Passage to Freedom by Ken Mochizuki

1. Digital Book Report Prepared by Ms. Gil Clinton-Mendenhall Elementary Passage to Freedom by Ken Mochizuki

2. Genre • Non-Fiction • Biography • Narrator is the son of Mr. Sugihara • First-Person Narration

3. Setting • Small town in Lithuania • 1940’s • WWII • Nazi occupation

4. Major Events • Mr. Sugihara is a diplomat from Japan stationed in a small town in Lithuania who has the authority to issue visas. • The Nazis have begun to relocate the Jews (Polish refugees) in this town. • A small group of Jews meet with Mr. Sugihara to request visas.

5. Major Events • Mr. Sugihara can issue a couple but not the hundreds needed to save this population. • He asks permission from his superiors three times. The permission is denied. • Mr. Sugihara must choose between “disobeying his government, or disobeying God.”

6. Major Events • He consults his family and decides to issue the visas. • Fatigued, Mr. Sugihara issues hundreds of visas before he is stationed in Berlin, Germany. • He even hands out blank visas from the train.

7. Causes and Effects • Hundreds of Polish refugees are facing a bleak future in the hands of Nazis. • Superiors deny the request of Mr. Sugihara to request permission to issue extra visas. • Issuing hundreds of visas against government orders in order to save them. • Disobey orders and commit to a higher moral order.

8. Themes • Courage: Mr. Sugihara disobeyed government orders and put his life and the life of his family in danger to save Polish Jews

9. Message • Sometimes having moral character means making difficult decisions (that may or may not put your life at risk)