CONSUL SUGIHARA CHIUNE AND THE POLISH JEWS IN KAUNAS, LITHUANIA IN 1939-1940 (Konsul Sugihara Chiune a polscy Zydzi w Kownie w okresie 1939-1940)

The main subject of this article is the life and career of Sugihara Chiune, viewed in the context of the fate of European Jews during their stay in the Lithuanian capital, Kaunas, while they were escaping from Nazi-occupied Europe in 1939 and 1940. The authoress investigates how the Japanese consul helped them obtain visas and thus saved their lives. She also deals with his private and professional life, including the turns of his diplomatic career in pre-war Lithuania, and his views on crucial issues involving his activities connected with saving the Polish Jews - even at the risk of his own life and the life of his family. Sugihara continued to hand out transit visas even after he was forbidden to do so by his superiors from the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Thus the war influenced his later life as a diplomat, not always in a beneficial way. However, today Consul Sugihara is considered a hero and is commemorated in many ways, both in his native Japan and in Lithuania.