Chiune Sugihara 杉原千畝 (1900-1986)
With only a month to go before we bid adieu to Lithuania, a lot of what we do here becomes a "final" or "last" activity. This past Memorial Day holiday was our "last three-day weekend" here, and although we didn't embark on any overnight excursions (see last week for that), we still found ways to enjoy the time off. For me, the highlight of the long weekend was on Memorial Day Monday (a school day for my daughter), when I kept a promise to myself by visiting the Sugihara House in Kaunas, the office of "Japan's Schindler". For those unfamiliar with the story, you can click on the link below the above photograph, but in summary the Japanese diplomat saved the lives of around 6000 Lithuanian and Polish Jews in July and August 1940 by issuing them transit visas allowing the refugees to exit Lithuania, travel across the Soviet Union and reach Tsuruga 敦賀 in Japan. This he did in defiance of orders from Tōkyō, working right up until the moment he was forced to leave the country after the Soviet annexation of Lithuania. The Sugihara House was opened in 2008 in the former Japanese consulate in Kaunas, located on a quiet residential street:
Visitors can watch two short films, one on Sugihara and the other on the experiences of the Jewish refugees once they arrived in Japan, after which you are free to explore the house. Upstairs there are exhibits on Lithuania and Kaunas in the run-up to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the Soviet occupation, including descriptions and photographs of the various diplomatic legations in Lithuania's prewar capital...:
...but the real highlight is on the ground floor, where the focus is on Sugihara and his actions:
The highlight is the office where the Japanese diplomat issued so many of the life-saving visas:
Credit is also given to Dutch diplomat Jan Zwartendijk, who issued over 2200 visas to Jews to enter the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao. Many of the refugees then turned to Sugihara for the vital transit visas allowing them to use Japan as the springboard for starting new lives in the U.S., Australia and other places of refuge:
As a vice consul myself, I hope to never find myself in the kind of circumstances as that faced by the Dutch and Japanese diplomats. But if something similar should ever come to pass, I only hope that I will also have the courage and moral fortitude to do the right thing no matter the consequences.
A hot air balloon on an early-morning flight passes by our living room
On Saturday afternoon Amber and I made what will probably be our final visit to one of my daughter's favorite eateries, Drama Burger. I had the Breakfast Burger while my daughter tucked into the Two Pastrami Eggs Benedict:
In Cathedral Square, preparations were underway for the following day's We Run Vilnius road race:
Taking a coffee break at Crustum on Pilies gatvė while reading up on our next post:
This Harley-Davidson has an apropos license plate:
A pair of hot air balloons float over our apartment building on a bright and clear Saturday evening:
On Sunday we were able to persuade my wife to leave the friendly confines of home and venture out into the warm sunshine for some lunch. On the way out Shu-E noticed these large mushrooms sprouting from the side of a tree:
Vilniaus gatvė was closed to traffic due to the aforementioned We Run Vilnius, which was in full swing as we approached St. Catherine's Church:
In the photo above, you probably noticed the young people in traditional costume crossing in front of us (because you have an eye for detail and little escapes your attention, right?). They were leaving the Lithuanian Theater, Music and Cinema Museum, where a folk festival was in full swing:
Back on Vilniaus gatvė a troupe of drummers was serenading the passing runners:
The craft beer restaurant that I wanted to visit was inexplicably closed (so what if it was a Sunday in a predominantly Catholic society), so my wife suggested going to Vilnius' best (and only) Korean restaurant, JHK & DD's place. A hot air balloon had been set up in the square in front of the Town Hall:
As nice as the weather was on Sunday, it was too much sunshine for Shu-E's liking, so she headed home after the meal. Amber and I, however, had dessert outside of Bookafe:
And so on Monday I made the 90-minute drive to Kaunas to see the Sugihara House. However, that wasn't the only thing I did in Lithuania's second-largest city, for I also drove over to Christ's Resurrection Basilica, a colossal edifice the construction of which began in 1933. It served as a Nazi paper warehouse and then as a Soviet radio factory before finally being consecrated in 2004:
On an earlier visit to Kaunas with the family in September 2016, I had walked to the church from our hotel, but as a Sunday service was in procession, I didn't take any photos of the interior. Things were a lot quieter on a Monday morning:
The viewing terrace was also open this time, so I rode the elevator to have a look from the roof. Truth be told, there isn't a lot to see from up above in this part of Kaunas:
The last time I was there, the road around St. Michael the Archangel Church was torn up due to a construction project. The square is now finished, though work is still in progress on one of the streets leading to the church (the one I walked on, of course):
If the church looks Orthodox, you're right - it opened as a Russian Orthodox house of worship in 1893, but was reopened as a Catholic church in 1991. Unlike two years before, the interior was open so I went in to have a look:
Back in Vilnius, after dinner I took my daughter back to her school for the opening of its international festival, celebrating both the 25th anniversary of the school and the 100th anniversary of Lithuanian statehood. Following the ceremony, Amber and I checked out the various country display booths, including the United States...:
...Lithuania (where the party was in full swing)...:
...and China, where my daughter was reluctant to let it be known she is a native Mandarin speaker:
Posing with her swimming coach and a student at the...you can figure out which booth:
A good time was had by all:
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