Chiune Sugihara at his desk. Photo courtesy Sugihara family.

Chiune Sugihara - Visas for Life Exhibit

CHIUNE SUGIHARA: THE RESCUE OF POLISH JEWS

CHIUNE SUGIHARA: WHO WAS CHIUNE SUGIHARA?

For more than 70 years, people have wondered who Chiune Sugihara was, and why he risked his career, his family fortune, and the lives of his family to issue visas to Jewish refugees in Lithuania.

Sugihara was born on January 1, 1900. He graduated from high school with top marks and his father insisted that he become a medical doctor. Chiune's dream was, however, to study literature and live abroad. Sugihara attended Tokyo's prestigious Waseda University and studied English. He paid for his own education with part-time work as a longshoreman and tutor.

One day, an item in the newspaper caught Chiune’s attention: the Foreign Ministry was seeking people who wished to study abroad and would be interested in a diplomatic career.

Soon, Sugihara passed the difficult foreign service entrance exam and was sent to the Japanese language institute in Harbin, China. There he studied Russian and graduated with honors.

Sugihara resided in Harbin, Manchuria, for 16 years.  There he learned fluent Russian.  He also met and married a Caucasian woman; they later divorced.

Sugihara then served as a diplomat with the Japanese occupation government in Manchuria, in northeastern China. He was later promoted to Vice Minister of the Foreign Affairs Department. He was in line to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Manchuria.

In 1932, Sugihara negotiated the purchase of the Russian-owned Northern Manchurian railroad system for Japan.

CHIUNE SUGIHARA: SUGIHARA'S CHOICE

Time began to run out for the refugees as Hitler tightened the net around Eastern Europe. The refugees came upon an idea which they presented to Sugihara. They discovered that the two Dutch colonial islands, Curacao and Surinam, situated in the Caribbean, did not require formal entrance visas, and the Dutch consul, Jan Zwartendijk, informed them that he would be willing to stamp their passports with a Dutch visa to that destination. Furthermore, the Dutch consul had received permission from his superior in Riga to issue such visas and he was willing to issue them.

Theoretically, to get to these two islands, refugees needed to pass through the Soviet Union. The Soviet consul agreed to let them pass.

Without permission to issue visas to Jewish refugees, Sugihara had a difficult decision to make. He was a man who was brought up in the strict and traditional discipline of the Japanese. He was also a career diplomat, who was trained to represent the position of his government.  He knew that if he defied the orders of his superiors, he could be reprimanded, removed and disgraced.

CHIUNE SUGIHARA: VISAS FOR LIFE

For 29 days, from July 31 to August 28, 1940, Mr. Sugihara sat for hours signing visas.  He often did not stop to eat.

When some refugees began climbing the fence to get into the compound, Sugihara came out and calmed them down. He promised everyone a visa.

Sugihara even issued 300 visas to the entire faculty and students of the famous rabbinical school (yeshiva) of Mir, Poland.  This is the only Jewish yeshiva from Eastern Europe that survived intact.

After receiving their visas, the refugees took a train to Moscow, and by the trans-Siberian railroad to Vladivostok. From there, most of them continued to Kobe, Japan.

The refugees were allowed to stay in Kobe for several months. They were then sent to Shanghai, China.  All the Polish Jews who received Sugihara visas survived in safety under the protection of the Japanese government in Shanghai.

After Kovno, Sugihara, with his family, was stationed briefly in Berlin, and then Prague, Czechoslovakia and Königsberg, Germany. Sugihara was then appointed head of the Japanese consulate in Bucharest, Romania, where he served from 1942-1944.

At the end of the war, Sugihara and his family were arrested by the Russians and interned in a Siberian prisoner of war camp for 18 months.  Conditions in the camp were fairly benign. In 1947, they were allowed to return to Japan after being away from home for more than ten years.

Upon his return to Japan in 1947, Sugihara was unceremoniously dismissed from the diplomatic service, after having served his country for nearly a quarter of a century. When he asked why he was being forced to resign, he was told that it was because of “that incident in Lithuania.” The Japanese government claimed that Sugihara was released because of the need to downsize the postwar diplomatic corps.

Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara Quotes

I may have disobeyed my government, but if I didn’t I would be disobeying God.

