24. The Japanese Diplomat Who Managed to Save Five Times as Many Jews as Oskar Schindler
The exploits of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara (1900 – 1986) during WWII are little-known today. That is unfortunate, because he risked his life and the lives of his family, and eventually sacrificed his career, to save the lives of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust. He did it from the Japanese consulate in Lithuania, where he issued visas that facilitated the escape of Jewish refugees from war-torn Europe.
When the Japanese government caught on to what Sugihara was doing, it ordered him to stop. He did not, and continued to issue visas in defiance of his superiors’ directives until his consulate was closed and he was recalled. By the time he was done, Sugihara had managed to save roughly 6000 Jewish refugees. That was about five times as many Jews as had been saved by the more famous Oskar Schindler.