Prague concert honoured Japanese diplomat who saved thousands of Jewish people during WWII — Chiune Sugihara hand-wrote transit visas for European refugees, in the absence of instructions from Tokyo
https://english.radio.cz/prague-concert-honour-japanese-diplomat-who-saved-thousands-jews-8778706
2 comments
Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Ruth Fraňková, about a concert premiere:
>Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat, who saved thousands of Jewish lives during the WWII.
>Sugihara, with the help of the honorary Dutch consul, Jan Zwartendijk, provided them with fake transit visas to escape via Japan to the Dutch-speaking Caribbean island of Curaçao, risking his life and career.
>His heroic actions are now being celebrated by a new piece of music composed by Lera Auerbach.
>The Czech premiere of her Symphony No. 6 Vessels of Light will be performed on Monday evening at the Rudolfinum concert hall.
>The music, libretto, and artistic concept for the piece was created by Auerbach, a Russian-born American composer and pianist and weaves together Yiddish poetry, the art of Japanese Kintsugi, the Kabbalistic story of the breaking of the vessels and the silent words of biblical Psalm 121.
>The symphony was commissioned by the Yad Vashem Holocaust remembrance centre, but the idea was conceived by cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper, who has a personal connection to Sugihara.
>Kristina Reiko Cooper says she only learned about the story a few years ago and it affected her deeply:
>>“He came from the Samurai background and there is a code called bushido. The basic premise of this code is that nothing matters except that you do the right thing.”
^1 Ruth Fraňková for Radio Prague International, 27 Mar. 2023, https://english.radio.cz/prague-concert-honour-japanese-diplomat-who-saved-thousands-jews-8778706
Nothing like saving Jews.