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Shriram Krishnamurthi (shriramk@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 21-May-2024 11:30:12 JST Shriram Krishnamurthi

1/ Over the weekend there was a block party a short distance from my place for a lady who turned 90. That's notable enough, but in her case it's special because she's a Holocaust survivor. I chatted with her today and looked up some things. Remarkable story! Buckle in: ↵

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  Shriram Krishnamurthi (shriramk@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 21-May-2024 22:16:00 JST Shriram Krishnamurthi
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  4/ Anyway, the family got a visa in Lithuania. They made the dangerous passage across Siberia by train. From Vladivostok they took a boat to Japan. After a year there, Japan shipped them to Shanghai (remember, they occupied chunks of China). ↵
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sino-Japanese_War
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    Second Sino-Japanese War
    
    The Second Sino-Japanese War was the war fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from 1937 to 1945 as part of World War II. It is often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century and has been described as "the Asian Holocaust", in reference to the scale of Japanese war crimes against Chinese civilians. It is known in Japan as the Second China–Japan War, and in China as the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. On 18 September 1931, the Japanese staged a false flag event known as the Mukden Incident, a pretext they fabricated to justify their invasion of Manchuria. This is sometimes marked as the beginning of the war. From 1931 to 1937, China and Japan engaged in skirmishes in mainland China. Japan achieved major victories, capturing Beijing and Shanghai by 1937. Despite having fought each other in the Chinese Civil War since 1927, the Communists and Nationalists formed the Second United Front in late 1936 to resist the Japanese invasion together. Tensions escalated after what would become the first battle of the war - the...
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  Shriram Krishnamurthi (shriramk@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 21-May-2024 22:16:00 JST Shriram Krishnamurthi
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  5/ In Shanghai, they were herded into a ghetto. Yes, there was a Jewish ghetto *in Shanghai* (read here). The Germans tried to get the Jews deported, but the Japanese wouldn't. She still speaks with great admiration for the Japanese. ↵
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Ghetto
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    Shanghai Ghetto
    
    The Shanghai Ghetto, formally known as the Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees, was an area of approximately one square mile (2.6 km2) in the Hongkou district of Japanese-occupied Shanghai (the ghetto was located in the southern Hongkou and southwestern Yangpu districts which formed part of the Shanghai International Settlement). The area included the community around the Ohel Moshe Synagogue. Shanghai was notable for a long period as the only place in the world that unconditionally offered refuge for Jews escaping from the Nazis. After the Japanese occupied all of Shanghai in 1941, the Japanese army forced about 23,000 of the city's Jewish refugees to be restricted or relocated to the Shanghai Ghetto from 1941 to 1945 by the Proclamation Concerning Restriction of Residence and Business of Stateless Refugees. It was one of the poorest and most crowded areas of the city. Local Jewish families and American Jewish charities aided them with shelter, food, and clothing. The Japanese authorities increasingly stepped up restrictions, surrounded the ghetto with barbed wire, and the local Chinese residents, whose living conditions...
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  Shriram Krishnamurthi (shriramk@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 21-May-2024 22:16:01 JST Shriram Krishnamurthi
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  2/ She grew up in Poland. They escaped in late 1939, fleeing mainly the Russians. Wait, Russians?!? That's right, today I met with a living witness to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. (Link if you don't know what that is.) ↵
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact
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    Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
    
    The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union with a secret protocol that partitioned Central and Eastern Europe between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. Unofficially, it has also been referred to as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact. The treaty was the culmination of negotiations for an economic agreement between the USSR and Nazi Germany which the Soviets used to obtain a political agreement – see Nazi–Soviet economic relations (1934–1941) § 1938–1939 deal discussions. On 22 August, Ribbentrop flew to Moscow to finalize the treaty, which the Soviets had sought before with Britain and France. The Molotov–Ribbentrop pact, signed the next day, guaranteed peace between the parties and was a commitment neither government would aid or ally itself with an enemy of the other. In addition to the publicly announced stipulations of non-aggression...
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  Shriram Krishnamurthi (shriramk@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 21-May-2024 22:16:01 JST Shriram Krishnamurthi
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  3.1/ How did they get out? A Japanese diplomat in Lithuania saw what was happening. He put humanity ahead of the fact that he worked for an Axis power, handing out as many visas as he could. Thousands of Lithuanians, Poles and *Slavs owed their lives to him. ↵
  
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  Shriram Krishnamurthi (shriramk@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 21-May-2024 22:16:01 JST Shriram Krishnamurthi
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  3.2/ His bravery was of course not rewarded, and he paid for it in many ways. He didn't ask for credit, either. He was only recognized near the very end of his life. He is apparently the only Japanese person recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations. ↵
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiune_Sugihara
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    Chiune Sugihara
    
    Chiune Sugihara (杉原千畝, Sugihara Chiune, 1 January 1900 – 31 July 1986) was a Japanese diplomat who served as vice-consul for the Japanese Empire in Kaunas, Lithuania. During the Second World War, Sugihara helped thousands of Jews flee Europe by issuing transit visas to them so that they could travel through Japanese territory, risking his career and the lives of his family. The fleeing Jews were refugees from German-occupied Western Poland and Soviet-occupied Eastern Poland, as well as residents of Lithuania. In 1985, the State of Israel honored Sugihara as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for his actions. He is the only Japanese national to have been so honored. In Lithuania, 2020 was "The Year of Chiune Sugihara". It has been estimated as many as 100,000 people alive today are the descendants of the recipients of Sugihara visas. Early life and education Chiune Sugihara was born on 1 January 1900 (Meiji 33),...
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  Shriram Krishnamurthi (shriramk@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 21-May-2024 22:16:25 JST Shriram Krishnamurthi
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  6/ Eventually she made her way to the Bronx, and now lives in Providence. She's strong of body and mind. The "1000 Year" Reich lasted ~13 years; that 7yo escapee has now lived ~13 times as long. The best possible response to pure evil. •
  
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