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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

17. Sugihara’s Efforts to Save Jewish Refugees Attracted to the Unwelcome Attentions of Officials Back in Japan

A 1940 visa issued by Chiune Sugihara in Kovno, Lithuania, showing the recipient’s journey through the USSR, Tsuruga, and Curacao. Wikimedia

After he had granted about 1800 visas to refugees, authorities in Tokyo noticed the unusually large number of visas being issued from their consulate in Kovno. Until then, it had been a backwater of a diplomatic outpost that saw little activity. Japan’s Foreign Ministry insisted that visas should be granted only to those who had gone through the appropriate immigration procedures, and had adequate funds. Most of the refugees granted visas by Sugihara did not meet those criterion.

So his superiors sent a cable, reminding him to: “make sure that they [refugees] 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“.

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.