Jan Zwartendijk

Jan Zwartendijk

Jan Zwartendijk was born on July 29, 1896 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

In May 1939 he went to Lithuania as the Director of the Philips Company in Lithuania.

He moved there with his Wife, Erna, and his 2 Children, Edith and Jan Jr.

Their third Child, Robert, was born when they were living in Lithuania.

In May 1940 Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands the Company came to a standstill in Lithuania because none of the electric parts could be delivered to Lithuania from German-Occupied the Netherlands.

In June 1940 the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Lithuania into the USSR.

Jan became the Dutch Consul of Kaunas in Soviet-Occupied Lithuania.

Even though the Netherlands was occupied by the Germans (who were Allies with the Soviets from September 1939 until June 1941) and Lithuania was occupied by the Soviets Jan worked to help save the Lithuanian and Polish Jews that came to his Consul in Kaunas.

He issued Landing Permits in Passports that stated the Holder and their Family did not need a Visa to enter any of the Dutch Territories in the Caribbean (Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maartan) or Suriname in South America (which weren’t occupied by the Germans.)

In reality the Colonial Governors of these Dutch Territories had to give their approval for every person wanting to enter and they rarely gave that approval to Refugees or Non-Dutch Citizens.

Jan worked with Chiune Sugihara (a Japanese Diplomat also working in Kaunas.)

Jan gave the Landing Permit to the Dutch Territories and Chiune gave Transit Visas to Japan so the People escaping the Nazis, the Soviets or Both could travel from Lithuania through the Soviet Union by train, take a boat from Vladivostok to Japan and from there they went to other Countries (like China, the United States and the Philippines.)

In August 1940 the Soviet Union illegally annexed Lithuania (along with Estonia and Latvia) and automatically made every Lithuanian Citizen a Soviet Citizen whether they wanted to be or not as well as making all Soviet Laws legal over Lithuanian Laws.

The Soviets also shut down the Dutch and Japanese Consuls in Soviet-Occupied Lithuania.

Jan issued 2,345 Landing Permits in the 3 weeks before the Soviet Authorities shut his Consul down.

Because one Landing Permit covered a whole Family around 10,000 Men, Women and Children were able to escape the Nazis and the Soviets and survive the War.

Jan had to return to German-Occupied the Netherlands.

Chiune returned to Japan.

Jan continued to work for the Philips Company for the rest of his working career and retired from the Company in 1956.

He never received any recognition for his work saving Jews and others during his lifetime.

Jan Zwartendijk died on September 14, 1976 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

He was 80 years old.

In 1997 Jan Posthumously received the Title “Righteous Among The Nations” from yad Vashem for helping Jews during the Holocaust (Chiune Sugihara also became one in 1994.)

In 2012 Jan Posthumously received the Life Saving Cross by the Lithuanian Government.

In 2023 Jan Posthumously receivedthe  Erepenning voor Menslievend Hulpbetoon (Honorary Medal for Charitable Assistance), the highest possible Non-Military Award, by the Dutch Government.

The Nederlands Instituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (The Dutch Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies) confirmed that 95% of the People helped by Jan Zwartendijk survived the War.