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Historic Figures Who Set Out to Save Jews From the Holocaust

Khalid Elhassan December 15, 2020 32 min

Hanns Albin Rauter - World War II — A Dutch Resistance cell during WWII. For God and Country

21. The Stage Was Set for This Diplomat to Save Thousands When He Was Sent to Lithuania to Gather Intelligence

Japanese prisoners captured at the Battle of Khalkin Gol. Wikimedia

The Japanese government viewed managing relations with the USSR and staying informed about its intentions as vital, lest it stumble into an unwanted war with the Soviets. After years of provocations by Japan’s army in Manchuria, the Soviets surprised the Japanese by escalating hitherto minor border skirmishes into a serious conflict in 1939. The result was a humiliating Japanese defeat at the Battle of Khalkin Gol. Already bogged down in a quagmire of a war in China, the Japanese government fretted about possible Soviet plans to seize Manchuria, or to directly intervene in the Sino-Japanese conflict on China’s side.

Because a war between the USSR and Germany would keep the Soviets too busy on their western border to bother the Japanese in the Far East, staying informed about such a possibility was vital. Accordingly, Sugihara’s primary task in Lithuania was to provide intelligence on German and Soviet troop movements in the Baltic region, and to report on any indications of an impending German attack against the USSR.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.