Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story
by Ken Mochizuki
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ken MochizukiIllustrator: Dom Lee
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-09-01
ISBN: 1584301570
Number of pages: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Book Reviews of Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story
Book Review: A Place of Honor
Summary: 5 Stars
This one of the most beautiful stories of how good surrounded evil and drove it out. Instead of going into tragic detail about the atrocities that took place during the Holocaust, it puts human faces, human feelings and a very personal account of one good man's successful mission to save lives.
In 1940, Hiroki Sugihara, then 5 was living in Lithuania in a Japanese community. His younger brother Chiaki, 3 and infant brother Haruki were happily unaware of the strife and trauma taking place in the world.
One young boy changed that. One night, a small boy in need of money approached Hiroki's father on the street. He gave the boy some money to buy what he needed. To show his appreciation, the boy invited the Sugiharas to his home to celebrate Hanukkah.
During the early part of WWI, Chiune Sugihara was a diplomat representing Japan. The war literally came to his door one night when crowds of people, facing certain death came to the Sugihara home, seeking help. Hiroki's mother tells him that the people would be "killed or taken away by some very bad men" unless the family helped them. Hiroki begged his father to save them.
Chiune Sugihara invited several men to meet with him inside. There they drew up a plan for Sugihara to secure visas to help the people escape from Lithuania. Sugihara told them that although he could only issue a few visas and that in order to do so he would have to get permission from the Japanese government.
Sugihara apprached the government, requesting those visas. Each time he was turned down. Time was running out, so he made the desicion to go ahead and issue those visas on his own because not doing so would be "to disobey God" instead of disobeying the government.
At all times the Sugiharas talked to their children about what was taking place. Sughihara sat up late into the night for many nights issuing visas to people and personally wished each one well once they received the visa.
Hiroki's poignant observation that although he and the Polish and Lithuanian children did not speak the same language, it did not matter. They all played together in a local park.
Many lives were saved before the Germans and Russians occupied Lithuania.
This is one of the most beautiful books I have EVER read. It might even make you cry. Hiroki Sugihara's afterword about his father's successful mission to save lives will remain indelibly inscribed on the hearts and minds of all who read this wonderful story. Angels DO walk among us and Chiune Sugihara was indeed an angel.
Matthew Wilder's 1983 song "Ain't Nothing Gonna Break My Stride" could be the soundtrack of this heartwarming and uplifting book. This book deserves a place of honor.
Summary of Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story
A portrait of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania in 1940, explains how he used his powers--against the orders of his own government--to assist thousands of Jews escape the Holocaust, actions that resulted in the imprisonment and disgrace of his entire family."Jewish Books
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