'Tokens of rare humanity': Kaunas conference honours families who saved Jews

A conference in Kaunas, dedicated to the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, paid tribute to Lithuanian families who saved Jews during World War Two.

Four families and eight individuals were given awards that were presented to their grandchildren.

Speaking at the event, Israeli Ambassador to Lithuania Yossef Levy said those people were “sparking lights” during the dark years when the Nazis and their local collaborators were killing Jews.

“But in this darkness, there were a few sparking lights: tokens of rare humanity. Good souls who risked their lives and the lives of their families in order to rescue a Jew – sometimes an unknown girl or a hungry boy – from cruel death. They listened to their internal voice,” the ambassador said.

He noted that 917 Lithuanians had been recognised as Righteous Among the Nations.

“Lithuania is a small nation, 917 is a big number for a small nation. And I allow myself to be proud of that,” Levy said.

The relatives who accepted the awards said they were very proud of what their grandparents did.

Sugihara served as Japan's consul in Kaunas, Lithuania's provisional capital of that time, between 1939 and 1940. After Poland was invaded by Germany and the USSR at the start of World War Two, thousands of Jews fled the country and came to Lithuania for asylum. However, Lithuania itself was occupied by the Red Army in 1940 and Germany the following year, forcing Jews to look for ways to escape the war.

Chiune Sugihara / „Wikimedia“ nuotr.

Defying strict instructions from the Japanese government, Sugihara issued a few thousand transit visas in the summer of 1940. The Jews then took a railway trip to Japan via Siberia. Historians say Sugihara helped thousands of Jews to escape the Holocaust.

He was assisted by Dutch Honorary Consul in Lithuania Jan Zwartendijk who issued visas to the Dutch island of Curacao, which served as a basis for Sugihara to issue transit visas.

Attending the event, Dutch Foreign Minister Stefan Blok said his own family also suffered from the Nazis as his grandfather's brother died at a concentration camp after he was caught trying to help Jews flee Nazi Germany.

His grandfather also died at a concentration camp and his father spent several years there as a child.

“My father, as a small boy, spent three years in a concentration camp and, of course, he told his children about his experience,” Blok told reporters after the event.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius said the deeds of Sugihara and Zwartendijk set an example for all diplomats.

“Knowing the language and representing the country is not enough for a diplomat. They have to always remember that, first of all, they are people and if they have an opportunity, they must help and save lives, irrespective of what the nationality of those people are. And Sugihara did so by even risking his career, and these were his convictions,” the Lithuanian foreign minister said.

After the war, Sugihara was forced to resign from the diplomatic service and worked with various trade companies. He died in Japan in 1986.