Chiune Sugihara
Chiune Sugihara (1900 –1986) was a Japanese government official who served as vice consul for the Japanese Empire in Kaunas, Lithuania. During the Second World War Sugihara helped some six thousand Jews flee Europe by issuing transit visas to them so that they could travel through Japanese territory, risking his job and his family's lives. The fleeing Jews were refugees from German-occupied Western Poland and Soviet-occupied Western as well as residents of Lithuania. A few decades after the war Israel honored Sugihara as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for his actions. He is the only Japanese national to have been so honored.
A memorial plaque in honor of Sugihara was unveiled in Jerusalem
- Avram Cimerring, son of Israel Yoel Cimerring who was saved by Sugihara
To mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019, a special event took place in the Chamber of the Holocaust on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion, during which a plaque was unveiled in honor of Chiune “Sempo” Sugihara, who was responsible for saving thousands ofJews during the Holocaust. The Chamber was the first museum devoted to the Holocaust in Israel and was established in 1949. The event was initiated by Limmud FSU, the Claims Conference, March of the Living and World Zionist Organization and was attended by Sugihara’s son, Nobuki, who said during the event that: ”I was informed by Japanese tourist guides in Jerusalem that Tourists from Japan stopped coming to Jerusalem since Yad Vashem did not exhibit any information about Chiune Sugihara except a tree with a plate of his name which is hard to find. Now I can tell them that this holocaust museum honored him with a plaque, so that they can start visiting.”
Chaim Chesler, Limmud FSU founder and the initiator of the event, said that “Chiune Sugihara saved thousands of Jews at great personal risk and while endangering not only himself but also his family. Our main aim in mounting this event is to honor his memory formally, in the first Holocaust museum in Israel, and to bring his story of great heroism and self-sacrifice to the wider public.” Shlomo Gur, the Vice President for Israel, Claims Conference said: "The mention of the deeds of Sugihara and other Righteous Among the Nations is meaningful especially in the current period when there is an awakening of anti-Semitism around the world. We in the Claims Conference see great importance in teaching the history of the Holocaust, which includes, of course, the heroic actions by the Righteous Among the Nations, who saved Jews while endangering their own lives and their own future."
Following the ceremony, a plaque honoring Sugihara was unveiled in the Chamber of the Holocaust, and a special song, "Way of the Samurai" honored Sugihara's memory, performed by the singer Avner Budagov. Rabbi Yitzhak Goldstein, chairman of the Chamber of the Holocaust, said after a prayer in Sugihara's memory: "The ceremony in honor of Sugihara has profound significance beyond the rescue of thousands of Jews during the terrible Holocaust years. The consul was a partner in saving a meaningful part of the soul of the Jewish people because the survivors were the main avenue of the talmidei hakhamim who restored the world of Torah and yeshivas after the war."
Rabbi of the March of the Living, Yochanan Fried: "In the vast darkness of the Holocaust, there were also a few points of light. One of them was Mr. Sugihara, a Righteous among the Nations. We thank him for saving so many people, and for saving the dignity of humanity.” Eli Cohen, CEO of the World Zionist Organization: "Holocaust Remembrance and the struggle against anti-Semitism is more important today than ever. It must be part of every person in order to ensure that no other human being will experience it ever again.”
Survivors and several senior officialstook part in the ceremony, among them Japanese Ambassador to the State ofIsrael Mr. Koichi Aiboshi that said: "In 1940 Mr. Sugihara made a really faithful decision, without consulting anybody, but on his own conscious. This decision saved thousands of lives. For diplomat whose home country was a practical ally of Nazis Germany, this was extremely courage action." Avram Cimerring, son of Israel Yoel Cimerring who was saved by Sugihara declared: "My father R.I.P. came to Israel in 1941 after he was saved by Sugihara. Now our family, with children and grandchildren is 60 people. With the help of Sugihara, this is our victory over the Nazis."
Honoring Sugihara at the Mir Yeshiva
- Nobuki Sugihara, the son of Chiune Sugihara.
On Holocaust Memorial Day, an official celebratory event organized by Limmud FSU was held in honor of Chiune Sugihara (1900-1986), the Japanese consul in Kovno during the war. The event was a central feature of the Limmud FSU annual festival in Belarus, attended by some 600 young Jewish participants. The guest of honor at the event was Nobuki Sugihara, the son of the noted Righteous Among the Nations.
Despite the great personal dangers involved, Sugihara issued thousands of entry permits to Japan to Jews in Poland and Lithuania, including most of the students and teaching staff at the famed Mir Yeshiva. Following the war, thanks to Sugihara’s actions, his rescuers founded a new Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem and in New York.
The central feature of the event was the dedication of a memorial plaque to Sugihara who, after the war, was granted by Yad Vashem, the title of “Righteous of the Nations.” The plaque was installed on the historic building of the Yeshiva with the participation of Nobuki Sugihara, the son of Chiune Sugihara. He said during the ceremony that when he asked his father why he had chosen to save the Jews, and if he known them previously, he replied that he had not. "My father told me that the only thing that guided him was a deep desire to help and save anyone whom he could," "He knew they had nowhere to go, and that no one else was going to help them to survive. He said, ‘People simply came to ask me for help and I just did it.’ " The son added, “I am sure that my father is with us here today in spirit and would certainly be very excited by the fact that so many people have come to honor his memory."
Among the participants were Israel's ambassador to Belarus, Alon Shoham; Japan's ambassador to Belarus, Hiroki Tokunga;, the city's chief rabbi, Rabbi Shneur Deutsch; founder of Limmud FSU Chaim Chesler; the head of the Jewish community in Belarus, Vladimir Chernitsky; the ambassadors of Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the European Union as well as the Deputy Ambassador of the United States, Head of Nativ for the Russian Federation, Belarus and the Baltic countries, Yana Agmon; and Mir district Deputy Governor, Ruslan Abramchik. Local residents who wanted to participate in the event received special permission to be absent from work, as did many of the students from the schools in the area who came especially to take part in the ceremony. The event was made possible thanks to the support of the Genesis Philanthropy Group (GPG) and the Jewish businessman Leonid Tomchin.
Chaim Chesler, founder of Limmud FSU: "It is a great honor for our organization to pay tribute to Mr. Sugihara, who did the impossible at great risk to himself and his family, and saved thousands of souls during the terrible Holocaust. Sugihara is a symbol of courage and resourcefulness, and I hope that today we will be able to send a message of hope and sharpen the importance of the persistent struggle against anti-Semitism and racism everywhere in the world. "
Rabbi Deutsch said: "At this difficult time, when there are manifestations of anti-Semitism across the world, such as the recent terrible shooting incident in San Diego, the message that emerges this morning from Mir is one of hope and peace. We should spread the message of the Righteous Among the Nations Sugihara and his heroic actions to serve us as a beacon in these difficult times. "