Jan Zwartendijk

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jan Zwartendijk

Jan Zwartendijk (born July 29, 1896 in Rotterdam , † September 14, 1976 in Eindhoven ) was a Dutch diplomat and businessman. During the Second World War he helped thousands of Lithuanian Jews to flee by providing them with forged papers that protected them from persecution by the National Socialists .

biography

One of the documents issued by Zwartendijk

Zwartendijk was an employee of the electronics manufacturer Philips and was given responsibility for the group's business in Lithuania in May 1939. After the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, the group's business came to a standstill, including the export of radio components to the Baltic States was no longer possible. In the wake of the riot caused by the Soviet occupation of the country in June of the same year, Zwartendijk was also awarded the post of acting consul of the Netherlands in Lithuania's second largest city, Kaunas . Shortly afterwards, some Dutch-Jewish residents of Lithuania approached Zwartendijk in this position, who hoped to escape Soviet rule with the help of visas for Dutch colonies in the Caribbean or Southeast Asia . With the unofficial consent of the Dutch ambassador in Riga , LPJ de Decker, Zwartendijk began issuing documents certifying that the recipients were allowed to enter the island of Curaçao and other Dutch possessions in the Caribbean. Furthermore, no formal visas are required to enter these countries. This was incorrect insofar as the entry actually required the permission of the respective colonial governor, who only rarely issued such a permit for refugees. After word about the issue of these documents got around, Jewish refugees from occupied Poland who had previously come to Lithuania also began to approach Zwartendijk. Between July 26 and August 2, 1940, he issued about 2,400 of these “Curaçao visas”. Most of the people Zwartendijk helped didn't know his real name and just called him “Mr. Philips Radio ”. In fact, none of the visas could actually be used for a direct exit to Curaçao, which Zwartendijk was also aware of. However, they allowed those affected to turn it to Chiune Sugihara , the Japanese consul in Lithuania. He then organized the departure of the refugees from the occupied Baltic States via Japan , which at that time still maintained diplomatic relations with the Dutch government in exile. In early August 1940 Zwartendijk was forced to cease its activities after the Soviet occupiers seized Philips' company property in Lithuania. A few months later he returned to the Netherlands and took a position at Philips' head office in Eindhoven.

In 1946 Zwartendijk was sent to Greece and managed the Philips subsidiary there until he retired and returned to the Netherlands in 1956. He died in Eindhoven in 1976 and had three children. According to his bereaved, Zwartendijk was unclear for life whether and how many people he could save with his visas. Only shortly before his death did he receive a notification from three people who were able to survive the war thanks to his help, but he remained in the dark about the fate of the vast majority of those affected. About a week after his death, the family received a letter from NIOD confirming that 95% of the people Zwartendijk helped survived the war.

Honors and reception

Zwartendijk was initially criticized by the Dutch Foreign Ministry for its actions that were not officially authorized by superiors. He was reprimanded for his actions by the later UN ambassador and NATO Secretary General Joseph Luns , among others . It was only in October 2018 that Foreign Minister Stef Blok offered Zwartendijk's family an official apology for this treatment.

For years Zwartendijk did not speak publicly about his activities in Lithuania. It was not until 1963 that he made a statement after the Dutch Foreign Ministry made contact, which became aware of Zwartendijk again through a newspaper article by the Jewish society B'nai B'rith in Los Angeles . In this one referred to him as the Angel of Curaçao (in German "Angel of Curaçao"). In 1997, more than 20 years after his death, the Israeli Yad Vashem Memorial gave him the title of Righteous Among the Nations .

In 2018, the city of Kaunas honored Zwartendijk with a commemorative plaque and a light installation designed by the Dutch artist Giny Vos in front of his former office building. At the unveiling, besides Zwartendijk's son Rob, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė and Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis also gave a speech.

literature

  • Jan Brokken: Derechtvaardigen - Hoe een Nederlandse consul duizenden joden redde . 1st edition. Atlas Contact, 2018, ISBN 978-90-450-3664-9 .

See also

Web links

Commons : Jan Zwartendijk  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jan Zwartendijk. In: ushmm.org. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed October 25, 2018 .
  2. ^ Jan Zwartendijk of the Netherlands, a hero of the Holocaust. In: isurvived.org. Holocaust Survivors Network, accessed October 25, 2018 .
  3. ^ A b Jan Zwartendijk - Righteous Among the Nations. In: onjewishmatters.com. December 27, 2014, accessed October 25, 2018 .
  4. ^ Jan Hoedeman: Nederlandse 'Schindler' berispt om redden joden. In: ad.nl. Algemeen Dagblad, October 3, 2018, accessed February 11, 2019 (Dutch).
  5. ^ Dutch diplomat was punished for saving Jews in the Holocaust, new book reveals. In: timesofisrael.com. The Times of Israel, October 10, 2018, accessed February 11, 2018 .
  6. ^ Ofer Aderet: Netherlands Apologizes to Family of 'Dutch Schindler,' Who Was Rebuked for Saving Thousands of Jews. In: Haaretz.com. October 19, 2018, accessed February 11, 2019 .
  7. ^ City of Kaunas Honors Righteous Gentile, Dutch Consul Jan Zwartendijk. In: lzb.lt. Lithuanian Jewish Community, June 18, 2018, accessed October 25, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Zwartendijk, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch diplomat and businessman
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Rotterdam
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 1976
Place of death Eindhoven