Sydney Jewish Museum Collection

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Actions Displays	Remove from selection Add to selection Object numberM2017/044:002 DescriptionPhotograph depicts Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara (seated) with his first wife Claudia Apollonova (seated next to him). Claudia was a ‘White Russian’ who fled to Harbin, China, in the years following the Russian Revolution. Claudia and Chiune met in Harbin, but later divorced in 1935. In 1940 she migrated to Australia, where she died around 1994. Also in the photograph is Sugihara’s father Kosui, standing next to the stone garden lamp, and his younger sister, standing next to their father. The photograph was taken in Japan on the 3rd May, 1932, when Sugihara temporarily returned home from Harbin. Chiune (‘Sempo’) Sugihara served as Consul-General to the Japanese Empire in Lithuania from 1939-1940. While working in Lithuania, Sugihara became aware of the plight of Jews trying to leave Europe. In defiance of the Japanese Foreign Ministry he created his own 10-day transit visas which allowed recipients to travel through Japan on their way to places of refuge. In 1941 Sugihara was reassigned to Prague. As his train left Kaunas Railway Station in Lithuania, Sugihara was still writing visas, even throwing blank papers with his consulate stamp and signature out of the window. It is believed he issued several thousand transit visas, and consequently saved the lives of approximately 6,000 Jews. Production placeJapan Production date 1932-05-03 - 1932-05-03 Subjectphotographs, diplomat, White Russians, political refugees Object namephotographs Dimensions width: 297.00 mm height: 210.00 mm Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Tetsuya Sugihara

Object numberM2017/044:002

DescriptionPhotograph depicts Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara (seated) with his first wife Claudia Apollonova (seated next to him). Claudia was a ‘White Russian’ who fled to Harbin, China, in the years following the Russian Revolution. Claudia and Chiune met in Harbin, but later divorced in 1935. In 1940 she migrated to Australia, where she died around 1994. Also in the photograph is Sugihara’s father Kosui, standing next to the stone garden lamp, and his younger sister, standing next to their father. The photograph was taken in Japan on the 3rd May, 1932, when Sugihara temporarily returned home from Harbin.

Chiune (‘Sempo’) Sugihara served as Consul-General to the Japanese Empire in Lithuania from 1939-1940. While working in Lithuania, Sugihara became aware of the plight of Jews trying to leave Europe. In defiance of the Japanese Foreign Ministry he created his own 10-day transit visas which allowed recipients to travel through Japan on their way to places of refuge. In 1941 Sugihara was reassigned to Prague. As his train left Kaunas Railway Station in Lithuania, Sugihara was still writing visas, even throwing blank papers with his consulate stamp and signature out of the window. It is believed he issued several thousand transit visas, and consequently saved the lives of approximately 6,000 Jews.

Production placeJapan

Production date 1932-05-03 - 1932-05-03

Subjectphotographs, diplomat, White Russians, political refugees

Object namephotographs

Dimensions

Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Tetsuya Sugihara

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