Rescuers of Jews Chiune Sugihara and Jan Zwartendijk honoured in Brussels
On 19 November, the Embassy of Lithuania in Belgium hosted an event to honour Consuls Chiune Sugihara and Jan Zwartendijk, who resided in Kaunas in 1940 and rescued thousands of Jews.
Lithuanian Ambassador Gediminas Varvuolis noted the intertwined history of Lithuania and Litvaks, and the courage of the rescuers who risked their lives to save thousands of Jews.
Professor Egidijus Aleksandravičius, founder of the organisation “Diplomats for Life”, descendants of the two rescuers – son Robertas Zwartendijkas, born in 1939 in Kaunas, the Japanese Consul’s youngest granddaughter Haruka Sugihara - the Ambassador of Israel to Belgium, Chair of the Lithuanian Jewish Community Faina Kukliansky, President of the Central Belgian Jewish Consistory Julien Klener, Director of the Sugihara House Museum in Kaunas Simonas Davidavičius and Amsterdam’s Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs attended the event. Representatives of the Belgian, Lithuanian, Dutch, Japanese and Jewish communities and the diplomatic corps also took part in the event.
Documentaries about the rescuers were screened and the Sugihara House Museum’s exhibition about Ch. Sugihara and J. Zwartendijk was organised.
Robertas Zwartendijkas told the guests about his father’s life and most cherished values.
The Embassy of the Netherlands and the Embassy of Japan in Belgium helped to organise the event.
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