- Chiune Sugihara

The Communists’ power in this country is rapidly expanding.  Under the influence of the GPU [a branch of the Soviet NKVD], many acts of terrorism are occurring.  At first, the GPU arriving with the Army attacked the headquarters of political parties of the Poles, White Russians, people of this country, and Jews… In Vilna they have imprisoned 1,500…and 2,000 from other areas… Most of them are members of the Polish military government, White Russian military officers, and members of the ruling party of the old administrative power of this country.  Socialists, Bundists, Zionists, and other Jews, and the former prime minister, Merukus, and Foreign Minister Rupischitz with their families were all sent to Moscow.  And in the past week, 1,600 Poles have been sent to Samara.  Because of this the British government here has been protesting to the Russians.  As this has been happening, many have felt the danger and have escaped to the outskirts but only a few have been successful in getting back to the German territory.  The number of runaways to Germany is said to be several hundred.  Every day nearly 100 people are coming and Jews throng to our building asking for visas to go to the U.S. via Japan.

- Chiune Sugihara, in July 28, 1940, cable to Japanese Foreign Minister

I finally decided that it was completely useless to continue the discussions with Tokyo, I was merely losing time… I gave visas to all who came to me, regardless of the fact whether or not they could produce some kind of document proving they were going to another country.

 - Chiune Sugihara

Polish citizens, both Poles and Jews, who are here highly praise the Japanese consular offices in Kaunas and the help they received from this office… Many of our compatriots owe their survival to the personal sacrifice of Japanese personnel who went above and beyond the customary, rigid, and bureaucratic regulations.  Behavior of other foreign legations in Kaunas stood in sharp contrast to that, according to what I heard.

- Polish Ambassador to Tokyo Tadeusz Romer

The Jews who passed through Kaunas still treasure the visas which my husband issued.  They didn’t forget what they shouted when we were leaving Kaunas station.  ‘We will never forget you.  We will se you again.’  I’ve heard that, as a people, the Jews never forget a promise.

- Yukiko Sugihara

Human life is very important.  Being virtuous in life is also very important.  My husband and I talked about the visas before he issued them.  We understood that both the Japanese and German governments disagreed with our ideas, but we went ahead anyhow.

- Yukiko Sugihara

When we started there were about a hundred people waiting for visas.  Later there were hundreds.  We knew that down the road it would mean saving thousands of lives.  We issued the visas even though in doing so it meant that we would be risking our careers and our lives.

- Yukiko Sugihara

I had to do something.  A young man came into my home for protection.  Is he dangerous?  No.  Is he a spy?  No.  Is he a traitor?  No.  He’s just a Jewish teenager who wants to leave.  At that time, we didn’t have much knowledge of what they [the Jews] were.  We knew that they were generally unwelcome in Europe, but that’s all.  We didn’t like them or dislike them.

- Chiune Sugihara

Those people told me the kind of horror they would have to face if they didn’t get away from the Nazis and I believed them.  There was no place else for them to go.  They trusted me.  They recognized me as a legitimate functionary of the Japanese Ministry.  If I had waited any longer, even if permission came, it might have been too late.

- Chiune Sugihara

General Oshima [the Japanese ambassador in Berlin] wanted to know whether the German Army would really attack the Soviet Union.  The point was that the Japanese General Staff was very much interested in such an attack, since it wanted to withdraw the best forces of the Kwantung Army, i.e., the Japanese army, from the Soviet-Manchurian border and move them to the southern islands of the Pacific.  My main task was to establish the foreseeable date of the German attack on Russia quickly and correctly.

- Chiune Sugihara

I soon learned that my main task was to provide to the General Staff, not merely the Foreign Office, information based on hearsay gossip about the concentration of German military on the Lithuanian border, and of Germany’s preparations for an invasion of the Soviet Union.

- Chiune Sugihara

One August morning, I heard an unusual noise on the street near the consulate.  I looked out of the window of my home, and saw a large crowd had gathered near the railing of the house.

- Chiune Sugihara

I don’t know where they succeeded in sleeping these days—in the train station or simply in the streets.

- Chiune Sugihara

As the train pulled out of the Kaunas station, several Jews in the crowd cried out, “Sempo Sugihara, we will never forget you!”

Sugihara survivor Zorach Warhaftig said to Chiune:  “I have always wondered why you saved us.”  Warhaftig, who has 25 grandchildren, looks back on the experience and says:  “Chiune Sugihara was an emissary of God.”  Warhaftig helped write Israel’s Declaration of Independence, and was Minister of Religious Affairs.  He was issued a visa by Sugihara in 1940.

