Chiune Sugihara: Righteous Among the Nations

Chiune Sugihara

Not even counting the fact he was born on January 1st, 1900,  Chiune Sugihara was a pretty cool guy. Early in his career, Sugihara served as Deputy Foreign Minister in Manchuria, and during his time there converted to Christianity. He soon resigned from his position there in protest against the Japanese treatment of the Chinese there. In 1939, Sugihara was assigned to be the vice-consul of the Japanese Consulate in Lithuania. The Japanese did not entirely trust their German allies to fulfill all their promises, and so Sugihara was supposed to keep an eye on both them and the Russians, with whom Japan had been at war just a little while before. After Soviet Russia occupied Lithuania in 1940, the exiled Jews of Lithuania and Poland searched at all of the consulates for visas in order to travel safely from these war-torn areas filled with anti-Semitic militants. Initially, in order to help these refugees, Sugihara attempted to go through the proper channels and was denied multiple times by his superiors to issue visas for anyone except those with money or visas to a destination after their trip to Japan. In July or August of 1940, after consulting his family, Sugihara began to grant visas on his own, against his superior's will, which was a big no-no in imperial Japan. After speaking to Soviet officials, he secured the Jews the ability to travel through the country via the Trans-Siberian Railway at five times the standard ticket price. Sugihara continued writing these visas, reportedly spending 18 to 20 hours a day working on them, until September 4th when he had to leave his post before the consulate was closed.  Of the thousands of visas he had granted, many were to heads of households, who were thus permitted to take their families with them on a single visa. On the night of their departure he and his wife continued writing these visas, and according to witnesses he continued writing visas on the transit from his hotel to the train and while on the train, throwing the visas out the windows to the crowds of refugees. As the time of his departure neared, he started throwing out blank pieces of paper with the consulate seal and his signature on them for people to write out their own visas later. Right before he left Sugihara stood and said “Please forgive me. I cannot write anymore. I wish you the best.” And as he bowed deeply to the refugees gathered before him, someone exclaimed, “Sugihara! We’ll never forget you. I’ll surely see you again!” Incredibly he never received any reprimand or notice from the Japanese government. Sugihara himself wondered about the reaction to the thousands of visas he issued. Many years later, he recalled, "No one ever said anything about it. I remember thinking that they probably didn't realize how many I actually issued." It is estimated that Sugihara issued 6,000 visas, many of which were family visas and accounted for multiple people. Because of his actions, an estimated 40,000 descendants of the Jews he saved are alive today, and Sugihara received the honorific of "Righteous Among the Nations" from Israel for his bravery in saving these Jews from the certain death and horrors of the holocaust, and I believe the title is well deserved. 

The Battle of Athens

World War II Veterans Firing Upon the Jail

While this title may conjure up images of buff, shirtless dudes yelling "For Sparta!", that doesn't turn out to be quite the case. Athens, although known as a Greek center of great learning and philosophers, is also the name of a nice city in Tennessee. Now in the 1930's and '40's, McMinn county, where Athens is located, became full of political corruption. The sheriff of the county would fix the votes through intimidation tactics, locking in the sheriffs of 1934, '36, '38, '40, '42, and '44. At the same time in this county laws were in place where deputies were payed based on the number of citations they delivered. So, deputies would sometimes pull over buses loaded with people in order to cite and fine them all for drunkenness, just for a buck. As one would imagine this irritated many of the World War II veterans returning home from destroying corrupt governments that ruled their people with iron fists. So, for the August 1946 elections, the veterans created a non-partisan party, the GI Non-Partisan League, in order to combat the evils of the county corruption. During the election, the polls were regularly guarded by 15 deputies, but during the 1946 election 200 deputies guarded the polls, and they began harassing and even beating voters at some locations. Tom Gillespie had it the worst, after submitting his vote he was attacked by the deputies, and while running away, got shot in the back; luckily he survived. After the polls closed, the sheriff and deputies took the ballot boxes back to the jail. This understandably upset the veterans, who rightly believed that they were tampering with the results. So, what do a bunch of young, angry World War II vets who were being beaten and fined do? They get their guns, storm the National Guard armory, grab more guns and ammunition and lay siege to the jailhouse. The reported number of vets varies from several hundred to 2,000 attacking the jail, while 55 deputies defended it. When they arrived, they delivered an ultimatum demanding the ballot boxes. The deputies refused and the veterans began opening fire at the jail. Accounts differ but the shooting probably lasted a few hours, after which someone threw some dynamite at the door and blew it in. This convinced the deputies, some of whom were wounded, to eventually surrender. The GI's established a temporary government and then held elections again. After winning their positions, they instituted reforms placing the max salary of officials at $5,000, and removing the unjust laws of deputies being paid on a per citation basis. The League didn't last long after the overthrow, and the traditional parties soon came back into power, but it will be a long time before we forget about the brave fighters for freedom defending themselves in their own backyards.

