Jan Zwartendijk (29 July 1896 – 14 September 1976) was a Dutch businessman and diplomat. As director of the Philips factories in Lithuania and part-time acting consul of the Dutch government-in-exile, he supervised the writing of 2,345 visas for Curaçao to save Jews from the Holocaust during World War II. In 1997, Yad Vashem recognised him as Righteous Among the Nations.
Jan Zwartendijk | |
|---|---|
 Zwartendijk in 1941 | |
| Born | 29 July 1896 Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Died | 14 September 1976 (aged 80) Eindhoven, Netherlands |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, diplomat |
| Known for | Helping Jews escape Lithuania during World War II |
Early life
editZwartendijk was born in Rotterdam.
World War II
edit
In 1939, he was appointed director of the Lithuanian branch of production of Philips.
When the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in 1940, some Jewish Dutch residents in Lithuania approached Zwartendijk as honorary consul to get a visa to the Dutch East Indies. With Zwartendijk's superior, Ambassador to Latvia L. P. J. de Decker's permission, he agreed to help them. The word spread and Jews who had fled from German-occupied Poland also sought his assistance.
Ambassador de Decker wrote a declaration on Nathan Gutwith's and Pessie Lewin's visa stating that entering Curaçao and Dependencies in the West Indies did not require a visa, while omitting the part about the permission of the Governor of Curaçao being required. It is not clear who suggested the omission. The idea of Curaçao probably came up in correspondence between Mrs. Lewin and de Decker. She originally asked for a visa to the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Told of this declaration, Zwartendijk was approached by Jews in Kaunas/Kovno and followed suit. In a few days, with the help of aides, produced over 2,000 visas for Jews to Curaçao. He may have not been authorized by de Decker to do this.[1]
Refugees also approached Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese consul, who gave them a transit visa through Japan, against the disapproval of his government. This gave many refugees an opportunity to leave Lithuania for the Far East via the Trans-Siberian Railway.
In the three weeks after 16 July 1940, Zwartendijk wrote 2,345 de facto visas to Curaçao and some of the Jews copied more. Many who helped only knew him as "Mr Philips Radio". When the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania, they closed down his Philips office and the embassies and consulates in Kaunas on 3 August 1940. He returned to the occupied Netherlands to work in the Philips headquarters in Eindhoven until his retirement, and did not talk about the matter. Zwartendijk died in Eindhoven in 1976.
Awards
editIn 1996, Boys Town Jerusalem, an orphanage and vocational training school in Jerusalem, honoured Zwartendijk at a tribute dinner in New York City and announced the establishment of the Jan Zwartendijk Award for Humanitarian Ethics and Values.[2] The award has since been bestowed on other Holocaust-era saviors, including President Manuel Luis Quezon and the people of the Republic of the Philippines.[3][4]
In 1997, Yad Vashem bestowed the title Righteous Among the Nations on Zwartendijk. On 10 September 2012, he was awarded with the Life Saving Cross of the Republic of Lithuania, a decoration to award the persons who, despite danger to their lives, attempted to save life. In June 2018, a monument to Zwartendijk (about 2,000 LED rods connected into a 7-metre (23 ft) diameter spiral) was unveiled on Laisvės alėja, Kaunas by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and President Dalia Grybauskaitė.[5]
In 2023, he was awarded the Erepenning voor Menslievend Hulpbetoon (Honorary Medal for Charitable Assistance), the highest possible non-military award, by the Dutch government.[6]
Popular culture
editIn 2018 Dutch author Jan Brokken published De Rechtvaardigen ('The Just'), a book describing the rescue operation and Zwartendijk's life. The title refers to all diplomats involved in the rescue operation.[7]
In the novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, it is implied that the protagonist Josef Kavalier receives visas from Zwartendijk and his ally Chiune Sugihara. Though the novel does not mention these men by name, it describes a "Dutch consul in Kovno who was madly issuing visas to Curaçao, in league with a Japanese official who would grant rights of transit" (p. 65).
Zwartendijk is also portrayed in the 2015 Japanese film biography of Sugihara, Persona Non Grata.
In 2022, the monument Loom Light created by Titia Ex was unveiled in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in commemoration of Zwartendijk and regional resistance fighters.[8]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Paldiel, Mordecai (2000). Saving the Jews: Amazing Stories of Men and Women Who Defied the "Final Solution. Schreiber. pp. 75–77. ISBN 1887563555.
- ^ Heppner, Ernest G. (17 July 1996). "Executive Summary: IN TRIBUTE TO AN ACT OF COURAGE AND DECENCY". h-net.msu.edu. Archived from the original on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
- ^ "Philippine Humanitarian Deeds to be Honored by Boys Town Jerusalem". Embassy of the Philippines (Israel). 2 March 2011. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
- ^ Mazza, Gilli (17 March 2011). "Saying Thank You After 73 Years". Ynetnews. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
- ^ Gudavičius, Stasys (16 June 2018). "Menininkė G. Vos – apie šviesos paminklą "olandų Sugiharai"". Verslo žinios (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ^ "Dutch Schindler finally honoured for saving Jews via visas". 14 September 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
- ^ Jennifer Rankin (26 September 2021). "Unsung hero: how 'Mr Radio Philips' helped thousands flee the Nazis". The Guardian.
- ^ "TitiaEx". titiaex.nl.