Polish Ambassador to Japan Jacek Izydorczyk on Wednesday toured the city of Tsuruga, where a large number of Jewish refugees landed after a Japanese diplomat risked his career by issuing visas that allowed them to escape Nazi persecution.

The diplomat, Chiune Sugihara (1900-1986), is said to have violated orders from his superiors to issue transit visas to some 6,000 Jews while serving as acting consul to Lithuania in 1940. Many of the refugees who landed at the Fukui Prefecture city were from Poland, where the Nazi-run Auschwitz concentration camp was located during World War II.

Tsuruga is also known as the place where the Japanese Red Cross provided refuge to some 760 Polish orphans from Siberia around 1920 following the Russian Revolution. The children temporarily stayed in Japan before returning to Poland.

The ambassador met with Tsuruga Mayor Takanobu Fuchikami and visited the Port of Humanity Tsuruga Museum, which illuminates the history of Jewish refugees and Polish orphans in the city.