Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat who served as vice-consul for the Japanese Empire in Kaunas, Lithuania. During the Second World War, Sugihara helped thousands of Jews flee Europe by issuing transit visas to them so that they could travel through Japanese territory, risking his career and the lives of his family. The fleeing Jews were refugees from German-occupied Western Poland and Soviet-occupied Eastern Poland, as well as residents of Lithuania.
Jan Zwartendijk was a Dutch businessman and diplomat. As director of the Philips factories in Lithuania and part-time acting consul of the Dutch government-in-exile, he supervised the writing of 2,345 visas for Curaçao to save Jews from the Holocaust during World War II. In 1997, Yad Vashem recognised him as Righteous Among the Nations.
The Shanghai Ghetto, formally known as the Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees, was an area of approximately one square mile (2.6 km2) in the Hongkou district of Japanese-occupied Shanghai. The area included the community around the Ohel Moshe Synagogue. Shanghai was notable for a long period as the only place in the world that unconditionally offered refuge for Jews escaping from the Nazis. After the Japanese occupied all of Shanghai in 1941, the Japanese army forced about 23,000 of the city's Jewish refugees to be restricted or relocated to the Shanghai Ghetto from 1941 to 1945 by the Proclamation Concerning Restriction of Residence and Business of Stateless Refugees. It was one of the poorest and most crowded areas of the city. Local Jewish families and American Jewish charities aided them with shelter, food, and clothing. The Japanese authorities increasingly stepped up restrictions, surrounded the ghetto with barbed wire, and the local Chinese residents, whose living conditions were often as bad, did not leave. By 21 August 1941, the Japanese government closed Shanghai to Jewish immigration.
Zorach or Zorah Wahrhaftig, also known as Zerach Warhaftig, was an Israeli rabbi, lawyer, and politician. He was a signatory of Israel's Declaration of Independence.
Marcel Weyland is a translator of Adam Mickiewicz's Pan Tadeusz and of Echoes: Poems of the Holocaust. 'The Word: 200 Years of Polish Poetry', 2010, ed. Brandl & Schlesinger, Blackheath, NSW, Australia, ISBN 978-1-921556-03-6. His most recent published work is the translation of the selected work of Julian Tuwim, Brandl & Schlesinger, Blackheath NSW, ISBN 9780994429780.
The Mir Yeshiva, commonly known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, was a Lithuanian yeshiva located in the town of Mir, Russian Empire. After relocating a number of times during World War II, it has evolved into three yeshivas: one in Jerusalem and two in Brooklyn, New York: the Mir Yeshiva, and Bais Hatalmud.
Christopher Inadomi Tashima is a Japanese American actor and director. He is co-founder of the entertainment company Cedar Grove Productions and Artistic Director of its Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. Tashima directed, co-wrote, and starred in the 26-minute film Visas and Virtue for which he and producer Chris Donahue won the 1998 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.
Tim Toyama is a playwright and producer. He is Sansei living in Los Angeles, California. He is co-founder of the Asian American media company Cedar Grove Productions, and its sister Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. He attended California State University, Northridge (CSUN) as an English major.
Cedar Grove Productions is an independent production company based in Los Angeles, California, specializing in media and theatre arts representing the Asian Pacific American community. Media projects are educational, with Visual Communications (VC) serving as a non-profit fiscal sponsor.
Chris Donahue is an American film and television producer. He began his career as a producer in television news and documentaries, then transitioned to narrative film and television at the American Film Institute. Donahue's work has been honored with numerous awards including an Academy Award for Live Action Short Film for producing Visas and Virtue (1998), and an Emmy for his documentary Be Good, Smile Pretty (2003). His love for documentaries has him returning to the form often, and his current interests have him exploring themes in Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Immersive Storytelling, and Social Impact Entertainment.
In three cases, entire countries resisted the deportation of their Jewish population during the Holocaust. In other countries, notable individuals or communities created resistance during the Holocaust which helped the Jews escape some concentration camps.
The history of the Jews in Kobe, Japan, is recorded from the 19th century onwards.
John Rabe is a 2009 biographical film directed by Florian Gallenberger, based upon John Rabe's published wartime diaries.
Cedar Grove OnStage is an Asian Pacific American theatre arts organization established in 2006, based in Los Angeles, co-founded by playwright Tim Toyama and actor/director Chris Tashima who serves as Artistic Director. It is a division of the entertainment company, Cedar Grove Productions and their focus is to develop, produce and present new and original Asian American theatre works.
Japan–Lithuania relations are the bilateral foreign relations between Japan and Lithuania. Japan has an embassy in Vilnius, and Lithuania has an embassy in Tokyo.
Arie Leo Hanin was a Lithuanian-American political activist.
Tatsuo Osako, of Chiba, Japan was a citizen of the Japanese Empire during World War II who is most notable for transporting Jews to safety. He worked as a clerk for the tourism bureau in Tsuruga, a port city in Japan. His role involved aiding refugees, particularly Jewish and other Europeans, who were traveling from Vladivostok, Russia's Pacific port, to Japan before the Pearl Harbor bombing. In his capacity as the ship's escort and clerk, he distributed funds provided by Jewish organizations to assist the refugees.
Persona Non Grata is a 2015 Japanese biographical drama film directed by Cellin Gluck. It depicts the life of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara who was appointed a vice-consul and later a consul in Lithuania and served there from 1939 to 1940 and who saved lives of some 6,000 Jewish refugees by issuing transit visas to the Japanese Empire.
Port of Humanity Tsuruga Museum is a museum that displays the history of Tsuruga Port, located in Kanegasaki Park, Tsuruga, Fukui, Japan. It emphasizes Chiune Sugihara, who saved the lives of many Jewish refugees during World War II by issuing transit visas. Tsuruga Port was the place they disembarked after their long journey from their native Europe.
The Chiune Sugihara Memorial Hall is a museum in Yaotsu, Gifu, Japan.
