During the Holocaust, six million of Jews were assassinated by the Nazis and only three point five million Jews survived. In this heartwarming historical fiction, The Passage To Freedom: The Sugihara Story, the author, Ken Mochizuki illustrates a Japanese diplomat named Chiune Sugihara who used his power, against his own government, to help support the thousands of Jews who escaped from the Nazis who have taken over their country. Sugihara’s selflessness helped save thousands of lives, but risked his own life while he assisted the Jewish refugees to freedom. In the face of human adversity, no sacrifice is too great.
First, Sugihara portrayed that no sacrifice is too great in the face of human adversity when he received an invitation to a Hanukkah celebration for the first time after he had given the boy some of his money. Hiroki’s father, Sugihara saw that a young Jewish boy did not have enough money to buy what he wanted, so he sacrificed some of his money to give it to the boy. Although the main character’s father sacrificed some of his money, he still helped the boy and in return, the boy invited them to a celebration. The main character conveys this when he depicts, “That boy looked into my…show more content… Hiroki was confused about the situation when he was young and asked many questions about the event. For example, Hiroki illustrates this when he states, “‘If we don’t help them, won’t they die’” (p.2). This portrays the innocence that Hiroki withholds while he makes a statement that shows the selflessness within him. This question shows that the right thing to do should always come first before self interest. Although his family is risking their lives to help these Jews, they are willing to do it because they are selfless and they feel like it is worth the discomfort that they will endure later on to help these