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"There was no other way," said Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who was stationed in Lithuania shortly before the outbreak of World War II. On this day in 1940, Sugihara began issuing transit visas to thousands of Jewish refugees, defying direct orders from his supervisors to help the refugees escape via Japan.

"I told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it was a matter of humanity," he recalled years later. "I did not care if I lost my job."

Soon after Jewish families began lining up outside his official residence, pleading for documents to allow them safe passage via Japan to the Dutch island of Curacao, he sent three messages to Tokyo requesting permission, all of which was forcefully rejected. "Absolutely not to be issued any traveler not holding firm end visa with guaranteed departure ex Japan," read the cable from the foreign ministry. "No exceptions."

After much soul-searching, Sugihara threw caution to the winds, writing thousands of visas night and day until "my fingers were calloused and every joint from my wrist to my shoulder ached." His wife supported his risky decision, massaging his tired hands each night so he could keep going until the last minutes of his train leaving Lithuania, handing out visas to Jews at the platform.

Upon returning to Japan, Sugihara paid the price for disobeying orders. His promising foreign service career came to an end, and he struggled to support his family. He received little recognition for his sacrifice until one of the people he saved, now an Israeli diplomat, managed to find him in 1968. A tree was planted in his honor at the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, and Chiune Sugihara was declared "Righteous Among Nations." Memorials in Lithuania and Yaotsu, Japan pay tribute to Sugihara and his heroic endeavors that saved untold thousands of lives.