[Sugihara] came up to the second floor with a worried look.  He sat at the table in silence and drank some coffee.  He waited until the outside grew silent.  Then he stood up and went to the window and looked outside; so did I.  We saw a little child standing behind his mother hiding himself in his mother’s coat, and a girl with an expression of hunger and terror which made her look like an adult and some others crouching in fatigue… My husband likes children very much.  His happiest time was when he kept our children company at home.  He would often tell some Japanese old fairy tales at the bedside of our children to make them go to sleep… That night he didn’t talk to the children.  It seemed that many cares for the Jewish people occupied his mind.  Then Lamentations, a book of the Old Testament, suddenly came to my mind, which was written by Jeremiah, a prophet and poet, when he witnessed the fall of Jerusalem brought about by the Babylonian Army… My husband and I are Christians of the Greek Church, so we desired earnestly to help the Jews.

- Yukiko Sugihara

Sugihara issued visas to Czech Jews on August 7, 1940.  He cabled to Matsuoka, at the Japanese foreign ministry in Tokyo: 

I am issuing a transit visa on a Czechoslovakian passport.

Sugihara received a cable reply on August 10, 1940:

If the Czechoslovakian passport was issued before March 16, 1939, or was extended, you may issue a visa within the effective date of the passport.  However, in the case of refugees, you need to be careful that you can issue transit visas only to the ones who already have permission from the countries of their destination.  But if they do not have that, please do not issue the visas and please be careful about that.

In reply, Sugihara cabled back the same day:

Mr. Bergman and 15 others are powerful figures in Jewish industrial families in Warsaw.  They want to immigrate to South America and they have the visas issued at this consulate to pass through Tsuruga [Japan] for ten days only.  But on their way through Tsuruga they would like to consult with Japanese industrialists regarding the capital and experience that they have to offer.  Consequently, they would appreciate a visa valid for a month.  I see no reason to hesitate about these things and so I want to give permission.  Please respond promptly as to whether you agree or not.

Cable from the foreign ministry to Sugihara dated August 14, 1940:

Must complete the procedure for obtaining the entrance visas to the terminal country. Someone who had not finished the procedure we will not permit that person to land.  Please consider that.

Cable from foreign ministry to Sugihara dated August 16, 1940:

Recently, we discovered Lithuanians who possess our transit visas which you issued.  They were traveling to America and Canada.  Among these there are several who do not have enough money and who have not finished their procedure to receive their entry visas to the terminal countries.  We cannot give them permission to land… There were several instances that left us confused and we do not know what to do… You must make sure that they have finished their procedure for their entry visas and also they must possess the travel money or the money that they need during their stay in Japan.  Otherwise, you should not give them the transit visa.

Sugihara knew that most Jews did not meet the requirements of the Japanese government.  He recalled in his memoirs, written in 1967:

However, only a few of them had documents issued by the U.S. government, the majority had no documents, indicating that they would only transit Japan without causing hindrance when traveling to the other country… There were not only male refugees, among them were women, old people and children.  They all seemed very tired and exhausted….I did not pay any attention and just acted according to my sense of human justice, out of love for mankind.

- Chiune Sugihara

The Decision To Issue Visas

I really had a difficult time, and for two whole nights was unable to sleep.  I eventually decided to issue transit visas…  I could not allow these people to die, people who had come to me for help with death staring them in the eyes.  Whatever punishment might be imposed upon me, I knew I had to follow my conscience.

- Chiune Sugihara [unpublished manuscript, 1967]

Of course a dismissal from the ministry could be expected, but anyhow I was to take this train to Berlin together with my family in the morning of August 31, 1940.  So I went on issuing visas to any Pole who asked for one.

- Chiune Sugihara [manuscript, 1967]

Moshe Zupnik was a student of Mir Yeshiva.  The Yeshiva in its entirety fled to Lithuania.  Its 300 students and faculty were stranded in Kaunas (Kovno).  Zupnik approached Sugihara’s secretary, Wolfgang Gudze (who was a German agent) to ask for help in obtaining visas.

[Zupnik to Gudze:] ‘I am a member of the Mir Yeshiva.  I have three hundred passports with me.  We will go to Curacao.  Help us to get there.’  [Gudze:] ‘Three hundred people?  The consul gave visas to some people, but how will he give visas to three hundred?  The consul will never allow this.’  [Zupnik:] ‘Let me talk to the consul.’  [Gudze:] ‘Alright, talk to the consul.’  Sugihara asked me, ‘Who are you?’  [Zupnik:] ‘We are a rabbinical seminary with over three hundred people and we want to go to Curacao.’  [Sugihara:] ‘I am afraid you will come and you will stay in Japan and you won’t be able to get out.  How could I be responsible to my government giving out so many visas at one time?’  [Zupnik:] ‘We have a Rabbi Kalmanovich in the United States.  He promised us that we don’t have to worry.’  [Sugihara:] ‘I have to make a special stamp in Japanese that says that it is only a transit visa and you will go out.’  I still can’t understand how Sugihara let me in, a boy.  He didn’t have any records or anything on me.  He simply handed over the consulate stamp and allowed me to make visas!  He wanted to do good.  He told me, ‘I do it just because I have pity on the people.  They want to get out so I let them have the visas.’  He had a good heart and he was very outgoing and saved people…And he did it wholeheartedly.  And he was not formal.  He listened to us and he knew that we were in danger and he did it. 

