By COLlive reporter
Japan’s Ambassador to Israel Mizushima Koichi and his wife paid an uncommon visit the Beis Chana High School for girls in Jerusalem on Monday.
The purpose was to view an exhibition created by students about Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who served as vice-consul for the Japanese Empire in Kaunas, Lithuania.
During the Second World War, Sugihara helped thousands of Jews flee Nazi Europe by issuing transit visas to them so that they could travel through Japanese territory, risking his job and the lives of his family. Among those saved were students of Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim in Shanghai.
Sugihara was reprimanded by his government. In 1985, the State of Israel honored Sugihara as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for his actions. He is the only Japanese national to have been so honored.
The exhibit at the Beis Chana school brought to life Sugihara’s heroism with a life-size cut-out of him sitting at his desk, historic photos, maps, and documents. Titled “From Dust to Heights,” it described the plight of the Chabad bochurim and the bochurim of the Mir Yeshiva.
The opening of the exhibition was honored by the Japanese ambassador and the Ashkenazi family, whose family head, the illustrious Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi, was the rov and Rosh Yeshiva in Shanghai.
It was done in collaboration with the “Ginzach Kiddush Hashem” organization. Mrs. Malka Eisenbach, the school’s pedagogical coordinator for the history profession, led the initiative.
In a post on social media, the Japanese embassy said that the Ambassador was “deeply moved” by the elaborate exhibition.
