20. Chiune Sugihara Saved 6000 Jew From the Holocaust
Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara (1900 – 1986) risked himself and family, and eventually sacrificed his career, to save the lives of thousands of Jews during WWII. He did it from his office in the Japanese consulate in Kovno, Lithuania, where he used his consular authority to issue visas that facilitated the escape of Jewish refugees from war-torn Europe.
The Japanese government eventually 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 saved roughly 6000 Jewish refugees. That was about five times as many Jews as had been saved by the more famous Oskar Schindler, of Schindler’s List.