- Moshe Zupnik, Mir Yeshiva student [Oral history of Zupnik Shino (manuscript), YVM M31-2861]

 I acted solely out of love for people and humanitarian feeling.  I had no doubt that one day I would be dismissed from my job at the Foreign Ministry.

- Chiune Sugihara [unpublished manuscript, 1967]

The world says that America is civilized.  I will show the world that Japan is more civilized.

 - Chiune Sugihara to Rabbi Eliezer Portnoy of Mir Yeshiva, upon issuing 300 visas
for the Yeshiva after the American consulate refused to issue the visas

You want to know about my motivation, don’t you?  Well, it is the kind of sentiments anyone would have when he actually sees the refugees face-to-face, begging with tears in their eyes.  He just cannot help but sympathize with them.  Among the refugees were the elderly and women.  They were so desperate that they went so far as to kiss my shoes.  Yes, I actually witnessed such scenes with my own eyes… People in Tokyo were not unified [on a proper refugee policy].  I felt it kind of silly to deal with them.  So I made up my mind not to wait for their reply.  I knew that somebody would surely complain to me in the future.  But I myself thought this would be the right thing to do.  There is nothing wrong in saving many people’s lives.  If anybody sees anything wrong in the action, it is because something ‘not pure’ exists in their state of mind.  The spirit of humanity, philanthropy… neighborly friendship… with this spirit, I ventured to do what I did, confronting this most difficult situation—and because of this reason, I went ahead with redoubled courage.

- Chiune Sugihara

We were always happy to meet survivors who received the visas.  My husband and I would often share with the survivors the same feelings about the Holocaust and what happened.

- Yukiko Sugihara

The Jews are a grateful people, and I will always know that they will appreciate what we did.

- Yukiko Sugihara

From his desk, Chiune Sugihara issued over 300 visas per day for almost one month.  In later years he said, “I saw that they were in need of help, and I’m glad I found the strength to help them.”  Chiune Sugihara did not find out what happened to the Jews he had saved until 1968.

Sugihara was my savior.  Without that precious visa, I would have been murdered by the Nazis.

- Berek Winter

Chiune Sugihara was nothing less than an angel...he saved my life.  I can never thank him enough.

- Moshe Langer, Sugihara survivor

Chiune Sugihara saved my father.  In doing so, he saved me and my sister and our children.  How can you thank somebody like that?

- Yvonne Rysak, daughter of Sugihara survivor

I encouraged my husband to issue the visas, even though I knew it might jeopardize his career and even our lives.  We knew that Jewish refugees were in peril for the lives.  Human life is the most precious thing.

- Yukiko Sugihara

The Nazis murdered my father’s three sisters and one of his brothers.  I know my dad would be pleased to know that so many people are getting to know Sugihara.  On my father’s behalf, I want to thank this man.  I wouldn’t be here, my family wouldn’t be here, if it weren’t for this man.  It’s pretty overwhelming.

- Yvonne Rysak, daughter of Sugihara survivor

I knew that we had to save those people.  There was simply no choice in the matter.

- Yukiko Sugihara

A brave man does things which are difficult to do, a hero does things which seem impossible to do.  Sugihara acted even though he knew he would gain nothing from it.

- Igo Feldblum, Sugihara survivor.

I saw people in distress, and I was able to help them, so why shouldn't I?

- Chiune Sugihara

I will never forget the man with the kind eyes who I met as a child.  The year was 1940.  The place, Kaunas, Lithuania.  His parting words to me were in Spanish, 'vaya con Dios' he said.  Vaya con Dios Sempo Sugihara.  I am sure that you deserve a special place in Paradise.

- Solly Ganor, friend of Sugihara, Dachau survivor

When I went into the office, I didn't have any papers because I was 'stateless.'  I went over there with a couple hundred people, and I got the visa.  Thank God, I was one of the lucky ones to leave...Sugihara did it for humanitarian reasons.  He was a very generous man, and we hope that he will be remembered for a long time. 

