Sugihara & Zwartendijk – two of righteous diplomats which took enormous personal risks to rescue Jews and others facing persecution and peril. They were true heroes; indeed, they were among the foremost human rights defenders of their day. Due to their actions thousands could escape Nazi Holocaust. Since I am collecting passports I was always interested in protection letters/passports and visas saving Jewish lives. sugihara Zwartendijk life-saving document

Thanks to my extensive network and thorough research, I was able to successfully locate and secure important documents. Over the years, I have seen 26 different documents issued by these diplomats.

A Travel document (Polish Certificate of Identity) for Silberberg Abraham-Adam
sugihara Zwartendijk life-saving document

Chiune Sugihara

Chiune Sugihara, born on January 1st, 1900 and passed away on July 31st, 1986, was a Japanese diplomat who served as the Vice-Consul for the Empire of Japan in Lithuania during World War II. He played a crucial role in helping thousands of Jews escape the country by issuing them transit visas, allowing them to travel to Japan, many of whom were refugees from German-occupied Poland and residents of Lithuania.

Sugihara put his career and the safety of his family on the line by writing visas for over 6,000 Jewish refugees, enabling them to flee to Japanese territory. He also told the refugees to refer to him as “Sempo”, as it was a more easily pronounced version of his first name in Sino-Japanese reading for Western people. In recognition of his bravery, Israel honored him in 1985 with the title of “Righteous Among the Nations”.

Jan Zwartendijk

Jan Zwartendijk, born on July 29th, 1896 in Rotterdam and passed away in 1976, was a Dutch businessman and diplomat who assisted Jews in escaping Lithuania during World War II. As the director of the Philips plants in Lithuania, he also served as an acting consul of the Dutch government-in-exile, working under the Dutch ambassador to Latvia, De Decker.

When the Soviet Union took control of Lithuania in 1940, Dutch Jewish residents in the country approached Zwartendijk for a visa to the Dutch Indies. With De Decker’s approval, Zwartendijk agreed to help them. This eventually led to Jews fleeing from German-occupied Poland also seeking his assistance.

Despite contravening diplomatic protocols, Zwartendijk signed a declaration that stated entry into Curaçao in the West Indies did not require a visa, ignoring the second part of the standard notice that required the governor’s permission. This was based on the precedent set by De Decker himself, who had earlier issued similar visas, and news of this possibility had spread to other Jews.

The refugees then approached Japanese consul, Chiune Sugihara, who defied official diplomatic rules and gave them transit visas through Japan. This provided many refugees with the opportunity to escape Lithuania and travel to the Far East via the Trans-Siberian railway. In the three weeks following July 26th, Zwartendijk wrote over 2,400 visas to Curaçao and some Jews copied more.

Many people who helped knew him only as “Mr. Philips Radio”. On August 3rd, when the Soviets closed down his Philips office, he returned to the occupied Netherlands and worked at the Philips headquarters in Eindhoven. He never spoke about his actions. Zwartendijk passed away in 1976 and was posthumously honored with the title “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem in 1997.

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