Chiune Sugihara: Google honours Japanese diplomat who saved Jews in WWII
TODAY'S Google Doodle celebrates 80 years since Chiune Sugihara began issuing transit visas to thousands of Jewish refugees.
But who is the Japanese diplomat and what does his doodle show? Here's what you need to know.
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Who is Chiune Sugihara?
Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese government official who served as vice consul for the Japanese Empire in Kaunas, Lithuania.
During the Second World War, Sugihara helped some 6,000 Jews flee Europe by issuing transit visas to them so that they could travel through Japanese territory, risking his job and the lives of his family.
The fleeing Jews were refugees from German-occupied Western Poland and Soviet-occupied Eastern Poland, as well as residents of Lithuania.
A few decades after the war, in 1985, the State of Israel honoured Sugihara as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for his actions.
He is the only Japanese national to have been so honoured.
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What does his Google Doodle show?
On this day in 1939, Sugihara began issuing transit visas to thousands of Jewish refugees, defying direct orders from his supervisors to help the refugees escape via Japan.
Today’s Google Doodle was created by Doodler Matthew Cruickshank.
The doodle shows Sugihara's passport, sketched in pencil.
What is a Google Doodle?
In 1998, the search engine founders Larry and Sergey drew a stick figure behind the second 'o' of Google as a message to that they were out of office at the Burning Man festival and with that, Google Doodles were born.
The company decided that they should decorate the logo to mark cultural moments and it soon became clear that users really enjoyed the change to the Google homepage.
Now, there is a full team of doodlers, illustrators, graphic designers, animators and classically trained artists who help create what you see on those days.
Google kicked off 2019 with an animated Doodle of New Year's Eve celebrations.
And on February 5, 2019, the Chinese New Year was celebrated with a hand animation transforming into a pig.
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