- George Broenstein, Sugihara survivor

I owe my life and the life of my brother to that great man, Mr. Sugihara.  I would not be alive today if he hadn’t issued me that visa.  There was nothing in it for him.  It was an act of pure altruism.

- Jerry Milrod, Sugihara survivor

I can say no less than that I owe my life to Sempo Sugihara.  I never forget he told me ‘good luck.’

- Mr. Berek Winter, Sugihara Survivor

My husband decided to go ahead and do it because of the value of human life.  When we started there, there were about a hundred people waiting for visas.  Later there were hundreds.  We knew that down the road that it would mean saving thousands of people's lives.  We issued the visas even though it meant that doing so we would be risking our careers and our lives.

 -Yukiko Sugihara, wife of Chiune Sugihara

At that time, there were Jewish people standing outside, peering in the windows watching my husband issue visas.  When I saw their eyes, especially the women and the children, they were very frightened.  They looked like they were crying out for help.

- Yukiko Sugihara

The Jews had walked all the way from Poland.  Their clothes were all dirty, their eyes were very intense, like they were desperate.  In the beginning there about one to two hundred people standing outside.  Then some days later, there may have been as many as 500 people standing there.  They lined up as early as 6:00 in the morning.

- Yukiko Sugihara

We fled Poland with only the clothes on our backs.  We were desperate to get out of Poland and Lithuania.  We heard that the Japanese Consulate was issuing visas and we got in line at five o'clock in the morning.  When Mr. Sugihara gave me my visa, I will never forget that he said to me in Polish, 'Good luck.'

- Mr. Berek Winter, Sugihara survivor

After September 1939, when the Nazis invaded Poland, most of my family was killed.  My brother and I barely survived a German massacre near our home in Lodz.  We fled with nothing to Lithuania.  Our only hope was a passport to anywhere in the Soviet Union.  We had absolutely no documentation or money.  Sugihara issued a visa anyway.  What can I say.  I owe him my life.

 - Jerry Milrod, Sugihara survivor

We were among the fortunate people who were able to be saved.  That visa, even though we didn't have any other visa, enabled us to live.  I didn't personally know Sugihara.  My father got the visa, and I and my mother were unaware until only recently of who and how these visas were distributed. 

- Masha Leon, Sugihara survivor

The Japanese Consul General in Lithuania was a great humanitarian who issued the visas because it was the right thing to do.  He didn't have to do it, and he suffered for it.  To me that is the definition of a martyr:  someone who suffers for other people and is a hero.

- Hinda Oler Gutof, Sugihara survivor

We issued the visas even though it meant risking our careers and our lives.  We just had to do it.

- Yukiko Sugihara

Every time my husband would meet a Jewish survivor, there was nothing but satisfaction.  We had no regrets.

- Yukiko Sugihara

About one week before his work was completed, my husband collapsed from fatigue.  But I talked to him about the people outside the house, and he wanted to still do more.

- Yukiko Sugihara

The Nazis murdered my father's three sisters and one of his brothers....I know my dad would be pleased to know that so many people are getting to know Sugihara.  I want to, on my father's behalf, thank this man.  I wouldn't be here, my family wouldn't be here, if it weren't for this man.  It's pretty overwhelming. 

- Yvonne Rysak, daughter of Sugihara survivor

I received a Sugihara visa, which saved my life.  I never met Sugihara, but without that visa I wouldn't have made it through the war. 

- Moshe Langer, Sugihara survivor

We were always happy to meet survivors who received the visas.  My husband and I would often share with the survivors the same feelings about the Holocaust and what happened.

- Yukiko Sugihara

In truth I'd be happy if the government formally apologized.  But it's not really going to help my husband, since he's already passed away.  He didn't have any feelings of resentment against the government, even though he lost his job.  He was just very depressed for a while because of the loss of his position. 

- Yukiko Sugihara 

They were human beings and they needed help.  I'm glad I found the strength to make the decision to give it to them.

- Chiune Sugihara

I had to do something.  A young man came into my home for protection.  Is he dangerous?  No.  Is he a spy?  No.  Is he a traitor?  No.  He's just a Jewish teenager who wants to leave.  At that time, we didn't have much knowledge of what they [the Jews] were.  We knew that they were generally unwelcome in Europe, but that's all.  We didn't like them or dislike them.

