Chiune Sugihara Lists
In 1939-40 Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara was the vice consul for Japan in Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania. Against orders from his superiors in Tokyo, he issued transit visas that saved about 2100, mostly Polish, Jewish refugees who would have been otherwise murdered. About half went to Shanghai prior to Pearl Harbor. About 15% of the survivors eventually came to Canada. Many thousands of Jewish people owe their lives due to the extraordinary heroic deeds of Sugihara, including 25 in George Bluman's family-his parents Nathan and Susan Bluman (S visa #1569), their three children, eight grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren as well as an uncle (Leopold Bluman, S visa #516) and his wife (Danuta Lapacz, S visa #515).
Essential roles in the rescue were played by the Dutch consul in Lithuania, Jan Zwartendijk, the Dutch ambassador in Latvia, L.P.J. de Decker, both representing the Dutch government-in exile, based in London, UK; Tadeusz Romer, the Polish ambassador to Japan; the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).
Attached are details about those on the Sugihara List, separately sorted by number and alphabet with listed sources,
researched by George Bluman and Akira Kitade.
Sugihara List numbered November 6 2023
Sugihara List alphabetized November 6 2023
Sugihara List numbered January 15 2023
Sugihara List alphabetized January 15 2023
Sugihara List numbered April 18 2022
Sugihara List alphabetized April 18 2022
Sugihara List numbered August 27 2021
Sugihara List alphabetized August 27 2021
Sugihara List numbered December 10 2019
Sugihara List alphabetized December 10 2019
Sugihara List numbered June 11 2019
Sugihara List alphabetized June 11 2019
The numbered list is based on the numbered list for visas issued by Chiune Sugihara from July 9->August 26, 1940 as the Japanese vice-consul while in his consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania. Chiune Sugihara had his list typed later in Prague.
The alphabetized list is the numbered list alphabetized by surname.
These lists are
certainly not complete and surely have errors.
It is hoped that Sugihara survivors and descendants will communicate
corrections to these lists to George Bluman: bluman@math.ubc.ca. Such information will be used to update these
lists.
Additional information on these lists includes:
1. Age in 1940.
2. Occupation prior to receiving a Sugihara visa.
3. Family relationship(s).
4. Additional family members included in an issued Sugihara visa.
5. Perished?
6. Arrived in Japan, indicated by two concentric circles.
7. Arrived in Shanghai (usually from Japan), indicated by an x.
8. Destination from Japan (other than Shanghai, usually pre September 1941); destination from Shanghai (usually post 1945). Those marked in red obtained their destination visas through the efforts of Tadeusz Romer, Polish ambassador to Japan (1937-1941).
Sources:
1. Arrivals of Jewish Refugees at Tsuruga, Japan in October 1940 (Fukui Prefecture, November 27, 1940).
2. Jewish Refugees in Kobe, August 1941 (Hyogo Prefecture, August 30, 1941).
3. List of 9064 Jewish refugees in Vilnius (Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), 1940).
4. Lists of Jewish refugees arriving in Kobe in January and February 1941 (Jewish Community of Kobe (Jewcom), January 31, March 5 and 12, 1941).
5. Lists of Yeshiva students getting aid in Japan (JDC, March 22, 1941).
6. Lists of Jewish refugees in Kobe including addresses and names of relatives in other countries (Jewcom, March 16, June 18, July 20, 1941).
7. Lists of Jewish refugees who left Japan to places other than Shanghai in July 1941 (Jewcom, August 1, 1941).
8. Lists of Jewish persons who left Japan for Shanghai in July 1941 (Jewcom, August 1, 1941).
9. Lists of Jewish refugees who left Japan in April 1941 (Jewcom, May 4, 1941).
10. Lists of Jewish refugees who left Japan in May and June 1941 with support from Hicem—JDC (Jewcom, July 9 and 14, 1941).
11. List of 14561 refugees in Shanghai during WW II (Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, thanks to Fang Xiaojun). Many are not Jewish.
12. Database of the Archives of the National Diet Library of Japan.
13. Registration date of Polish refugees arriving from Japan to the Polish Consulate General in Shanghai in 1941.
14. Private correspondences (George Bluman).
15. Correspondence with JDC, New York.
16. From Tokyo to Jerusalem, Abraham Setsuzo Kotsuji, B. Geis Associates, New York (distributed by Random House) (1964).
17.
The Fugu Plan: the untold story
of the Japanese and the Jews during World War II, Marvin Tokayer and Mary Swartz, Paddington Press, New York (1979.)
18. Refugee and Survivor: rescue efforts during the Holocaust, Zorach Warhaftig, Yad Vashem: Torah Educational Dept. of the World Zionist Organization, Jerusalem (1988).
19. The Shanghai Connection, Rabbi Dr. Chaim U. Lipschitz, Maznaim Publishing Corp., New York (1988).
20. Visas for Life, Yukiko Sugihara (translation by Hiroki Sugihara with Anne Hoshiko Akabari), Edu-Comm Plus, San Francisco (1995).
21. Japanese Diplomats and Jewish Refugees: A World War II Dilemma, Pamela Rotner Sakamoto, Praeger, Westport, Conn. (1998).
22. I Have My Mother’s Eyes, a Holocaust memoir across generations, Barbara Ruth Bluman, Ronsdale Press and Vancouver Holocaust Education Society, Vancouver (2009).
Museums in Japan
emphasizing the heroics of Chiune Sugihara include:
Chiune Sugihara Sempo Museum in Tokyo: http://en.sempomuseum.com/
The Chiune Sugihara Memorial Hall in Yaotsu: http://www.sugihara-museum.jp/index_en.html
Port of Humanity Museum in Tsuruga: http://www.tmo-tsuruga.com/kk-museum/main_e.html
Aichi Prefecture "Sempo" Sugihara Memorial in Nagoya: https://zuiryo-kensho.aichi-c.ed.jp/en/