Chiune Sugihara

was a Japanese diplomat. He served as Vice-Consul for the Empire of Japan in Lithuania during World War II. He was best known for helping about 20,000 Jews leave Lithuania during the Holocaust. He gave them visas to Japan. In 1985, Israel named him to the Righteous Among the Nations for his actions. He was sometimes called the "Japanese Schindler".

Chiune Sugihara
杉原 千畝
Sugihara, before 1945
Born	(1900-01-01)1 January 1900 Kozuchi Town, Empire of Japan (now Mino, Gifu Prefecture, Japan)
Died	31 July 1986(1986-07-31) (aged 86) Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Resting place	Kamakura Cemetery
Other names	"Sempo", Sergei Pavlovich Sugihara
Occupation	Vice-consul for the Japanese Empire in Lithuania
Known for	Rescue of 5,558 Jews during the Holocaust
Spouse(s)	Klaudia Semionovna Apollonova (m. 1918; div. 1935) Yukiko Kikuchi (m. 1936)
Children	4
Awards	Order of the Sacred Treasure, 5th Class (1988) Righteous Among the Nations (1984)

Sugihara was born in Yaotsu, Gifu. He was first married to Klaudia Semionovna Apollonova until their divorce in 1935. He was later married to Yukiko Sugihara. They had four sons.

Sugihara died on 31 July 1986 at a hospital in Kamakura. He was 86.

Chiune Sugihara Media

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  Chiune Sugihara's birth registry, indicating his birthplace as Kozuchi Town, Mugi District, nowadays known as Mino City in Gifu Prefecture

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  Former Japanese consulate in Kaunas

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  Table 1: Number of European Jews arriving in Japan

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  Czechoslovak passport with a visa, which was granted in 1940 by diplomat Sugihara. A 1940 issued visa by consul Sugihara in Lithuania, showing a journey taken through Soviet Union, Tsuruga and Curaçao.

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  Consular office with original consular flag in Kaunas

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  Number of European Jewish refugees staying at Kobe

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  Recreation of Sugihara's consular desk in Kaunas

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  Chiune Sugihara and his son Nobuki in Israel, December 1969

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  Chiune "Sempo" Sugihara's plaque in the garden at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

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  In 1940, Mrs. Sugihara's husband Chiune was the Japanese *consul in Kaunas, Lithuania. Defying their government's instructions, the Sugiharas issued exit visas for 2000 Polish Jewish families, allowing them to escape to China by way of Japan. About 40,000 descendants of these refugees are alive today because of the Sugiharas' courageous deeds.

Other websites

• Chiune Sugihara at the Jewish Virtual Library
• Chiune Sugihara at Yad Vashem