Leo Melamed, chairman emeritus of the CME Group (formerly known as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange), went to Tokyo to honor a former Japanese consul in Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara, according to a report in New York Times Dealbook.
Mr. Melamed fled Lithuania with his parents to escape the Nazis during World War II. Mr. Melamed was able to escape to Japan, and then reach America, because of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Lithuania who defied his government to issue transit visas that saved 6,000 Jews from almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis. Most of the students and faculty of the Mir Yeshiva were also saved by the efforts of Mr. Sugihara. The story of the Mir Yeshiva has been extensively documented, notably by Rabbi Yechezkel Leitner in Operation Torah Rescue.
The trip of Mr. Melamed was arranged by the mayor of Tsuruga, the port city through which many of Sugihara's Jews entered Japan. The city is now known as the "Port of Humanity" to recognize its role in the war.
Mr. Melamed and his parents traveled for days over land through Siberia's grueling winter. The Mir yeshiva also made a similar trip using the Trans-Siberian railroad. This was also arranged by Mr. Sugihara, but the Soviet officials charged five times the standard ticket price, according to Wikipedia.
Mr. Melamed has for years spoken openly about Mr. Sugihara's role in his family's escape.
"Any time anybody asks me to do anything that relates to Sugihara, I do," he told the New York Times. "I've never said 'no' to anything."
Chiune Sugihara (pronounced chee-YOO-nay soo-gee-HAH-rah) was the Japanese vice-consul in Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania at the beginning of the war. Mr. Sugihara was moved to issue thousands of visas in direct defiance of his superiors, often staying up all night to write them.
Mr. Sugihara appeared entirely motivated by an overriding sense of personal duty, knowing full well that he could face serious consequences for issuing visas without permission from the Japanese government.
"He said to the foreign office that 'Even a great warrior knows to save an injured sparrow,'" said Mr. Melamed, who later befriended Mr. Sugihara's son.
According to the New York Times, Mr. Melamed said that the diplomat had gathered his family together to vote on whether he should defy the Japanese government, which did not want to issue so many transit visas. "He said to them, 'If I follow the dictates of my government, I will violate the dictates of my God, and I can't do that,'" Mr. Melamed said. "The family unanimously voted to do the right thing."
After the war Sugihara was stripped of his position in the Japanese ministry, presumably at least in part because of his defiance, and spent the rest of his career working a series of less prominent positions.
He died in 1986, one year after Israel gave him the Righteous Among the Nations Award, which honors those who took great personal risk to save Jews during the war.
In a book written by professor Hillel Levine in 1996 entitled In Search of Sugihara, Sugihara is quoted in explanation of his actions:
"You want to know about my motivation, don't you? Well. It is the kind of sentiments anyone would have when he actually sees refugees face to face, begging with tears in their eyes. He just cannot help but sympathize with them. Among the refugees were the elderly and women. They were so desperate that they went so far as to kiss my shoes, Yes, I actually witnessed such scenes with my own eyes. Also, I felt at that time, that the Japanese government did not have any uniform opinion in Tokyo. Some Japanese military leaders were just scared because of the pressure from the Nazis; while other officials in the Home Ministry were simply ambivalent.
"People in Tokyo were not united. I felt it silly to deal with them. So, I made up my mind not to wait for their reply. I knew that somebody would surely complain about me in the future. But, I myself thought this would be the right thing to do. There is nothing wrong in saving many people's lives....The spirit of humanity, philanthropy...neighborly friendship...with this spirit, I ventured to do what I did, confronting this most difficult situation—and because of this reason, I went ahead with redoubled courage."
