A new exhibition in Russia: the life of the Jewish savior

On the international day for tolerance an exhibition on the life of Chianou Sugihara was indicated last week in Kaliningrad, Russia– a Japanese diplomat at the Japanese consulate in Kovno in Lithunia during World War II. Sugihara granted, contrary to the state, some 6,000 visas to Jews fleeing from Poland, who fled to Russia and then China.

In 1947, Sugihara returned to Japan. Under the official rationale of downsizing, he was dismissed from the Foreign Ministry for visas handed out freely. He had to work at various manual jobs for quite some time, and worked in the shop of one of the Jewish organizations. In 1960 he got a job in retail in Russia, and worked for about 16 years.

In 1985, Sugihara received recognition as a 'Righteous Gentile' by Yad Vashem. Sugihara did not accept honors or favors of any kind, except a scholarship given by Israel to his son Novokii. He refused to be interviewed, and in a rare interview he said, to do the right thing because that is the truth - and not for any other reason.

Sugihara died on 31 July 1986 at age 86.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!