Answer
Serving as the Vice-Consul at the Japanese consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara played a crucial role during World War II. During his tenure from 1939 to 1940, he defied his government's orders and issued thousands of transit visas to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. These visas allowed them to escape through Japan to safer destinations, saving the lives of an estimated 6,000 individuals from the Holocaust.