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Closing the circle: The Japanese who saved hundreds of yeshiva students

A square was inaugurated in Jerusalem in the name of the Righteous Among the Nations Chiyona Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat stationed in Lithuania at the beginning of World War II and, contrary to the instructions of his superiors, assisted in the expulsion of thousands of Jews, including about 300 students

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• Righteous Gentile

David Berger, in collaboration with Shuva Israel

Thursday, 14 October 2021, 12:40 Updated: 12:46

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The Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Leon, inaugurated a square named after the Righteous Among the Nations and the savior of the Mir Yeshiva, Chiyona Sugihara, a diplomat who served at the Japanese Consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania during World War II and assisted in issuing visas to more than 2,150 Jews, including 300 Mir Yeshiva students.

The ceremony was attended by Koichi Mizushima, the Ambassador of Japan to Israel, Yoshihiko Higuchi, the Cultural Attaché at the Japanese Embassy in Israel, Holocaust survivors and other dignitaries. The square is located in the Ir Ganim neighborhood, between Kolitz Street and Panama Street.

Sugihara served in his capacity as Deputy Consul in Kaunas, Lithuania, from 1939. In 1957, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union and all diplomats were asked to leave the country. At that time, Jews began knocking on the doors of embassies in order to obtain visas that would allow them to leave Lithuania. These visas cost a fortune and so many Jews found it difficult to obtain the only ticket to freedom.

As part of his job, before he left Lithuania, Sugihara worked to issue visas in violation of the instructions of his superiors and issued more than 2,150 visas over a month and a half.

It is estimated that these visas saved thousands of Jews who received the long-awaited document and left Russia for various countries before Lithuania was occupied by Nazi Germany.

The New Square in Jerusalem (Photo: PR)

The Torah world recognizes a special favor for the Japanese diplomat, because among the survivors were 300 students of the Mir Yeshiva, who managed to escape from Kaunas to the borders of Japan thanks to visas and established a temporary residence in Shanghai, which was under Japanese occupation. Many stories have been told in the world of Torah about the years of devotion and in-depth study of the hundreds of students in the terrible heat of Japan, with a vague reality and uncertainty as to their well-being and the well-being of their loved ones.

After the war, the yeshiva students moved to the United States and Israel and succeeded in establishing the well-known residence of the Mir Yeshiva in the Beit Israel neighborhood of Jerusalem and Brooklyn, New York. Among the survivors of the Mir Yeshiva were also the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevich, the Gaon Rabbi Yechezkel Levinstein, the Gaon Rabbi Yechiel Michal Feinstein and other well-known Torah scholars, who later poured the foundations of the building of the Torah world in Israel and around the world.

In TRIP received Sugihara appreciation for his actions and was recognized as a Righteous Gentile by Israel. A year later, he died at the age of 86, leaving behind a wife and three children. The application for the commemoration of Sugihara in Jerusalem served the families of the survivors.

Leon said at the ceremony: "This is the ceremony as Exciting that I have participated in it in my life.

He reminds us that it is never possible to know the consequences of our actions in the future.

Thanks to one person, the Righteous Among the Nations, Chiyona Sugihara, Jerusalem was privileged to boast of the lighthouse of the Mir Yeshiva, which we are currently marking a decade since the death of the beloved Rosh Yeshiva Gaon Rabbi Natan Zvi Finkel.

Sugihara did everything in his power and worked tirelessly to save Jews from the clutches of the Nazis, acts that cost him a not-so-simple personal price.

The least that the city of Jerusalem can do for Sugihara is to commemorate his name as a sign of appreciation for his noble deeds. "

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