'The Saviour' - a movie in the making, dedicated to the selfless bravery and righteousness of Chiune Sugihara
Time & Location
About the Event
March of the Living Australia is proud to host an exciting online event on Thursday 11 February 2021 at 7:45pm AEDT. Join us for an enthralling discussion with Linda Royal, writer of the film script for 'The Saviour' - daughter and granddaughter of Sugihara Visa recipients; Rabbi Levi Wolff - Central Synagogue, Bondi Junction, Sydney, NSW - grandson and one of 300 descendants of a Sugihara visa recipient; and Nobuki Sugihara, the only surviving son of Chiune Sugihara, Righteous Among the Nations, who was offered a scholarship to study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, lived there for 10 Years, speaks fluent Hebrew and considers Israel his homeland.
Linda Royal’s father, Michael Margolin and grandparents fled Nazi-occupied Poland in 1939 and were saved together with 6,000 other Jewish refugees in Lithuania in 1940 by a Japanese diplomat, Chiune Sugihara, who was stationed there. At great personal risk and defying his government, he illegally issued transit visas to Japan to these desperate people, saving them from certain death.
In 1985, Israel honoured Sugihara as one of the Righteous Among Nations for his actions and he is the only Japanese national to be given the honour. Linda is a writer developing a book and film inspired by this story which deals with the impact of trauma on survivors and the next generation, the plight of refugees, and anti-Semitism.
Few have heard of this courageous, selfless individual (Chiune Sugihara) and Linda feels, given she owes her life to him, that he deserves the same recognition as Oskar Schindler. As a writer she felt it her duty to perpetuate his memory in film. This venture is dedicated to her father's memory and that of her grandmother with whom she was exceptionally close; and to all those victims of generational trauma dealing with the consequences of having parents who endured this unique and far-reaching event.
**Please Note: This event has now passed. Please click here to view a recording of this event.