- Chiune Sugihara

Those people told me the kind of horror they would have to face if they didn't get away from the Nazis and I believed them.  There was no place else for them to go.  They trusted me.  They recognized me as a legitimate functionary of the ministry.  If I had waited any longer, even if permission came, it might have been too late. 

- Chiune Sugihara

He [the Russian consul] thought a minute and just looked at me and said, 'Okay, go ahead.'  That was it.  I knew they could get through.  I went home and thought about it for two days before I finally decided to do it.

- Chiune Sugihara

As soon as he told them he would issue visas, they started climbing the fences.

- Yukiko Sugihara

Fifty-seven years is a long time.  There is not one day where I didn't think where my life was saved by Sempo Sugihara.

- Sam Fishbain, Sugihara survivor

I will issue visas to each and everyone of you to the last.  So please wait patiently.

- Chiune Sugihara

After 28 years, we enjoyed the reunion with each other and talked about what had happened to each other, but my husband didn't tell him [Yehoshua Nishri, Sugihara survivor and Israeli consular official] that he had been fired from the Foreign Ministry.  That day, we enjoyed the meeting with a satisfied feeling that we had never felt before.  We had issued the visas, but we didn't expect that we would meet any of those people again.  It seemed to me that my husband sometimes thought that he had had a hard time because he had issued the visas.  In his hard life after that he had been fired from the Foreign Ministry; therefore, he thought that what he had done was rewarded for the first time when he met one of the Jews, who he had saved at that time, and knew that what he had done was not in vain. 

- Yukiko Sugihara

The Jews, who had passed through Kaunas, still treasure the visas which my husband had issued.  They didn't forget what they shouted when we were leaving Kaunas station.  'We will never forget you.  We will see you again.'  I heard that, as a people, the Jews never forget a promise.

- Yukiko Sugihara

We feared for our lives […] Jewish people were getting caught and killed by Germans every day.  And we were getting involved with them.  It was frightening.  Yet as human beings we couldn't pass by the opportunity available through my husband's position.  We had but two lives, our own, to sacrifice.  It was our duty and we couldn't turn away from it.

- Yukiko Sugihara

I believe most Japanese people want peace, though, so this limited hatred isn't much of a threat.  But there will be no peace until we have rid ourselves of all racism--here and everywhere. 

- Yukiko Sugihara

Today anti-Semitism surely exists in Japan...  Nothing radical or sharp is occurring, like in Lithuania, where you could smell the death.  I believe most Japanese people want peace, though, so this limited hatred isn’t much of a threat.  But there will be no peace until we have rid ourselves of all racism, here and everywhere.

- Yukiko Sugihara

A special part of the joy of the story of Flight and Rescue is that here bureaucracy was tweaked.  The forms, the regulations, the transit stipulations needed to cross international borders were manipulated by good men, who diverted these bureaucratic processes to save lives rather than use them to stamp out lives… Consider the heroic moral depth of these good people, Jan Zwartendijk and Chiune Sugihara.  The Talmud says yesh koneh olamo b’sha’ah achat—there are some people who earn immortality/eternity in an hour’s work.  In this case, it was two weeks of work, issuing papers and stamps and visas, etc., until they were forced to shut down.  After the war, neither man spoke very much about what he did.  When Consul Sugihara was asked why he acted this way, he simply said that he “acted according to a sense of human justice and of love for mankind.

Zwartendijk was a part-time Dutch consul, Sugihara a junior official in the Japanese civil service.  For neither position was there a pre-requirement of moral greatness.  Yet here is the record of the grandeur of their accomplishment.  Every human being has infinite value.  To save one life is like saving a whole world.  Think of being a person who saved 2,000 times infinity; and that heroic lifesaving goodness in now multiplied and replicated in the children and the grandchildren of those who survived…

In fact, Zwartendijk and Sugihara saved not only more than 2,000 lives, they saved whole worlds of culture, of religion, and of life itself.  The members of an entire yeshiva, the Mir Yeshiva, were able to get those visas.  A whole little world of Torah, a repository of thousands of years of tradition and learning, of commandments and good deeds, was preserved to be replanted in the New World.  This yeshiva became a part of the incredible renaissance of Jewish life and Jewish learning now occurring in America and throughout the world.

We cling to these little victories, but we also need to set them as the benchmark for ourselves.  Would we live up to the model of these two good people?  If life presented itself to us and asked us, ‘Break the rules, understand the emergency, take responsibility, and reach out beyond the ordinary to save,’ what would we do?

 - Rabbi Irving Greenberg, Chair, US Holocaust Memorial Council, in foreword to Flight and Rescue (2001)