Sugihara Chiune 杉原 千畝

One of the most remarkable men in the Japanese diplomatic corps in World War II was Chiune Sugihara who was also an Orthodox Christian. Born on January 1, 1900 in Yaotsu, Gifu prefecture, he attended Waseda University where he studied English. Throughout his youth he was known as an exceptionally gifted student. After earning a scholarship he was recruited into the Japanese Foreign Ministry and assigned to Harbin, Manchuria where he also studied the Russian and German languages and became an expert in Russian affairs. He did diplomatic work as part of the ongoing problems between Russia and Japan over the rail network in Manchuria which had originally been under the control of Czarist Russia and which the Soviets were trying to reclaim. However, he did resign finally in protest over the way some of his countrymen mistreated the local people. (General Kanji Ishihara later made similar complaints). It was also while in Harbin that Chiune Sugihara converted to Christianity, being baptized into the Eastern Orthodox Church. During these years he also married a Russian woman but the couple later divorced, his wife initiating the divorce, because she did not want to have children. It worked out for the best though as Chiune later returned to Japan and married Yukiko Kikuchi who was a remarkable woman, as upright and devoted as her husband.

杉原幸子

Chiune and Yukiko settled down to a happy family life and over time had four sons. He still worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was sent further abroad to the Japanese delegation in Helsinki, Finland where he worked as a translator. In 1939 Chiune Sugihara was posted to Lithuania as a vice-consul to assist the local diplomat post as well as keeping an eye on German and Japanese troop movements in the region. His family came with him and Yukiko would be a strong and invaluable support to her husband during this time. It was a critical time for the world as war had just broken out in Europe. Germany invaded Poland and a short time later (after Polish resistance was broken) the Soviets invaded from the east and Poland was partitioned between them. This was when the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was in effect between Germany and Russia. One Poland had been conquered and occupied there was immediately a flood of refugees from Poland to Lithuania, many of whom were Jews who were naturally fearful of being under the rule of Nazi Germany. There were also many Jews already in Lithuania and the country was nervous that it would soon be invaded as well as there had been territorial disputes with Germany and the Soviet dictator Stalin had made no secret of his desire to claim all the Baltic countries for the USSR. Many began to appear at the Japanese consulate where Sugihara worked asking for exit visas to escape the country. Chiune Sugihara asked the Japanese government what he should do and three times the government said he could not give the people visas, for the understandable reason that they had not gone through the proper legal process and that Japan was unable to take on large numbers of foreigners when the country was already under great strain.

杉原千畝

However, more and more Jews appeared, desperate for help and a way to escape and Sugihara felt that he had to do something. He talked to his family and it was agreed that they had to help the Jewish refugees. He said later that, seeing their suffering with his own eyes, there was no way he could ignore their plight and so he decided to take action. "Do what is right because it is right and leave it alone" he said. Acting on his own authority, Sugihara began writing out exit visas in his own hand and giving them to the Jewish refugees. Of course, word spread quickly that the quiet Japanese gentleman in Kovno was handing out exit visas and soon his home was besieged by huge crowds of Jews desperate to escape the advancing German armies. In response, Sugihara worked even harder, writing out exit visas and signing them all day every day without stop. He signed visas for hours on end, while he was eating, all day, every day with Yukiko massaging his sore hands at night. He worked and worked for longer and longer hours writing and signing exit visas for the crowds of refugees who, when given them, were so thankful that many kissed his feet. He also talked to Russian officials who agreed to let the Jews pass safely through the Soviet Union to Japan.

Word finally came that the consulate was being closed and Sugihara was being transferred to Germany. He and his wife stayed up all night before their day of departure, filling out exit visas to the last possible moment. Finally, with time running out, he simply began signing blank pieces of paper so that these could be left behind and filled out by the Jews themselves and used to escape. He left behind his official seal for this purpose. Even as his train was pulling out of town he kept signing visas and passing them out the window to the crowds of people wishing to escape. In all, Chiune Sugihara saved the lives of about 6,000 Jews by his actions. They traveled across Soviet Russia, were taken to Kobe in Japan and were finally relocated to Shanghai in part of China occupied by Japan where they were protected by the Imperial Japanese Army. For Sugihara, he served in Berlin and later other cities in German-occupied Europe, lastly in Bucharest, Romania. When the Soviet Red Army invaded Romania he and his family were arrested and put in prison. This was in 1944 remember, before the Soviet Union had declared war on Japan. After the war was over, Sugihara was finally released with his family and allowed to return home to Japan.

Orthodox Christian icon of Sugihara

As the Empire of Japan was dissolved, to be replaced by the modern State of Japan, Sugihara was dismissed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he settled in Fujisawa to a hard life, as many people had, taking any available job to support his family. He was a very modest and humble man who never talked about the fact that he had saved the lives of thousands of people from certain death. With his country in ruins and going through a difficult transition, it was hard for individual stories like his to gain attention, particularly when the person in question never talked about it. He did what he had thought was the right, moral thing to do according to his Christian values and he never sought any reward or recognition for doing the right thing. However, others remembered, especially the people he saved. His kindness and compassion was the difference between life and death for thousands of people and, with their descendants, tens of thousands. He worked for an export company and finally worked for sixteen years in the Soviet Union, using his knowledge of the Russian language, while his family remained in Japan. When he died in Kamakura in 1986, tributes poured in from around the world. Many of his neighbors were astonished to know that the quiet man next door had saved the lives of thousands of people during the war. He was honored by the State of Israel as one of the "Righteous Gentiles" and his memory has been honored ever since in the Christian community, particularly the Eastern Orthodox, as an example of Christian charity, kindness, humility and compassion. For that, he shall always be remembered.