Visas for Life:

The Institute for the Study of Rescue and Altruism in the Holocaust, a nonprofit corporation (ISRAH), is an educational organization formed for the purpose of conducting research, disseminating information, promoting awareness of, and honoring groups and individuals for the rescue of Jews and other victims of the Nazis and their collaborators, 1933-1945.

ISRAH is an umbrella organization for the Visas for Life: The Righteous and Honorable Diplomats Project and the Jewish Rescuers Project.

The story of rescue in the Holocaust has been largely ignored and even marginalized.

The principal aim and objectives of the Institute for the Study of Rescue and Altruism in the Holocaust is to show that both groups and individuals could effectively defy the genocidal policies of the Nazis.

ISRAH’s goal is to recognize heroic men and women in order to encourage others to emulate the acts of these courageous people.

ISRAH documents the stories of diplomats, political leaders, state institutions, religious groups, rescue and relief organizations, and other organizations and individuals who were actively involved in rescuing or assisting people persecuted by the Nazis.

Primary activities of the Organization include: producing books and writing scholarly articles; curating traveling exhibits; preparing educational curricula, websites and film documentaries; and organizing public programs. It will also research, document and nominate individuals for the title of Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority. ISRAH will also establish its own system to recognize and honor individuals for their altruistic behavior during the period of the Holocaust.

ISRAH will create and maintain a searchable database on rescue and altruism on its website. This will include lists of individuals and groups who were involved in rescue and relief activities during the War. ISRAH will work with scholars and share information and databases.

ISRAH will honor individuals and organizations by issuing commemorative medals, certificates, plaques, etc.

The Organization will promote awareness of rescue and altruism in the Holocaust to European governments whose citizens participated in rescue. It will encourage other organizations to establish their own systems to recognize altruistic individuals.

In cases where individuals were punished for their altruistic activities during the Holocaust, the Organization will encourage these institutions and governments to rehabilitate the reputations of these rescuers.

The Organization works with the families of the rescuers honored in the exhibit and educational material. The Organization also works with individuals who were rescued during the period of the Holocaust, and their families and descendants. The Organization coordinates with the governments of the rescuers, particularly in the case of diplomatic and other state-sponsored rescuers. ISRAH will collect photographs, documents, oral histories and other materials relating to rescue and altruism in the Holocaust, and will share these materials with other institutions and researchers.

Visas for Life: The Righteous and Honorable Diplomats Project

Visas for Life: The Righteous and Honorable Diplomats is an exhibit and program that tells for the first time an important and untold story of the Holocaust. If features the dramatic story of diplomats from diverse countries, cultures and backgrounds who saved tens of thousands of lives.

Diplomatic rescue took place between 1933 and 1945 by diplomats representing 27 countries. They rescued Jews in more than 35 geographic areas.

Few are aware that there were diplomats willing to risk their careers and their lives. Many are unaware that diplomatic rescue was even possible. Thousands were rescued by individuals whose heroic deeds have remained largely unrecognized.

Rescue by diplomats took many forms. Diplomats issued visas, including exit visas and transit visas, citizenship papers, protective papers and other forms of documentation that allowed Jews to escape the Nazis. Some diplomats smuggled refugees across international borders. Many diplomats established safe houses and some hid Jews in their embassies and in their personal residences. Some diplomats were able to stop Nazi deportations to the death camps. Some diplomats warned the Jews of impending actions and deportations.

Diplomats rescued Jews at the peril of their careers and, sometimes, their lives. Some of the diplomats who aided Jews did so illegally, and in violation of the regulations and immigration policies of their countries. Diplomats were censured or punished for their acts of courage. Some diplomats were fired or were stripped of their ranks and pensions. Others were ostracized in their home countries.

This Visas for Life: The Righteous and Honorable Diplomats exhibit is based on original photographs and other archival materials collected from the families of the diplomats and other original sources. The exhibit also draws on historical accounts by survivors and witnesses. The exhibit has been widely acclaimed and has drawn enthusiastic praise. The exhibit premiered at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in January 1995. The exhibit showed at the United Nations headquarters in April 2000 and at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in July 2000. The exhibit was displayed at the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust in January 2000 and at the national conference of the American Jewish Committee in Washington, DC.

