This week, we’ll be discussing the life and career of Sugihara Chiune, a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs prior to World War II. In 1940, Sugihara gave up his comfortable life and career to save thousands of Jewish refugees in Eastern Europe from the Nazis. We’ll discuss what he did, why he did it, and why I think it’s important this week.
Listen to the episode here.
Sources
PBS put together a documentary series on Sugihara; their evidence is available here.
Yad V’Shem (the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem) houses its evidence on Sugihara here.
Images
Wonderful episode, wonderful tribute to such an amazing person.
What an episode – thanks Isaac.
I just re-listened to this episode. It has been almost five years since I first heard it, and I think it is one of the most moving episodes that you have done. I first heard of Sugihara through this episode, and he has been one of my biggest heroes ever since. I regret that I did not have time to visit the Sugihara Memorial in Yaotsu on my last trip to Japan, but I hope to see it someday.