of the Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka Yoosuke. At the end of 1940, he visited Matsuoka and asked him to permit refugees to stay in Japan. Matsuoka, after long contemplation, finally agreed to let the Jews stay as long as the Kobe local police acquiesced to their presence in the city. Kotsuji borrowed money from a rich uncle and bribed the Kobe police, who thus agreed to permit the refugees to remain in the city until they could emigrate, provided they renewed their visas on a weekly basis. The refugees naturally agreed and were thus saved from expulsion to the Soviet Union.

Perhaps the most famous person who helped save Jewish lives from the Holocaust is Sugihara Sempo, the Japanese consul to Kaunas, Lithuania, during 1940. That summer, ignoring Foreignofficials who provided a Soviet exit visa and transit visa to reach Japan. In 1985, Sugihara, at age 85, was honored in Israel at the Path of the Righteous Gentile at Yad Vashem, and a grove was planted in his name near Jerusalem.

In Kobe, the refugees were helped by various organizations. Members of Nakada's Holiness Church came to pray for their survival. American relief organizations sent needed funds to accommodate the refugees with food and housing. Dr. Kotsuji came to interpret for them. Jews in Kobe itself numbered about fifty families when they established the Kobe Jewish Community in July 1940, and with the help of the Joint Distribution Committee in New York City, assisted the refugees to find housing, get visas, and depart for their ultimate destinations.