Sylvia Smoller honored in New York for preserving Sugihara’s legacy
The 94-year-old escaped Nazi persecution with her family using visas issued by Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara in Lithuania.
Sylvia Smoller, 94, has been awarded Japan’s Consul-General’s Commendation in New York for her work keeping alive the humanitarian legacy of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat whose wartime visas enabled her family to escape Nazi persecution.
Smoller, a U.S. resident born in Warsaw, accepted the honor at the consul-general’s official residence. Her family obtained visas from Sugihara while he was serving in Lithuania during World War II, then reached the United States by way of Japan. The documents he issued became known as “visas of life.”
During the ceremony, Smoller urged younger people to carry forward Sugihara’s values of kindness and compassion. She told reporters that conflicts worldwide and worsening conditions for immigrants made his message especially important. Japanese Consul-General Satoshi Katahira credited her years of work with helping that legacy reach people of different cultures and generations.
Masanori Kaneko, mayor of Sugihara’s hometown of Yaotsu in Gifu Prefecture, also attended. He gave Smoller a reproduction of her father’s visa, which Sugihara had issued. She donated the original document to Yaotsu in 1993.
