PASSAGE TO FREEDOM

The Sugihara Story

PASSAGE TO FREEDOM

 

Paul Bao

 

 

Sugihara is a surname in Japan. It had probably been an ordinary surname before this story happened. However, it has become a very special surname since this story happened.

 

In 1940 Mr. Chiune Sugihara was the Japanese diplomat in Lithuania. He and his family, including his wife and their three children as well as a female relative, lived in Kaunas, Lithuania.

 

One early morning in late July 1940, hundreds of people crowded around the gate in front of the Sugiharas’ house. These people were Jews refugees escaped from Poland. If they stayed in Lithuania they would be killed by the Nazi soldiers. They had heard that Mr. Sugihara could give them the passage visas to travel to Japan. Once in Japan, they could go to another country.

 

Actually Mr. Sugihara could issue a few passage visas, but not hundreds. Therefore he had to ask for permission from his government in Japan. Mr. Sugihara cabled his government three times but the answers were the same – “No.” At that moment Mr. Sugihara made a historic decision, which was supported by his wife Mrs. Sugihara, i.e., to issue the passage visas to the Jews refugees as many as needed. He said to his family members, “I may have to disobey my government, but I must obey my God.” Because he thought, saving those refugees’ lives was the right thing coinciding with God’s will that he should do and could do.

 

In the following about thirty days, there was a line leading to the Sugihares’ garage everyday. Mr. Sugihara worked from early morning till late night to issue about three hundred visas everyday. More and more Jews refugees came joining the line from different places. The visa issuing had been continuing until Mr. Sugihara was transferred to Germany, until he sat on the train departing for Berlin. The last few visas were issued on the train and handed to the refugees through the train window.

 

Mr. Sugihara saved thousands of lives which later were called the Sugihara Survivors. In 1985 he was chosen to receive the Righteous Among Nations Award. He was the first and only Asian to have been given this great honor. Mr. Sugihara died in 1986. Six years after his death, a monument to him was dedicated in his birthplace of Yaotsu, Japan, on a hill that is now known as the Hill of Humanity.

 

I believe that The Sugihara Story will inspire today’s generation to care for all people and to respect life. It is a story that proves that one person can make a difference. 

 

 

(September 20, 2007)