mr. chiune sugihara’s legacy continues today. his son, nobuki, will be honoring his father by attending the naming of a square in jerusalem to honor his father.
mr. sugihara’s legacy is one of granting visas. according to the us holocaust museum “japanese imperial consul chiune sugihara, the first Japanese diplomat posted in lithuania. in the absence of clear instructions from his government in tokyo, sugihara granted 10-day visas to japan to hundreds of refugees who held curaçao destination visas. after issuing some 1800 visas, sugihara finally received a response to his cables alerting the foreign ministry in tokyo of the situation in lithuania. The foreign ministry reported that individuals with visas headed for the united states and canada had arrived in japan without money or final destination visas. in his response, sugihara admitted to issuing visas to people who had not completed all arrangements for destination visas explaining that japan was the only transit country available for going in the direction of the united states, and his visas were needed to leave the soviet union. by the time the soviets ordered all diplomatic consulates closed, in late august 1940, sugihara had saved thousands of Jews over the course of just a few weeks. because of his efforts, yad vashem awarded him the title of “righteous among the nations” in 1984.” ushmm.org
tremendous irony ensued when his son, nobuki, was trying to make visa arrangements for the visit to israel for the event honoring his father. according to the reports, a number of the sugihara family admittedly had paperwork issues with their covid-19, visa requirements. nobuku sugihara did not dispute that documents were missing with respect to his application. thetimesofisrael.com israeli bureaucracy ensued with denials of visa.
in the end, it took a reasoned mind to intervene to get the the sugihara visa issues resolved. mr. chiune sugihara’s moral greatness was that he beyond the visa process and realize that his actions served greater than the administration of travel between countries. he understood that he was saving lives by essentially looking the other way while granting visas and transit occurred.
thus, the one mindful person in israel, who intervened to get the visa issue resolved, ziv bilaus wrote “there is no doubt about the moral and value importance of the event and the arrival of the son and his family to this important memorial event, which miraculously elevates his father’s actions for saving the lives of so many jewish people” mr. bilaus is the spokesman of israel’s embassy in japan.
in sum, we must thank god for giving the world a moral giant who understood that there things more important than bureaucracy. this episode is a reminder of what is going on in administrative government. in this current pandemic, bureaucrats have taken upon themselves to destroy people’s lives, religious practices, careers, education, ability to eat in restaurants, and ability to recreate. these bureaucrats are exacting policies, given the science, which are frankly are beyond irrational and are destroying the civilization. if you think these assertions are strong, perhaps you should contact the individuals and their descendants that mr. sugihara saved. certainly, they would attest that there is something more righteous than a visa with proper paperwork.
in sum, to the sugihara family, the world is a much better place due to mr. chiune sugihara. he now will his legacy placed in arguably the holiest place on earth where it belongs.
be well!!
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