On September 1, 1939, Germany’s Adolph Hitler’s forces invaded Poland, marking the beginning of World War II. By the time the war ended on September 2, 1945, more than 70 million people had been killed worldwide, including approximately 6 million European Jews. What made the death of these 6 million Jews particularly horrifying, was that they were not battlefield deaths arising from the fighting between the two opposing sides (the Allies and the Axis powers). Soon after the invasion, Sugihara found himself confronted with a dilemma—Jews seeking visas to flee Europe and the advancing German troops. In the words of one survivor, “Sugihara did this courageous act of issuing the visas against his government’s orders.

Source: The Star January 27, 2023 02:10 UTC