VISAS FOR LIFE

Visas for Life: The Story of Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara and the Rescue of Thousands of Jews


JAPANESE DIPLOMAT HONORED FOR 3rd LARGEST HOLOCAUST RESCUE

During World War II, the true nature of mankind was tested. A Japanese man named Chiune Sugihara set the curve with an act of altruism and courage, by helping thousands of Jewish strangers escape from the Nazis. His remarkable story is the subject of a photographic exhibit, Visas for Life -- The Story of Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara and the Rescue of Thousands of Jews, organized by the Visas for Life Foundation, San Francisco.

Sugihara's at Park
Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara in front of a park entrance. Printed in German and Lithuanina, the sign behind reads "Jews not allowed." 
The photos tells the compelling story of Sugihara, a rising star in Japanese diplomacy who, with his wife Yukiko, risked their lives and the lives of their children by issuing unauthorized Japanese transit visas to Jewish refugees from Poland fleeing the Nazis. In the span of 28 days and with throngs of desperate people waiting outside his consulate window he issued more than 2,139 visas. Each visa may have been used by an entire family. Sugihara at Desk
Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara, the Japanese consular official serving in Lithuania, saved one of the largest number of Jews in the Holocaust.
Sugihara's efforts resulted in the rescue of an estimated 6 - 12,000 Jews, the second largest rescue after that of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish envoy who saved 100,000 Hungarian Jews; and followed by the rescue De Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul General in Bordeaux, France, who saved between 30,000 - 50,000 Jews. Together, these three men were responsible for saving approximately 150,000 persons, or 15% of all Jews who were rescued during the Holocaust.

"The story of men like Sugihara offsets the darkness of the Holocaust by lighting a candle of justice," says Eric Saul, exhibit curator for the Visas for Life Foundation. "We are trying to inspire people to act as courageously and with the same conscience as Sugihara, whether in Rwanda or Bosnia, or wherever there is injustice. Our hope is that the children who see this story, who one day might become diplomats or presidents -- or simply find themselves in a position to help -- will be inspired by this exhibit."

Jews at Japanese Consular Office
Jewish refugees from Poland outside the gates of the Japanese Consular Office, Kaunus (Kovno), Lithuania, July 1940. (Photo by Setusuko Kikuchi.)