The Spanish Civil War: The Rise of the Forgotten Fascist

Franco Reviewing His Victorious Troops

While it has been argued whether or not Francisco Franco was actually a fascist, it is undeniable that he was a dictator who appeared to enjoy the characteristics often associated with fascism. He possessed an acute sense of patriotism, little to no tolerance for those who disagreed with his political aims, a strong controlling hand over all aspects of his people's lives, and a deep dislike of communism. Either way, there are two things I wanted to focus on about the Spanish Civil War; the first is it's use as a training ground for German and Italian Troops prior to World War II, and the second is the fact that Franco's nation was almost ignored after the Nazi's defeat. Just 3 years before World War II, in 1936, Spain descended into arguably the worst form of violence, a civil war-brother against brother, father against son. The war was between the leftist elements of the relatively new Spanish Republic and the more traditional Nationalists that were often concentrated in the military. Interestingly the Republic forces were backed by the Soviet Union, making one question whether this was a Republic in name only. The Nationalists were backed by both German and Italian forces as they attempted to add another member to the growing club of European ultra-nationalists. The war started after a partially successful coup left the country split between Nationalist and Republic forces. Franco soon found himself in charge of the Nationalist uprising. This is due mainly to the fact that the other senior officers of the rebellion had had previous experiences that left them appearing slightly untrustworthy to many of the hard-core nationalists, as well as the fact that Hitler promised to send all his military support to Franco, and Franco alone. Throughout the war, Hitler and Mussolini both sent troops and arms in order to help the nationalist movement, and this is why the Spanish Civil War is often called a "dress rehearsal" for World War II. There is still some debate about how useful the combat was in training the Fascist troops, but I would simply reason that there were some lessons learned in the years of intense combat. Stalin, on the other hand, attempted to covertly help the Republican forces mainly with supplies; interestingly the arms he shipped were either broken, outdated, or brand new and effective, go figure. Either way, after three years of bloody fighting, Franco had won, just six months before the outbreak of World War II. Now, some state that Hitler and Mussolini were expecting Franco to return the favor and help them during by joining the Axis powers. However Franco refrained from entering the war, and most probably saved his state. Why did he not join his "buddies" in conquering Europe? Perhaps it was because Spain was recovering from the horrors of the war. Perhaps Franco wished to focus on his domestic policy rather than an international war. Whatever the reasons, Franco was able to govern Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. After the first decade of his rule, the harsh oppression of opposition decreased as the last of Republic support waned. Interestingly, Franco's regime was often ignored following World War II, with some believing that his dictatorship was more favorable than the growing threat of the U.S.S.R. and global communism. Franco's legacy is still controversial to say the least. Some in Spain seem to wipe away any memory of him; renaming streets, monuments, and tearing down statues that are even reminiscent to his era. Others wish to open up the official archives and truly reveal what occurred during those years of change and uncertainty; when ideologies clashed, were tried and often only fell with those that supported them.