The Japanese Schindler

It's a glorious Fall night in Chicago.  This has just happened. As fans of all generations are celebrating, remembering, and visiting the graves of the departed faithful to share the good news, there is a certain Japanese national who they may owe a portion of their thanks to(and not this guy :P)...

     Most everybody has heard of a man by the name of Oskar Schindler(mostly thanks to Steven Spielberg).  But by no means was Mr. Schindler alone in his tremendous acts of courage.  Not even close.  In fact the Israeli government has a formal title to bestow upon those who aided Jews in the Holocaust.  The honorific is called Righteous Among the Nations, and as of January 1, 2013 it has been bestowed upon 24,356 people from 47 different countries(including 525 Germans).  Some of the honorees are known in some circles, such as Schindler, Irena Sendler, Corrie ten Boom, or Raoul Wallenberg. Some are names nobody has ever heard of, such as José Castellanos Contreras, Selahattin Ülkümen, or Dimitar Peshev.  However, the person we are talking about today is a man who may have saved as many as 10,000 Jews(compared to Schindler, who rescued roughly 1,200).  That man is named Chiune Sugihara.

     Born at the very dawn of the 20th Century(January 1, 1900), Sugihara excelled in school, and his father wanted him to be a physician.  Sugihara had other ambitions, and so he took a dive on the entrance exams to medical school, and instead went to University.  Over the course of his studies, he became well-versed in German and Russian, and went to work for the Japanese Foreign Ministry, where after a posting in China, wound up as the vice-consul of the Japanese Consulate in Lithuania, where he was reporting on Soviet and German troop movements in addition to his official duties.  Sugihara soon became aware of a growing problem, as chatter was beginning to spread of a rumored "Final Solution" that would exterminate all of Europe's Jews.  Sugihara immediately contacted his Japanese contacts who informed him that the current immigration policy only allowed Japanese visas to be given out if the traveler was passing through Japan.  For some of the Jews, Sugihara was able to secure an arrangement with the Dutch Consulate that allowed him to send the visas through official channels.  But for the vast majority of them, he had to operate in violation of his orders, working up to 20 hours a day, handwriting visas for thousands of Jweish refugees.  On September 4, 1940, Japan shut down its Foreign Ministry office in Lithuania.  Even this didn't stop Sugihara, as he was still hurriedly filling out visas on his way out of the country, to the point of flinging completed visas out the window as his train was pulling away.  Reports vary on how many Jews were saved by Sugihara.  One researcher found an official report that listed 2,139 names on a single document(which implies that many,many more were saved).  The Simon Wiesenthal Center has estimated that Sugihara's visas were issued to 6,000 Jews and that 40,000 Jewish descendants are alive today because of his actions.  As for Sugihara, he went on to live for another 40 years, and was recognized as one of the Righteous Among the Nations in 1985.

     Now at this point I know you're thinking, "Well, this is great and everything, but what in the world does a Japanese diplomat who saved Jews in World War II and died 28 years ago have to do with Chicago?"   That would be a valid question, and the answer all has to do with somebody who he saved.  Berek Zielonka was rescued by Sugihara, along with his wife Rochelle.  After taking the Trans-Siberian Railway to Japan, the family emigrated to America, eventually settling in Chicago, where they had a son named Sam.  Soon afterwards, Berek started going by the name Bernard, and he changed the family's surname to Zell.  The son wound up becoming rather rich and powerful, and in 2007, Sam Zell bought the Chicago Tribune.  He then moved to put the Chicago Cubs up for sale, which was completed on October 27, 2009 in a $900 Million transaction done by Tom Ricketts(and family).  On October 25, 2011, Ricketts officially introduced Theo Epstein as the new President of the team.  Over the past several seasons, Epstein has done a 180 in the culture of the team.  This has been said many a time over the past century, but if anyone can get these Cubbies to win the World Series, it's Epstein.  And so, on that fateful evening when it finally happens, the throngs of faithful can thank Chiune Sugihara for setting that path in motion.