Sugihara poses for a photo at the Japanese Consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania. WIKICOMMONS
In the summer of 1940, outside the Japanese consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania, throngs of desperate Jewish refugees lined up. Their only hope was to obtain a visa to Japan, which felt like a tenuous lifeline to safety. The individual who would be able to grant it to them was the consul, Chiune Sugihara. However, he had received strict, Tokyo orders not to grant any visa. The government advised him not to issue visas due to the possibility of diplomatic consequences with Nazi Germany.
Sugihara looked again at the families, children, and elderly people in line outside the consulate. And he decided he could not turn away and leave them to death. Following orders while individuals faced certain death was unthinkable. So, between July 31 and August 28, 1940, he worked without a break and handwrite over 2,000 visas. He worked from five in the morning until late at night, without breaks. His wife would help by holding ice on his swollen wrists, while the refugees were lined up and waiting patiently on the street.
Even at the end of the day when the consulate was shutting down, he would not stop. He’d write and issue visas until the last light went out in the consulate building. He wrote in the car that was taking him to the station. And even when he was leaving, he threw visas to people running to meet the moving train by the window. His last words when leaving were:
I wish you good luck... and I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.
Years down the road, survivors would return and share their thanks with him.
Not only did you save us, you saved generations that came after us.
Sugihara lost his diplomatic career because of his defiance, and lived quietly for decades. However, his courage did not go unnoticed. In 1985, Yad Vashem recognized him as "Righteous Among the Nations". One man's conscience, a pen, and dogged determination changed the life of thousands.
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