yodatsracist comments on What in your study of history has most humanized the past and its people for you?

yodatsracist comments on What in your study of history has most humanized the past and its people for you?: Chiune Sugihara is who I always start thinking about. He was the Vice-Consul for the Empire of Japan in Kaunas, Lithuania. Single-handedly (or, more accurately, only with the aid of his wife who helped him copy out papers) he saved thousands of lives. He spent reportedly 18-20 hours a day copying out visas for Jews wishing to escape. Even as he was reassigned away from the city, he continued to hand out visas from the train. After the War, he said almost nothing about it. He left the Japanese foreign service in 1946 and lived after the war a middle class clerk and businessman.