Japan's Schindler

In 1940 he was a diplomat in the consulate of Japan in Lithuanian Kaunas. He refused to obey orders and issued several thousand transit visas to Jewish refugees from all over Europe who tried to escape from genocide

In the summer of 1940, Japanese diplomat Tiune Sugihara worked as a diplomat in the consulate of Japan in Kaunas. With the outbreak of World War II, Jewish refugees from all over Europe began to flee to Lithuania, fleeing from genocide, and submitted documents for transit visas to the consulate.

Japan was an ally of Hitler's Germany. But Tiune Sugihara and his wife refused to obey the orders of Tokyo. At their own peril, they issued about six thousand visas to Jewish refugees. Today, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, forty thousand descendants of those who survived thanks to the Japanese diplomat live in different countries.