‘VISAS FOR LIFE’
An exibition created by the historian Eric Saul of Los Angeles.
By Solly Ganor

Dear Friends,

‘Hakarat Tova’ is part of Judaism’s tradition, and we certainly owe an enormous gratitude to the consuls and ambassadors who saved more than 300.000 Jews during the Nazi period in Europe. This is what the exhibition, which is currently displayed at Binyanei Hauma in Jerusalem, all about.
In these difficult times the exhibition should be seen by all of us.
 
    As a Holocaust survivor, I faced the forces of evil all my adult life. First it was the evil of the Nazis who almost destroyed the Jewish people of Europe, and then the evil of the Arabs who set out to destroy us in four major bloody wars, wars in which I participated until I was too old to serve. Today, my grandson took over that task to defend our country against the forces which are forever out to destroy us.

   Therefore, it was gratifying to participate last night in an event in which we were given the opportunity also to face goodness. The goodness of those who risked their lives and careers to save over three hundred thousand Jewish souls from the Nazi gas chambers.
We here in Israel, and the Jewish people in particular, had the opportunity  to pay tribute and express our gratitude to these people of valor and courage

   Last night, the American Jewish Committee ( AJC) had its annual meeting at the ‘Binianei Hauma’ convention center in Jerusalem. The exhibition was sponsored by AJC, and  Eric Saul, inaugurated  his, by now world famous, Visas for Life, the righteous and honorable consuls and ambassadors.
The exhibition contains over two hundred photos and panels documenting  the heroic deeds of  more than fifty ambassadors and consuls who during World War Two  did their utmost to save as many Jews as they could, in stark contrast to the rest of the international diplomatic court at that time.
   More than  two hundred guests of the AJC listened with fascination to some of the family members of  the honorable diplomats. Many had tears in their eyes as they heard the impassioned speeches  of  Louise von Dardel, niece of Raoul Wallenberg , the Swedish diplomat. Wallenberg was the man who saved more than  hundred thousand Jews in Hungary and was later abducted and probably killed by the Soviets.

   Manli Ho, daughter of the Chinese diplomat, Dr. Feng Shan Ho, spoke equally emotionally about her father’s work in rescuing Jews in Vienna, between the years 1937-39.
Dr. Feng Shan Ho actually managed to have some Jews from the Dachau consentration camp by issuing them Chinese visas on the spot.                                                                                                                                     
   Agnes Hirschi, daughter of Carl Lutz, Swiss envoy to Hungary, spoke eloquently about her father’s sacred work in rescuing Jews of Hungary.  According Jewish records, Carl Lutz rescued more than fifty thousand Jews in Hungary by issuing to them Swiss protective passes in defiance of  the Nazi henchmen’s Adolph Eichman’s warnings.

   Another eloquent speaker was  Peter Rosenblatt, nephew of Laurence A. Steinhardt, AJC BOG. His uncle was among the Jews who were engaged in rescuing fellow Jews.
   There was also Enrico Mantello,  son of George Mandel Mantello, a Jewish diplomat of  Hungarian origin, who issued thousands of passports to Hungarian Jews while working for the Salvadorian embassy in Geneva, Switzerland. These passports saved many from the transports to Auschwitz.

   Among the gallery of  illustrious ambassadors and consuls whose photos adorned the  walls of  Binianey Hauma, was the photo of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Lithuania, during the years 1939-1940. Among the ambassadors  who saved Jews during the war, Chiune Sugihara was the most controversial  personality, for the simple reason that he represented a government that was allied with Hitler’s Germany. He issued visas against the express wishes of his government, risking his career and future to save Jews, and that at a time when all Western embassies turned their backs on us.
I personally knew Chiune Sempo Sugihara, as boy. He and his wife Yokiko attended our family Hanukah party at our home in December 1939.
(I describe that meeting in my book ‘Light One Candle, From Lithuania to Jerusalem.’ Also see my website: solly ganor remembrance.)
I had the privilege to be of  assistance to Eric Saul, when he began the first ‘Visas For Life’ exhibition at the Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. The exhibition was that of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul to Lithuania. Eric Saul created a variety of exhibitions during his life time, mostly of  suffering minorities in the United States. When someone mentioned to him the story of Chiune Sugihara who saved thousands of Jews in Lithuania, he became interested.  We knew each other a number of years as he was the person who after fifty years brought me together with the Japanese American soldier who saved my life at the end of World War Two, on May 2, 1945. But that is a different story.

Eric Saul knew that I was from Kaunas, Lithuania and wanted to know whether I heard of the Japanese consul who saved Jews. I sent him my book ‘Light One Candle’, which describes in detail the rescue operation of Chiune Sugihara.
It was then that he decided to create an exhibition for Chiune Sugihara, and that is my humble contribution to the beginnings of  the exhibition ‘Visas For Life’.
Today, the exhibition encompasses more than fifty ambassadors, and it was shown so far in more than 150 places around the world.
Thus I had a small part in ‘Hakarat Tova’ to these consuls and ambassadors who saved so many of our people, but the lion’s  share belongs to Eric Saul, who spends his time and money to bring to the world’s attention what these precious people did.

Unfortunately, I can not mention the names of all the consuls and ambassadors whose photos and stories appear in the exhibition of ‘Visas For Life’. You can see them personally by visiting the exhibition at Binianei Hauma, convention center in Jerusalem.
The entrance is free and I am sure you will find it an inspiring experience.
 

Solly Ganor

Herzelia Pituach,
Israel.
February 18, 2004
 

With your permission, I would like to add, that during the war, in Ghetto Kovno, I kept a diary. I was about Anna Frank’s age at the time.
I promised my friends that if I should survive the Holocaust I would tell the world what happened to us. For fifty years, I shied away from the subject until one day  the San Francisco historian, Eric Saul, came to Jerusalem with
the person who saved my life at the end of the World War Two. He was a Japanese American soldier by the name of Clarence Matsomura of the 522 artillery battalion. Our emotional reunion resulted in the publication of my diary. I called it :‘Light One Candle’.

I have been informed, that the Nobel Prize winner Eli Wiesel, recommended my book ‘Light One Candle’ as educational reading of the Holocaust.
 

See Elie Wiesel’s recommendation on PBS web.
(http://www.pbs.org/eliewiesel/teaching/activity1.html )

In Germany and Japan my book has been recommended reading for high schools for several years now. This approval by Elie Wiesel, whom we survivors consider as our spokesman, makes me feel that I have finally fulfilled my promise to my perished friends to tell their story. I have finally lit ‘One Candle’ for them.

Please, visit my website at: Solly Ganor Remembrance
 
 

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