Several heads of state have attended and participated in opening ceremonies of the Visas for Life exhibit, including the King and Queen of Sweden, the Prime Minister of Sweden, the President of Hungary, the President of Switzerland, the Prime Minister of Germany, and U.S. Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell.

Message from Kofi Annan, Former Secretary General of the United Nations

Nana Annan, wife of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

and niece of Raoul Wallenberg, viewing

Visas for Life exhibit at United Nations, 2000

Following is the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the opening of the exhibition "Visas for Life: The Righteous Diplomats" at Headquarters on 3 April 2000. Kofi Annan is married to Nana Annan, niece of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.

Dear friends,

This remarkable event, this heart-rending exhibition, and you yourselves all have a natural home at the United Nations. The yearning for a United Nations had its origins in the scourge of fascism and Nazism, and its Charter was written as the world was first learning the full horror of the Holocaust. Today, your struggle -- against hatred and intolerance, and for justice and remembrance -- is our struggle, as well.

The popular image of diplomats is not a flattering one. One familiar description says that "diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest thing, in the nicest way". It is sometimes said that diplomats lack a moral compass, passively following the orders of bosses and regimes regardless of their political or ethical character -- or lack thereof. The popular image of diplomats is not a flattering one. One familiar description says that "diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest thing, in the nicest way". It is sometimes said that diplomats lack a moral compass, passively following the orders of bosses and regimes regardless of their political or ethical character -- or lack thereof.

Maybe that is true of some. It was emphatically not true of the extraordinary people whose stories are told by "Visas for Life". Some famous, others known to just a few, they make up a gallery of courageous individuals who, in the face of an inhuman force that was destroying lives and societies alike, took enormous personal risks to rescue Jews and others facing persecution and peril. They were true heroes; indeed, they were among the foremost human rights defenders of their day. With genocide still stalking our world, they are models for our time, too.

The United Nations seeks to carry on in that tradition -- first and foremost, to save lives, but also to show that the popular image of diplomacy is an unfair caricature. That is why the United Nations tries to shine a spotlight on injustice, wherever it lurks. It is why we build institutions such as the International Criminal Court, so that no one -- from rulers to front-line soldiers -- can enjoy impunity from the rule of law. It is why, next year in South Africa, we will hold a world conference on racism at which, I should stress, anti-Semitism will be one of the forms of intolerance targeted for action. And it is why United Nations personnel continue to work in war zones and other risky places -- many of whom, like Dag Hammarskjöld, have made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of peace.

I would like to express my congratulations to the many groups and individuals who have made this project possible. You are doing more than documenting stories worth passing on from generation to generation. You are teaching the world that each and every one of us has a responsibility to care and be aware, and to speak up in the face of suffering, prejudice and violence. Had there been more righteous diplomats and more righteous people in general over the years, our world might be a better place. With more such individuals in the future, it still can be. In that hopeful spirit, please accept my best wishes for a memorable evening."

History of Diplomatic Rescue 1933-1945

The Nazis depended on the support of millions in order to murder millions. Of the few Jews who survived the Holocaust, some did so largely on their own, while others were helped by good people--friends, neighbors and total strangers.

Many people turned a blind eye and did nothing, or worse they made it harder for the innocent to survive. Diplomats, consuls and foreign officials were in a unique position to extend significant help to Jewish refugees. For persecuted Jews desperately seeking visas to escape the Nazis, the actions of these diplomats could mean the difference between life and death. Many diplomats used every nuance in their regulations in order to keep Jews from entering their countries. Yet a few defied their countries to save Jews.

Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese Consul who saved Jews in Kovno, Lithuania, said: “Those people told me the kind of horror they would have to face if they didn’t get away from the Nazis and I believe them. There was no place else for them to go....If I had waited any longer, even if permission came, it might have been too late.”

