More on Chiune Sugihara
With regard to “Israel-Poland crisis deepens as Shoah bill moves forward” (February 2), the legislation passed by Polish lawmakers has created the impression of very limited Polish involvement in the murder of Jews during the Holocaust – an impression that needs to be addressed.
I would like to propose the following: We should produce a new book with two sections. It should be titled Poland – Red and White (the national colors). The White section would include all the known Polish Righteous Gentiles listed by Yad Vashem, and perhaps others, with dates, places and details of how they risked their lives to save Jews. The Red section would list all the known murders, killings and atrocities perpetrated by Poles as individuals or groups both during the Holocaust and afterwards, and would include voluntary cooperation with the Nazis.
Details are available from Yad Vashem, survivors and their organized groups in Israel, Australia, the US, Canada, England, Europe and South America. All of this in a book with two parts would provide a much more balanced picture showing the Polish people’s true colors. ELIYAHU HONIG
Tel Mond
With great interest I read Michael Wilner’s “Lionizing a rebel” (January 26), mentioning inter alia the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who rescued some 6,000 Jewish refugees from the Nazis by issuing visas against instructions of his government. While all the related facts are correct, to the best of my knowledge, allow me to add some relevant details.
When Sugihara returned from Europe to Japan, he was forbidden from working at the Foreign Office – even after the war, when Japan had no more obligations toward Germany. No reason for his dismissal was announced officially, but it was understood that it was done as a sanction for his disobedience. In fact, until the end of his life, he was persona non grata at the Foreign Office.
When the Jewish National Fund inaugurated a forest in commemoration of Sugihara, I met the then-first secretary of the Japanese Embassy (whose name I am not mentioning to spare him embarrassment). The envoy declared clearly, for everybody to hear, that he was attending in a private capacity, not as a representative of the embassy.
An opera on Sugihara and his humanitarian effort was written by Toshi Ichiyanagi, one of Japan’s most celebrated contemporary composers. It premiered in 2006 in Yokohama and was reviewed favorably in the Japanese press. The scene where Sugihara overcomes his initial hesitations and starts to sign the visas evoked spontaneous and stormy applause among the audience (and such audiences in Japan are usually reserved in their enthusiasm).
The opera was never performed in Israel. The opera company’s management informed me that it was ready to perform here during a stop-over on its way to Lithuania, where it had been invited. The Israel Festival declined, however, for budgetary reasons, and the Israeli Opera responded by saying it “was not staging operas from such extravagant countries.” URY EPPSTEIN Jerusalem The writer is The Jerusalem Post’s opera critic and an ex-chairman of the Jerusalem branch of the Israel-Japan Friendship Association.