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Hiding from the Nazis in Japan

JL;DR SUMMARY In August 1940, Meyer Zucker, a Jewish refugee from Nazi-occupied Europe, received a life-saving visa from Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

HolocaustWorld War IiRighteous Among The NationsJewish RefugeesBundistJapanChiune SugiharaShanghaiMeyer ZuckerKobe

Places mentioned

Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan
"A Japanese postcard of a street in Kobe, Japan, taken before World War II (author unknown) Photo by Wikimedia Commons"
Kaunas, Kaunas County, Lithuania
"It allowed him to leave Europe and spend eight months in Japan, away from the murderous onslaught of Nazism, almost certainly saving his life. Zucker didnt realize until years later that the man who signed his visa was Chiune Sugihara. Sugihara risked his career giving out over 2,000 visas to desperate Jews in Kovno in July and August 1940."
Tsuruga, Fukui, Japan
"Hed just crossed Siberia in winter, but spring was starting in Tsuruga, the port where they docked."
Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russian Federation
"So he sailed from Vladivostok to Japan in February 1941."
Warsaw, Mazovia, Poland
"Zucker: He fled Warsaw after the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939."
Shanghai, China
"Japan decided to relocate its Jewish refugees to Shanghai, China  a city that Japan controlled."
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
"My father stayed there until early 1948, when he finally got a visa to Winnipeg in Canada, where he had family."
Lublin, Poland
"My father spent a lot of time sending food back to his family near Lublin in Poland."
Kyoto, Kyōto, Japan
"He and his Bundist friends visited Kyoto, and the Buddhist temples at Nara."
Nara, Japan
"My father was curious about his new surroundings. He and his Bundist friends visited Kyoto, and the Buddhist temples at Nara."
Tokyo, Japan
"They went further afield to Tokyo, too. They wanted to see as much as they could."

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Cairo Item ID 59260
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-08-14 05:31:22 UTC
Curated 2025-08-14 08:31:10 UTC