Taken all together, these few diplomats rescued many tens of thousands of Jewish lives and were responsible for saving the largest numbers of Jews during the Holocaust. Yet they remained modest. When asked why he did it, Italian-born Giorgio Perlasca who became the Spanish chargé d’affaires in Budapest said simply: “Because I could not bear the sight of people branded as animals. Because I couldn’t bear to see children killed. I think it was this. I don’t think I was a hero.”

As official representatives of their governments, the diplomats were obligated to uphold the immigration laws and policies of their countries. By issuing visas to Jewish refugees, some were acting contrary to the explicit orders of their governments and superiors. Doing this put them at direct risk to their careers and, in some cases, even their lives. After issuing thousands of visas to Jewish and other refugees in Bordeaux, France, in June 1940, Portuguese Consul General Aristides de Sousa Mendes explained: “My government has denied all applications for visas to any refugee. But I cannot allow these people to die....I am going to issue [a visa] to anyone who asks for it...Even if I am discharged I can only act as a Christian, as my conscience tells me.”

Soon after issuing visas, de Sousa Mendes was dismissed from the Portuguese Foreign Ministry and was stripped of his rank and his pension. He was forced to sell his home, was ostracized by his friends, and suffered two strokes that left him partially paralyzed. De Sousa Mendes had no regrets: “If so many Jews can suffer because of one person [Hitler], then one Christian can suffer for Jews.” In 1954, de Sousa Mendes died in poverty.

After more than 60 years, some diplomats honored in the exhibit have yet to be recognized or rehabilitated in their own countries. In the years after the war, many diplomats and their families suffered retribution and economic hardship for their courageous actions. The families of these diplomats have sought to have the respective governments restore the name and the honor of their fathers.

We can now publicly recognize these altruistic people and tell the story of their great deeds.

History of the Visas for Life Project

The Visas for Life project began in 1994 by honoring Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat in Lithuania who issued visas to Jews in 1940. In April 1996, the Visas for Life project was expanded to include the stories of Dutch consul Jan Zwartendijk, Portuguese diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes and Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.

An important part of the project has been to nominate diplomats for Yad Vashem’s Righteous Among the Nations program. Diplomats have been officially recognized due to our efforts.

The Visas for Life Project has inspired a number of programs worldwide. The Israeli foreign ministry and Yad Vashem, working with the Visas for Life Project, created a traveling exhibit, which has traveled to numerous foreign ministry venues around the world.

The Visas for Life Project created an exhibit that tells the story of Holocaust survivor Solly Ganor (Zalke Genkind). The exhibit depicts Solly’s life in the Kovno Ghetto, his experiences in the Dachau subcamps, and his subsequent liberation by Japanese American soldiers in May 1945. It also tells of the special relationship that Solly and his family had with Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara.

Highlights and History of the Visas for Life Project and ISRAH

1993

The Visas for Life Project was originally created to honor Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara. The Project is launched in San Francisco, California.

1994

Street in Bern named after Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz.

Three Visas for Life exhibits honoring Chiune Sugihara are produced. Two are in English and one in Japanese.

September 1994

Visas for Life sponsors a mission to Japan to honor Chiune Sugihara and his widow, Yukiko. Several Sugihara survivors give testimony in Japan to his courage. Sugihara monument is rededicated by Sugihara survivors and Deputy Japanese Prime Minister Gotoda. An exhibit honoring Sugihara is opened in his hometown of Yaotsu, Japan. The exhibit also opens in Nagoya, Tokyo, Hiroshima and numerous other cities in Japan.

1995

Visas for Life: The Story of Sugihara exhibit and program is launched in the United States.

January 1995

The Visas for Life exhibit opens up at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance. Mrs. Yukiko Sugihara and her son dedicate the exhibit and are honored in several functions. Steven Spielberg honors Sugihara at a special program in Los Angeles.

Sugihara exhibit opens at the California State Capitol, Sacramento, California.

May 1995

Portugal issues commemorative postage stamp honoring Aristides de Sousa Mendes.

June 1995