The Chiune Sugihara Memorial Hall is a museum in Yaotsu, Gifu,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The museum tells visitors the story of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat who saved the lives of thousands of Jews while living in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. The museum features ten sections including a re-creation of the Japanese consulate office in Lithuania.

History

The Chiune Sugihara Memorial Hall finished construction in 2000 and was funded by the Chiune Sugihara Memorial Hall. The hall was constructed with Japanese Cypress from

Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku ...

and accentuate the cultural differences between Lithuania and Gifu. The hall underwent construction in 2017 where the interior of the hall was restored to look more authentic. The memorial hall has received around 200,000 visitors with roughly 2,000 visitors coming from Israel each year.

Sections of the memorial hall

The memorial has ten sections which are marked with a letter A-J. Sections A and B provide visitors with background knowledge of the Holocaust and Jewish persecution by the Nazis. Sections C-E discuss Sugihara's decision to issue visas and how he helped Jews flee Europe. Sections F-J discuss the impact that Sugihara's visas had on those who escaped, and these sections also feature messages of gratitude from Jewish refugees and the ''Tsuruga Landing Accounts'', stories from many Jewish refugees who eventually escaped to the Japanese port of

Tsuruga is a city located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 66,123 in 28,604 households and the population density of 260 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Tsuruga is located in central ...

. The memorial hall also features “The Decision”: a reconstruction of Sugihara's office in

, where visitors can ponder Sugihara's dilemma and come up with their own decision.

Jindonooka Park

Jindonooka Park is the park where the Chiune Sugihara Memorial Hall was built. The park is divided into four sections: the Memorial Zone, Access Zone, Culture Zone and Amusement Zone. The park has two main monuments, the ''Sounding Out World Peace monument'' in the Memorial zone which communicates the hope for world peace and the monument is the ''Visas for Life monument'' which shows the hope created from Sugihara's visas. Both monuments were erected in 1996.

Access

It is possible to access the memorial hall by bus via Yaotsu's city center. However, due to lack of buses and problematic transfers most visitors choose to take a rental car.

References

{{Authority control 2000 establishments in Japan Museums established in 2000 Museums in Gifu Prefecture Jewish Japanese history History museums in Japan Biographical museums in Japan Yaotsu, Gifu