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To commemorate Sugihara’s year in the country, Sugihara Week returned to Kaunas. The festival invited visitors to learn more about the Japanese culture and history that unites Lithuania with the country of the Rising Sun, by participating in film screenings, concerts, conferences, fairs and other activities. The rich program of events was crowned in the very heart of Kaunas, with a bronze sculpture discovered next to Laisvės Alley, commemorating the brave Consul.
“Sugihara’s memory and his moral legacy for present generations has been and is a strong bridge connecting Lithuania with Japan, Israel, the United States, Australia and other countries that share the values of humanism. Let this monument always remind us that we must learn from Sugihara’s actions and the painful experience of World War II. Let us firmly adhere to moral values confirmed by time, let us be right in the face of eternity, “said President Gitanas Nausėda at the inauguration ceremony of the sculpture.
A place of historical memory
The bronze monument decorated the space next to the Hotel Metropolis, where the idea of humanity was spread by the Japanese consul before leaving for Berlin.
“It is symbolic that on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of consular activity in Kaunas, the monument was erected right next to Laisvės Alley; after all, Sugihara released thousands of people. He extended a helping hand and granted” life visas “to thousands of Jews when they were especially needed. It is a great honor to know that all this is an integral part of the history of Kaunas, “said the mayor of Kaunas, Visvaldas Matijošaitis.
Sculptor Martynas Gaubas’s nearly 4-meter-tall work “In Memory of Chiunei Sugihara” shows origami-shaped lathes made of platinum bronze spinning skyward in a circle. The base of the sculpture represents Č. Sugihara’s seal and the words “Save a life, save the whole world”, that is, the activities of the Japanese consul, recorded in Lithuanian, Japanese, English and Yiddish.
Nobility that has changed the world
Čiunė Sugihara is a Japanese diplomat who resided in Kaunas in 1939-1940 as Vice Consul of the Japanese Empire. During World War II, it helped about 6,000. Lithuanian, Polish and German Jews escape Europe by issuing them Japanese transit visas. He risked his career in this way because he did not officially have the approval of the Japanese government.
1940 in September, when the consulate in Kaunas, Č was closed. Sugihara continued to sign visas at the Metropolis Hotel. According to witnesses, in the last moments, before leaving for Germany, the consul filled out the visas even on the Riga-Berlin train, which were signed by throwing them out of the train window.
It is estimated that up to 10 thousand. the so-called “life visas”.
For his actions, which have saved thousands of lives from a terrible fate, the Israeli government has called the Japanese diplomat the just nation of the world.
Photo by Vilmantas Raupelis
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