Chiune Sugihara

In the midst of chaos, there will always be some kind of light to follow, whether that “light” it is an event or a person, and in this context it was a person who posted the light to people.. Chiune Sugihara was the person a Jew trusted would maybe be able to save them during the Holocaust, that to reassure them, that someone cares about them. Sugihara was born in the Mino Gifu Prefecture, in Japan, and was one of the six children that did quite well at school. He learned to speak fluent English and Russian during school. In 1936, he had an appointment for the Japanese diplomatic mission in Moscow and was sent to Eastern Europe. During his stay, he was invited to a Hanukkah event where he learned about how bad the Jews were being treated. Sugihara reacted to this and settled in a place in Europe called Lithuania. There he signed 2,139 visas and was able to save about 6000 Jews, in a span of a month. Chiune was able to keep saving Jews, and pose a light to them even if it was just for a month, and with his empathy towards the Jews, he was able to sign visas, non-stop. Chiune Sugihara had a strong emotional spirit and also was selfless towards Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Chiune Sugihara at his work place, where he signed visas.Wikipedia

Chiune Sugihara was able to remain focused for a long period of time when signing visas and did not give up so easily, and for being focused all the time he needed to be internally strong. It says, ¨Assisted by Yukiko, who brought him sandwiches and massaged his hands, he issued up to 300 visas a day between July 31 and August 28, 1940, when the Soviet Union finally demanded that the consulate is closed”. He was signing visas to the extent, that he can’t leave his office, and his hands hurt. Usually, if that happened you would take a break, but not for Sugihara. He was so concentrated on what he needed to do, he didn’t care if his hand hurt, but rather to just continue to sign as many visas as he can do alone. Additionally, another reason why he had to be focused, because his career could be closed at any time, since he was working against the government at the time because if he followed the rules, he wouldn’t be able to sign visas, so in order for Sugihara to sign visas while working against the government, he really needed to be concentrated, if he wanted to save the Jews in such a small amount of time. Additionally, Sugihara was persistent on his job to the very end, even until the time, when he was taken away to someplace else by a train. It says, “As his train was pulling away from the station he was still signing visas and handing the documents through the train window. Sugihara issued at least 2,139 visas that about 6,000 Jews used to escape their intended fate”. Sugihara was handing out visas even though he was being sent away, and to do that, you need to be really calm and focused. If Sugihara was impatient on singing the visas, it probably just leads to being poorly written. If a Jew showed that to an employee in a port to run away, the person who will look at your visa would get suspicious about your visa, and Jews will not be able to run away. However, Sugihara remained calm and was able to sign multiple visas at that moment. Adding on to that, Sugihara was successful in his career and was able to sign 2,139 visas, and able to save 6000 Jews as a result of his hard work. The fact that he was able to sign more than 2000 visas is impressive if you are doing that all alone, but Chiune Sugihara was only focused on his objective and nothing else. The objective of saving as many Jews as he can in the limited time that he had in his job, and doing that he was able to save about 6000 Jews. As I conclude, Sugihara was able to save so many Jews, because he was concentrated. Without his concentration, he wouldn’t have been able to save so many Jews in such a short amount of time. Additionally, he did not give up on signing and handing out visas, even at the very end. He wanted to save the Jews until the very last second of his career.

A book called "Special Fate", and is about a book about Chiune Sugiharagoodreads.com

Chiune Sugihara was able to remain focused for a long period of time when signing visas and did not give up so easily, and for being focused all the time he needed to be internally strong. It says, ¨Assisted by Yukiko, who brought him sandwiches and massaged his hands, he issued up to 300 visas a day between July 31 and August 28, 1940, when the Soviet Union finally demanded that the consulate is closed”. He was signing visas to the extent, that he can’t leave his office, and his hands hurt. Usually, if that happened you would take a break, but not for Sugihara. He was so concentrated on what he needed to do, he didn’t care if his hand hurt, but rather to just continue to sign as many visas as he can do alone. Additionally, another reason why he had to be focused, because his career could be closed at any time, since he was working against the government at the time because if he followed the rules, he wouldn’t be able to sign visas, so in order for Sugihara to sign visas while working against the government, he really needed to be concentrated, if he wanted to save the Jews in such a small amount of time. Additionally, Sugihara was persistent on his job to the very end, even until the time, when he was taken away to someplace else by a train. It says, “As his train was pulling away from the station he was still signing visas and handing the documents through the train window. Sugihara issued at least 2,139 visas that about 6,000 Jews used to escape their intended fate”. Sugihara was handing out visas even though he was being sent away, and to do that, you need to be really calm and focused. If Sugihara was impatient on singing the visas, it probably just leads to being poorly written. If a Jew showed that to an employee in a port to run away, the person who will look at your visa would get suspicious about your visa, and Jews will not be able to run away. However, Sugihara remained calm and was able to sign multiple visas at that moment. Adding on to that, Sugihara was successful in his career and was able to sign 2,139 visas, and able to save 6000 Jews as a result of his hard work. The fact that he was able to sign more than 2000 visas is impressive if you are doing that all alone, but Chiune Sugihara was only focused on his objective and nothing else. The objective of saving as many Jews as he can in the limited time that he had in his job, and doing that he was able to save about 6000 Jews. As I conclude, Sugihara was able to save so many Jews, because he was concentrated. Without his concentration, he wouldn’t have been able to save so many Jews in such a short amount of time. Additionally, he did not give up on signing and handing out visas, even at the very end. He wanted to save the Jews until the very last second of his career.

