Collection of Rare Travel Documents, Used by a Jew Fleeing Poland to the Far East During the Holocaust – ...

Collection of Rare Travel Documents, Used by a Jew Fleeing Poland to the Far East During the Holocaust – Life-Saving Visas Issued by the Righteous Among the Nations, Chiune Sugihara and Jan Zwartendijk – Visas from the Japanese Authorities in Kobe and the Shanghai Ghetto, Documents Issued by the Jewish Community in the Far East, and More – 1939-1942
Collection of documents from the Holocaust, mostly travel papers, documenting The journey of Hersz Praszkier (Hersh Prashker) from occupied Poland to the Far East; including life-saving visas issued by the Righteous Among the Nations Chiune Sugihara and Jan Zwartendijk, rare visas from the Japanese authorities and documents issued by the Jewish community in the Far East. Europe, Japan and China, 1939-1942. Japanese, Polish, English and some German.
The collection includes:
Sugihara's visa: document issued to Praszkier, confirming his Polish citizenship (presumably issued by the British legation in Lithuania as a replacement for a passport), containing two visas: a transit visa via Japan issued by Chiune Sugihara, dated 5.8.1940, stamped with Sugihara's stamp and other stamps (with the addition of some Japanese script); entry visa to the Dutch colonies in South America issued by Jan Zwartendijk, with his hand signature, dated 1.8.1940.
Chiune Sugihara (1900-1986) was a Japanese diplomat who served as vice-consul for Japan in Kaunas during the Holocaust. Between July and September 1940, he issued over 2000 transit visas via Japan, which saved the lives of the recipients and their families (according to some estimates, some 10,000 people were saved thanks to these visas). Sugihara issued these visas during a period of three months, defying the orders of his superiors and ignoring the required criteria, until the closure of the embassy. Even after boarding the train to leave Kaunas, he continued issuing improvised visas and threw them through the window to the crowds waiting on the platform.
About half of the visas issued by Sugihara included another life-saving visa, issued by Jan Zwartendijk (1896-1976), Dutch consul in Kaunas. These visas were issued to Jews whose passports did not have an entry visa to a third country (the Japanese visas were only valid for transit via Japan, and an additional entry visa was required), and stated that the holder was allowed to enter Dutch colonies in South America. These Dutch visas allowed Sugihara to issue transit visas to Jews who did not have any other entry visas. With the closure of the Dutch consulate, Zwartendijk destroyed evidence of his activities. Sugihara and Zwartendijk were bestowed the title of Righteous Among the Nations for their WWII activities.
Already during the war, Sugihara handed his superiors a list of the recipients of the visas he issued, containing 2139 names ("Sugihara's list"). The present visa is listed 1048.
Ten documents from Praszkier's journey through the Far East, issued in Japan and China by the Japanese authorities, the Jewish community and the Polish embassy: • Permit for stay in Japan, printed on a bilingual form (English and Japanese), and filed-in by hand in Japanese, issued on 3.4.1941. Numbered 2703. • Official notification from the Jewish Community of Kobe (Ashkenazim): "Your permit to stay in this Country has been handed… to the Police Authorities here to arrange for the permit's further extension". Stamped and signed by the secretary of the community. 19.8.1941. (English). • Authorization with the rare stamp of the Jewish community: "The Jewish Community in Kobe (Ashkenazim), Kobe District" – presumably a ticket for a train journey, issued by the head of the Department for Foreign Affairs in the Hyogo district (Japan). • Polish consular passport issued to Praszkier in Tokyo, on 9.12.1941, with the stamp of the Polish embassy in Tokyo and Shanghai. • Transit visa or pass issued by the Japanese authorities in Shanghai, with a passport photograph of Praszkier. • Two receipts from the Committee for Assistance of Jewish Refugees from Eastern Europe (established in 1938 by the leaders of the community of Jewish refugees in Shanghai). June-July 1942. • And more.
Three documents documenting Praszkier's escape from Poland with the outbreak of the war: • Exit permit from Włocławek (Poland), signed by the region commander and dated 5.10.1939 (approximately one month after the town was captured by Nazi Germany). • Exit permit from Ciechanów (Poland), signed by the region commander and with a Nazi German inked-stamp, 14.10.1939. • Authorization issued by the Committee for Aid to Refugees in Vilna, confirming that Praszkier was listed as refugee 4474. With the inked stamp of the Jewish community in Vilna. 26.10.1939.
Six documents pertaining to the death and burial of Praszkier in Shanghai, 1944: • Form from the Kitchenfund Hospital, confirming Praszkier's admittance to the hospital and the diagnosis of typhus (1944). • Death certificate under Praszkier's name issued by the Chevra Kaddisha in Shanghai, confirming that Praszkier was buried on 15.5.1944 in the Baikal Road Jewish cemetery (1944). • Contract for the preparation of Praszkier's tombstone (1945). • Handwritten note, containing two versions of Praszkier's epitaph (Hebrew). • And more. Some documents mention the name of the Jewish refugee Hinda Milgrom (this surname also appears in Sugihara's list), Praszkier's wife in Shanghai, who took care of his burial arrangements.
Altogether 20 documents. Size and condition vary.
Enclosed: photograph and thirteen personal documents of Praszkier from before the war (mostly in Polish), and an identity card issued for Hinda Milgrom in Shanghai.