it on additional visas. Among
the Jews he saved were numerous yeshiva students, including
most of Yeshivas Mir.
After the war Sugihara was forced to resign from his post and
only after more than half a century had passed did the
Japanese Foreign Ministry restore his honor, laying a
memorial stone in his name. Sugihara died 10 years ago at the
age of 86. In 1985 Yad Vashem recognized him as a Righteous
Among the Nations.
The former Japanese Consulate building in Kovna stands to
this day as a memorial site to Sugihara, and the Lithuanian
President was on hand at the inauguration ceremony for the
site.
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