Guardian-"Unsung hero: how 'Mr Radio Philips' helped thousands flee the Nazis

[abqtommy]

Last edited Sun Sep 26, 2021, 09:25 AM - Edit history (1)

In June 1940, a Dutch salesman, acting as a consul in Lithuania, issued Jewish refugees with pseudo visas to escape Europe. His remarkable story is only now being told."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/26/unsung-hero-how-mr-radio-philips-helped-thousands-flee-the-nazis

'He helped save more Jewish lives than Oskar Schindler, but while the brave deeds of the German industrialist were known around the world because of an Oscar-winning film, few know the name Jan Zwartendijk, a Dutch radio salesman who helped thousands of Jews flee Nazi-occupied Europe.

Now a book by the celebrated Dutch writer Jan Brokken seeks to rescue Zwartendijk from obscurity, as well as other courageous officials who bent the rules to help several thousand Jews trapped between Nazi Europe and the Soviet Union.

The Just, published this year in English, recounts how up to 10,000 men, women and children fled the Holocaust. At the heart of the story is Zwartendijk and the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who improvised an improbable escape route from Lithuania to the Japanese port of Tsuruga and beyond. Over 10 frantic days in the summer of 1940, the two men issued “visas” to 2,139 people. Researchers estimate 6,000 to 10,000 may have escaped, as women and children often travelled on male relatives’ documents.

Yet while Sugihara became a national hero, featuring on Japan’s school curriculum and with three museums dedicated to his life, Zwartendijk was forgotten. His youngest son, a baby in the Lithuanian years, knew nothing of his father’s actions until he was in his 30s. “He never spoke about this period,” said Rob Zwartendijk, 81, speaking to the Observer from the North Holland town of Blaricum.'

This is a long and inspiring read that is new information for me. It points up the good
that can be done by one or two persons working together. There's much more text
and photos at the above link.