Last week, a very interesting and historic exhibit opened at Vancouver Maritime Museum, Invisible Threads: Life Saving Sugihara Visas and the Journey to Vancouver.
The exhibit tells the history of thousands of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi occupied Europe and were able to escape to Japan as a result of Japanese vice-council to Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara. Going against the wishes of his bosses in Japan, Sugihara issued 4500 refugee visas, many personally handwritten, which allowed 6000 Jewish refugees transit to Japan and safety beyond. Those refugees, many of whom came on ships to Seattle and Vancouver, and their descendants have spread around the world and are now estimated to number 40,000 people who are alive as a direct result of Chiune Sugihara.
At the opening of the exhibit, part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations of Vancouver – Yokohama sister city, many of the families of Sugihara Visa recipients were on hand to lend some personal meaning to the history of the exhibit and show how the Invisible Threads bind generations and people around the world.
Invisible Threads: Life Saving Sugihara Visas and the Journey to Vancouver, runs until July 1, 2015 at Vancouver Maritime Museum, at 1905 Ogden Ave, in Vanier Park.