Open AccessKonsul Sugihara Chiune a polscy Żydzi w Kownie w okresie 1939–1940
Author(s) -
Olga Barbasiewicz
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
sprawy narodowościowe. seria nowa
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2392-2427
pISSN - 1230-1698
DOI - 10.11649/sn.2010.010
Subject(s) - lithuanian , christian ministry , context (archaeology) , nazism , nazi germany , hero , world war ii , croatian , political science , history , sociology , law , art , philosophy , archaeology , linguistics , literature , politics
Consul Sugihara Chiune and the Polish Jews in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1939–1940The main subject of this article is the life and career of Sugihara Chiune, viewed in the context of the fate of European Jews during their stay in the Lithuanian capital, Kaunas, while they were escaping from Nazi-occupied Europe in 1939 and 1940. The author investigates how the Japanese consul helped them obtain visas and thus saved their lives. She also deals with his private and professional life, including the turns of his diplomatic career in pre-war Lithuania, and his views on crucial issues involving his activities connected with saving the Polish Jews – even at the risk of his own life and the life of his family. Sugihara continued to issue transit visas even after he was forbidden to do so by his superiors from the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Thus the war influenced his later life as a diplomat, not always in a beneficial way. However, today Consul Sugihara is considered a hero and is commemorated in many ways, both in his native Japan and in Lithuania.