Sugihara and Others

Summary: Documentary film about Japanese Righteous Among the Nations Sempo Sugihara who was a Japanese diplomat in Kovno, Lithuania during World War II and stood not only against the oppression of the Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Japan) but also against the long-standing tradition of compliance. A man of conscience, he went against his country's policy by issuing visas to more than 6,000 Jews during World War 2, which allowed them to escape from the Nazis. Jan Zwartendijk, the Dutch consul in Kovno, provided Jews with visas to a fictitious destination, the island of Curação, which was then controlled by the Dutch. Transit visa issuance made it possible to get an exit visa from Russia and Lithuania, which was then occupied by the Russians and allowed passage to different countries. The aim of the refugees was to arrive at Japan and there contact various embassies to get visas to their countries. The transition to Japan was through the port of Vladivostok, USSR. Refugees came from Lithuania by the Trans-Siberian railway. Luckily, the guards were not interested in the identity of the passengers. 3,000 Jewish refugees arrived in Kobe, Japan. The Japanese identified about 80 fake visas and returned their holders to Vladivostok. The Polish ambassador in Tokyo, Tadeusz Romer, obtained three weeks-visas that helped refugees without passports obtain visas to other places in the world. Another group of refugees without visas arrived in Shanghai, China. Integrated in the film are archive photos and footage, and testimonies of survivors and rescuers.