SENPO or CHUINE SUGIHARA was the sina qua non, the person without whom thousands of Jewish refugees would never have been able to escape from Europe. As to his name, the Japanese characters can be read either Senpo or Chiune. Originally, he used the reading Chiune. After the war, however, he worked for many years in Moscow for a company that specialized in trade between Japan and the Soviet Union. Sugihara knew of Russia's history of antiSemitism and feared that if someone learned that he had saved thousands of Jews during the war, it might be the end of his career. Therefore, he changed the reading of his first name to Senpo until he left Moscow. Sugihara died in Japan in 1986.
The story of Sugihara's life, before and after he issued the life-saving visas, is told briefly in the two Introductions to this edition of The Fugu Plan. Sugihara's wife, who was with him in Lithuania in 1940, has written a short book about her husband entitled Visas for Six Thousand. And Profess or HI el Levi nehaswitten a longer biography titled In Search of Sugihara. But the most comprehensive presentation of Sugihara's life is the award-winning documentary Conspiracy of Kindness. This 90-minute documentary will be aired on PBS nationwide in the spring of 2004.
MITSUZO TAMURA spent the war years in Japan, under the constant surveillance of the kempeitai as one whose ties with America were suspiciously close. After the war, he continued in the metal container business. Tamura died in 1976.
ALEX TRIGUBOFF, exiled with many other foreigners to the small town of Karuizawa for the duration of the war, went to Tokyo after the surrender. He was one of the original founders of the Jewish Community Center there. Triguboff, an exporter, lived in Tokyo for many years. He died in Hawaii.
ZORACH WARHAFTIG leftjapan for the United States in mid-1941. In 1947, he emigrated with his family to Palestine. Warhaftig was one of the 37 signatories to Israel's Declaration of Independence. A member of the Knesset from 1949 to 1981, he was appointed Minister of Religious Affairs in 1961 -a post he held until 1974. He was also a founder of the National Religious Party of Israel. Warhaftig died in 2002.
STEPHEN WISE continued after the war to be active in Jewish affairs in the United States. He was president of both the American and World Jewish Congresses and was a champion, particularly before the United Nations, of the Zionist cause. Rabbi Wise died in 1949.
NORIHIRO YASUE spent the war years in Dairen as an advisor to the government of Manchukuo. With the surrender, he did not attempt to flee. Rather, he arranged a family farewell at which he declared that he considered his generation to have been completely responsible for the war. To flee, he felt, would be a dishonorable attempt to evade the consequences. As his wife played on the koto, Yasue told his children they should return home to rebuild their country. He himself would remain in Dairen. Within days, he was arrested by the Russians and sent to Siberia. He died in 1950, in the labor camp at Khabarovsk.
LEW ZIKMAN boarded the ship Tatsuma Maru on December 1, 1941, bound for the United States. On Pearl Harbor Day, the ship turned around and returned to Yokohama. After the war, Zikman emigrated to the United States where he lived until his death in 1973.
GLOSSARY
Table of Contents
Front Cover
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION TO THE CURRENT EDITION
INTRODUCTION BY DAVID ROBINSON*
CHRONOLOGY
Part One: FROM EUROPE TO THE ORIENT 1939-41: The Birth of the Fugu Plan
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2
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Part Two: JAPAN 1941: Security in an Alien Land
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Part Three: SHANGHAI 1941-45: The Challenge to Survival
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EPILOGUE
GLOSSARY
INDEX
Table of contents
Front Cover
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION TO THE CURRENT EDITION
INTRODUCTION BY DAVID ROBINSON*
CHRONOLOGY
Part One: FROM EUROPE TO THE ORIENT 1939-41: The Birth of the Fugu Plan
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Part Three: SHANGHAI 1941-45: The Challenge to Survival
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18
EPILOGUE
GLOSSARY
INDEX
previous page start
The Fugu Plan
Marvin Tokayer
Table of contents
Front Cover
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION TO THE CURRENT EDITION
INTRODUCTION BY DAVID ROBINSON*
CHRONOLOGY
Part One: FROM EUROPE TO THE ORIENT 1939-41: The Birth of the Fugu Plan
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Part Two: JAPAN 1941: Security in an Alien Land
8
9
10
11
12
Part Three: SHANGHAI 1941-45: The Challenge to Survival
13
14
15
16
17
18
EPILOGUE
GLOSSARY
INDEX
next page