Sugihara UNESCO Memory World Program – Update
Update 31.10.2017
Dear Tom,
Thank you for your continued support and cooperation for our Sugihara UNESCO Memory of the World project. I regret to inform you that our nomination documents of ”The Sugihara List” on the UNESCO Memory of the World register was not recommended by UNESCO International Advisory Committee. However, we continue making sincere efforts to fully recognize the significance, pass them on to future generations, and deliver “The importance of peace” and “The preciousness of human life” from Yaotsu town to people around the world. It would be grateful if you keep providing us your support and advice in the future.
Sugihara’s home city and museum in Yaotsu, Japan is applying to cover Sugihara Chinue’s documents, which saved so many lifes during the Holocaust, within the UNESCO Memory of the World Program.
UNESCO’s Memory of the World Program is an international initiative launched to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, the ravages of time and climatic conditions, and willful and deliberate destruction. It calls for the preservation of valuable archival holdings, library collections and private individual compendia all over the world for posterity, the reconstitution of dispersed or displaced documentary heritage, and the increased accessibility to and dissemination of these items.
The UNESCO committee will review the approval in their next meeting in Summer 2017.
For me, who held and still holds such precious life-saving documents from this outstanding diplomat, it was a great pleasure to be part of the project supporting with my collectibles, knowledge and sources. At the same time I learned even more about Sugihara and his documents. I will definitely visit one day the museum in Yaotsu and I am convinced the great work and efforts from Masaru Nakayama as project manager and his team will lead successfully to the desired result.
