I Would Not Disobey God. (Poetry).I Would Not Disobey God For Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara The Lithuanians in Kaunas had never seen a Japanese man before he stepped off the train that first day. He was known only as the new consulate before his gentle face and near-perfect Russian earned him tipped hats in the street and invitations to dinner. The morning the Soviets came the cobblestones cracked and the sky trembled. Almost immediately, the Children of Abraham lined up outside his door squeezing the gates like prison bars. The cable from Tokyo said no-- there were too many, and it wasn't a good time. He smiled at his wife and sons, as he tore up the message and pulled open the door. The Nazis were coming from the west, so the Soviets wanted him out in three weeks. That wasn't much time, so he worked twenty hours each day, pausing only for tea and for Yukiko to massage his hand, circulate his blood. He was still signing the morning he left. An old cabalist stood in front of his car. He rolled down the window and signed the visa. Later in the hotel, the door banged all night. He sat at a rented desk, stamping the passports with a smile, and a bow. On the train platform, more were waiting, so he used luggage, books. and people's backs as hard surfaces. He was still signing as the train began to pull away. He had to hand the last one back through the moving window. Like a childhood memory, Kaunas grew smaller and smaller in the distance. Years later, an American rabbi asked him why he did it. He thought for a moment, then replied: "I don't understand the question." Kevin KEVIN Keepers of the Eternal Vigilance of the Islamic Nation (fictional, from White Teeth by Zadie Smith) Stuart Brodie Brodie is a surname, of Scottish origin (see Clan Brodie) and may refer to
n. 1. Abbr. NE The direction or point on the mariner's compass halfway between due north and due east, or 45° east of due north. 2. An area or region lying in the northeast. 3. Connecticut Connecticut, state, United States Connecticut (kənĕt`ĭkət), southernmost of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (N), Rhode Island (E), Long Island Sound (S), and New York (W). . For 29 days in 1940, Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara signed exit visas exit visa n → visado de salida exit visa n → visa m de sortie exit visa exit n → Ausreisevisum nt for Jews Jews [from Judah], traditionally, descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, whose tribe, with that of his half brother Benjamin, made up the kingdom of Judah; historically, members of the worldwide community of adherents to Judaism. fleeing the Nazis Nazis (National Socialism) spread fear and terror throughout Hitler’s Germany. [Ger. Hist.: NCE, 1894] See : Terrorism , saving more than 6,000 lives. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion