The man who saved 6,000 Jews

Last year, a DVD titled Three Christians Who Lived During the Turbulent Times of the 20th Century was released by the Christian publishing company Word of Life Press to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Yoshimasa Moribe, former chief editor of Christian Shimbun, was given the opportunity to write the commentary and be the editorial supervisor for this DVD. He writes: “Early on, we decided that the first person to be featured on it would be Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who saved the lives of 6,000 Jewish refugees by issuing them transit visas. We desired that his story of love and hope would challenge those who live in these troubled days.”

Early life

Sugihara was born on January 1, 1900 in Yaotsu, Gifu. His father wanted him to become a doctor, but instead he entered Waseda University and majored in English. He received no financial support from his parents and spent most of his time working at a part-time job to earn a living.

Moribe said, “While researching for the DVD, we uncovered previously unknown facts about Sugihara’s life at Waseda and how that became the starting point of his faith. I came across these facts while reading the booklet published for the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Christian organization called Waseda Hōshien.” According to the booklet, this organization had a fellowship group called Shinkō Kyōkai, and Sugihara’s signature was found in the registry list of 1919. The Shinkō Kyōkai had very strict regulations for becoming a member.

Nowadays, many Japanese universities have a KGK group [a Christian student group]. Usually, if you take an interest in Christianity or want to study the Bible, it is relatively easy to join the group. However, with Shinkō Kyōkai, one had to take a vow to believe in the Trinity. Sugihara took this vow and made the decision to follow Christ for his whole life.

Diplomatic career

Sugihara only studied at Waseda for a year. He was later recruited by the Japanese Foreign Ministry and assigned to Harbin, China, where he studied English, German, and Russian without having to pay tuition fees. He then moved on to serve in the Manchurian Foreign Office as a diplomat. While in Manchuria, he was baptized in a Russian Orthodox church. He later returned to Japan as he was opposed to the Kwantung Army, which was trying to rule China by force. He then served as a vice-consul of the Japanese Consulate in Lithuania. It is said that one of the reasons he was placed there was to gather information about the neighboring countries of Germany and Russia. It was there that he met Jewish refugees who had escaped from Poland and who he later saved by issuing transit visas, even though it meant going against the orders of the Japanese government.

Christian faith in action

Before deciding to issue the visas, he told his family “I believe in God, so I cannot go against him. I have decided to issue visas for the Jewish people.” Here we see how his encounter with Christ at Waseda taught him how to live a life of helping others, even at the risk of his own life, and how it shaped him to be a loving and sincere man.

In the DVD, we see his granddaughter Madoka talking about Sugihara in his latter days. “On his deathbed, grandfather asked us to call for the priest. I felt that he was a true Christian then.” In the Russian Orthodox church, there is a ceremony for confessing one’s sins before dying.

Despite being one of the humanitarian heroes of the 20th century, Sugihara didn’t boast of his actions. Instead, one can imagine that Sugihara must have borne the sorrow of the Jews for whom he was unable to issue visas and who were consequently sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp where they died. He was willing to stand before God as a sinner—in this we see Sugihara’s sincerity.

From Christian Shimbun, January 3, 2016
Translated by Grace Koshino