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The memory of Sugihara and the ‘visas for life’ in Poland

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Hądzelek A.

Studia z Dziejów Rosji i Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej

2016

vol. 51

issue 1

This article examines the historical memory of the act of issuing over 2,000 visas to Polish Jews by the Japanese Consul in Lithuania, Sugihara Chiune. Sugihara’s “visas for life” are memorialised heavily in Japan, in the countries where the refugees ultimately settled (Israel, United States, Canada and Australia), and in Lithuania. However, in Poland the story is barely known, and it does not seem to form part of the national narrative of survival during WWII. Is it because the refugees were Polish Jews, and, as such, they do not belong to either the Polish or the Jewish historical memory? The study of Polish “places of memory” (Pierre de Nora’s lieux de mémoire) revealed that in Poland this topic attracts researchers primarily in the field of Japanese Studies, and not in Jewish Studies or WWII Studies. The presence of this story in the media and popular culture is scattered and fragmented. In terms of institutional memory and memorialisation of this act, Sugihara twice was granted (posthumously) high state awards by the Republic of Poland, but there are no monuments, no streets named after him, no museum exhibits dedicated to “visas for life” – in stark contrast to Lithuania. It is even more remarkable that stories of survival of an estimated 6,000 refugees – Polish citizens, do not attract public interest in Poland. The article concludes that a number of new “places of memory” are needed in Poland to properly commemorate Sugihara’s act of issuing visas, and the fate of thousands of Polish Jews who escaped the Holocaust.

Pamięć o Sugiharze i „wizach życia” w Polsce

100%

Hądzelek A.

Studia z Dziejów Rosji i Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej

2016

vol. 51

issue 1

Artykuł jest przeglądem polskich miejsc pamięci o „wizach życia”, które w 1940 r. wydawał polskim uchodźcom wojennym, głównie pochodzenia żydowskiego, japoński konsul w Kownie, Sugihara Chiune. Jego postać upamiętniona została w Japonii, na Litwie oraz w krajach, w których osiedlili się uchodźcy. W Polsce natomiast bardzo mało jest miejsc pamięci jemu poświęconych. Często koncentrują się one na współpracy Sugihary z polskim wywiadem i na udziale wywiadu polskiego w akcji wizowej, rzadziej natomiast na humanitarnym i bohaterskim czynie wydawania wiz, na przesłaniu tolerancji i równości między ludźmi czy na losach samych uchodźców.

The article examines the historical memory of the so-called ‘visas for life’ issued by the Japanese Consul in Kaunas, Sugihara Chiune, in 1940 to Polish war refugees, mainly of Jewish origin. He is memorialised in Japan, Lithuania and in the countries where the refugees ultimately settled, but not in Poland, where he remains almost unknown, and has only few places dedicated to his memory; often they focus more on Sugihara’s cooperation with the Polish intelligence and their contribution to the visas action rather than the humanitarian and heroic deed of Sugihara, its message of tolerance and equality, or on the fate of the refugees.

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2 Studia z Dziejów Rosji i Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej

2 Hądzelek A.

2 2016

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The memory of Sugihara and the ‘visas for life’ in Poland

Pamięć o Sugiharze i „wizach życia” w Polsce