Passage to Freedom The Sugihara Story By Ken Mochizuki

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Reviewed by Allison Martin

Passage to Freedom is the story of a hero in the second World War, as told through the eyes of his son. Mr. Sugihara was the Japanese ambassador to Lithuania on the day in 1940 when, as his son Hiroki says, his life "was changed forever." Hundreds of families showed up at their doorstep, Jews fleeing from the Nazi soldiers in Poland. They hoped to travel through the Soviet Union to Japan and then flee to another country. If they remained in Lithuania they would all be killed. Siguhara's authority only allowed him to issue a few visas, not the hundreds desired by the people who waited with their few belongings and their children just outside their door. The plight of the children outside touched his heart and the hearts of Sugihara's family. So despite orders to the contrary from Japan, Sugihara issued visas to everyone who asked. Even as the Germans and Soviets marched in, he still issued visas for the refugees. A touching story of generosity and courage across racial lines, in a world soon to be consumed by hatred.

The epilogue explains that the Sugihara family was imprisoned for 18 months by the Soviets and then asked to resign from diplomatic service when they returned to Japan. In 1985, he received the "Righteous Among Nations" Award from Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Israel, the only Asian to be given this honor.

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