A example of one of the visas that Sugihara wrote.mashumashu.com

Chiune Sugihara possesses selflessness to other people, specifically towards Jews. It says “Sugihara had no reason to care for what was going on outside nor to identify with those Jews in any way. Yet when he looked out the window of the Japanese Consulate, he saw men, women, and children who he knew were going to be killed”. As said in this quote, “Sugihara had no reason to care for what was going on outside…” yet he took the Jews into consideration, and thought how the persecution of the Jews will affect the world. Although not much will care if he saved Jews, Sugihara still wanted to save them because he cared about the Jewish people. Additionally, Sugihara wanted the Jews to have the same fairlife that Sugihara and any ordinary person will have, where they could go to school, have education, food and a companion that people can rely on. Sugihara wanted to act against the discrimination, rather than just staring at the Jews, knowing that they will die at one point in Germany in concentration camps. Sugihara was a person who didn't  want to get too much attention from people. It says “Chiune Sugihara did not reveal himself in any simple way”.  As said in this quote, Sugihara does “not reveal himself in any simple way”. Sugihara only wants those people that truly are curious about him, and to know why he did the things he did, to find out who he is. He didn’t save Jews for attention, he did it because he knew that that was the right thing to do, and saving Jews was what his objective was at that moment. Another reason Sugihara probably didn’t want a lot of people to know him because he didn’t want to get caught by the Nazi’s. Knowing what Sugihara is doing for the Jews, if a Nazi soldier found Sugihara just roaming in Lithuania the soldier will probably will integrate him, and even if Sugihara lied, they would probably would just figure out that he was lying, making him tell the truth, and if the Nazi found out about Sugihara’s true identity, they would probably put Sugihara into a concentration camp which will kill him for sure. As I finish this topic, Sugihara was a very kind person, he was very selfless. He wanted to save Jews because he had a deep compassion for them. If he didn’t care about them, then he wouldn’t have done those things. Another reason why Sugihara is selfless towards Jews is that he didn’t want a lot of people knowing him. He only wanted those people who truly wanted to know why he did those things in order to save the Jews, otherwise, people wouldn’t have so many trouble finding him.

Thanks to Chiune Sugihara, many Jews were saved because of his care and noble heart for the Jews. Sugihara was the man who saved about 6000 Jews and issued 2139 visas and continued to sign visas until the very last second of his career. In addition to saving so much Jews, he didn’t reveal himself easily. People wanted to find what he truly sought, but Sugihara made it so that only the people that truly wanted to know him will be able to get to know him, but before anyone was able to that, the Japanese government made him quit his career, and was sent to a backwater location in Japan. Chiune Sugihara inspired me because I was amazed when he was signing visas at the train. He knew that his carrier would end at this moment, but he was determined to save Jews until the very end, in order for the Jews to be able to live in peace. Finally, Chiune Sugihara was a powerful person. He signed visas non-stop and had successfully been able to sign 2,139 visas, and able to save around 6,000 Jews for a month. He was selfless for his action and kept himself unknown of what his true identity is because he didn’t want fame or anything like that. He just wanted to befriend some Jews to be able to get some information about their family, in order to sign the visas, and lead the Jews into freedom.

Works cited:

"Sugihara's list." World War II, May-June 2013, p. 14.

Biography in Context,

https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A325999735/BIC1?u=powa9245&xid=3d2b3234.

Accessed 4 Feb. 2018.

"Chiune Sugihara." Encyclopedia of World Biography, vol. 36, Gale, 2016.

Biography in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1631010543/BIC1?u=powa9245&xid=8bcd31aa.

Accessed 4 Feb. 2018.

Gussow, Mel. "Sugihara's List: A Drama Of 6,000 Jews Rescued." New York Times, 21 Jan 1998.        

Opposing Viewpoints in Context

https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A150235481/OVIC?u=powa9245&xid=fc852db7.

Accessed 4 Feb. 2018.

Levine, Hillil. “Dear Mr. Sugihara...” EBSCO, 1996, web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=4a6862ca-cb74-416b-b2b5-71526549cd1a%40sessionmgr120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=19412328&db=khh.