Auction 89 - Rare and Important Items
"Sugihara Visa" – Life-Saving Document Issued to a Student of the Telz Yeshiva who Escaped to the Far East during the Holocaust – Signed by Chiune Sugihara and Jan Zwartendijk, both Righteous Among the Nations, Kaunas, 1940 / Collection of Documents from the time of the Holocaust – Kaunas and Shanghai, 1942-45
Opening: $3,000
Estimate: $6,000 - $10,000
Sold for: $6,875
Including buyer's premium
Five documents issued during the Holocaust for R. Eliezer Sorotzkin, a student at the Telz (Telshe) Yeshiva and son of R. Zalman Sorotzkin, Rabbi of Lutsk; including life-saving transit visas signed by two figures recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, Chiune Sugihara and Jan Zwartendijk. Kovno (Kaunas), Kobe (Japan), and Shanghai, 1940-45. English, Polish, Japanese, and additional languages.
R. Eliezer Sorotzkin (1915-2007), son of R. Zalman Sorotzkin, Rabbi of Lutsk and chairman of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. At the time of the Holocaust, he managed to escape to the Far East thanks to the efforts of two individuals recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, Chiune Sugihara and Jan Zwartendijk. In Shanghai he married Hasia, daughter of R. Eliyahu Meir Bloch, dean of the Telz (Telshe) Yeshiva. In the aftermath of WWII, he immigrated to Palestine, where he established the Haredi town and community of Kiryat Ye'arim (Telz-Stone).
The present collection comprises the following documents issued for R. Eliezer Sorotzkin during the Holocaust:
1. "Sugihara Visa": A transit visa dated July 31, 1940 authorizing transit via Japan, issued (and apparently handwritten and hand-signed) by Chiune Sugihara, and an entry permit to Dutch territories in South America, dated July 24, 1940, issued and hand-signed by Jan Zwartendijk. Both the transit visa and entry permit are stamped onto a travel document issued by the Polish Government in Exile in Kaunas. This document bears Sorotzkin's photo and details on the first page.
A number of inked stamps documenting Sorotzkin's route of travel during the war appear on the Polish document next to the abovementioned visa and permit: an entry stamp to Japan; a transit visa via India issued by the British Consulate in Cuba; a travel pass to Palestine from the British Consulate in Kobe; a travel pass issued by the Egyptian Consulate in Tokyo; and additional inked stamps.
Chiune Sugihara (1900-1986) was a Japanese diplomat who served as Japan's Consul in the city of Kaunas during the Holocaust. From July to September, 1940, he issued more than two thousand visas authorizing transit via Japan, and these are known to have saved the lives of both the bearers and their family members. According to some estimates, roughly 10,000 lives were saved as a result. Sugihara issued the transit visas over a three-month period. By doing so, he was deliberately ignoring instructions passed down by his superiors and acting in violation of the terms of eligibility, persevering in this mission in a flurry of activity up until the closure of the embassy. Roughly half of the transit passes issued by Sugihara were accompanied by another life-saving permit – this one issued by the Dutch Consul in Kaunas, Jan Zwartendijk (1896-1976). These permits were issued on behalf of Jews whose passports lacked an entry permit into a third country. Zwartendijk's entry permits – certifying that the holder was entitled to enter Dutch territories in South America – were required to fully ensure safe passage for the individuals in question insofar as the Japanese passes only enabled transit via Japan. For all their noble efforts and achievements in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust, Israel's Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center bestowed upon both Sugihara and Zwartendijk the title of "Righteous Among the Nations."
Polish travel document: [2] ff. (three pages bearing handwriting and inked stamps), 27.5 cm. Fair-poor condition. Stains. Creases. Fold lines. Tears, especially to edges and to lengths of fold lines, most of them reinforced with acidic adhesive tape (strips of adhesive tape applied to full length and width of leaves). Several open tears to edges.
2-5. Four personal documents belonging to R. Eliezer Sorotzkin: • Birth certificate of his son, Joseph Judah Leib (who would one day become dean of the Me'or Eliyahu Yeshiva in Telz-Stone and author of the book "Megged Yosef"), issued by the Health Department in Shanghai and dated December 11, 1945. English. • Letter from the Eastjewcom aid organization to the delegation of the Polish Government in Exile in Shanghai: request to issue a passport on behalf of Rabbi Sorotzkin, dated 1941. Polish. • Identity paper bearing passport photo, issued by the Polish Residents Association in China, dated 1943. • "Special Pass for Rabbi Student" in Shanghai, authorizing exit from the residential area from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM, dated 1945. Japanese and English.
Size and condition vary.
R. Eliezer Sorotzkin (1915-2007), son of R. Zalman Sorotzkin, Rabbi of Lutsk and chairman of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. At the time of the Holocaust, he managed to escape to the Far East thanks to the efforts of two individuals recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, Chiune Sugihara and Jan Zwartendijk. In Shanghai he married Hasia, daughter of R. Eliyahu Meir Bloch, dean of the Telz (Telshe) Yeshiva. In the aftermath of WWII, he immigrated to Palestine, where he established the Haredi town and community of Kiryat Ye'arim (Telz-Stone).
The present collection comprises the following documents issued for R. Eliezer Sorotzkin during the Holocaust:
1. "Sugihara Visa": A transit visa dated July 31, 1940 authorizing transit via Japan, issued (and apparently handwritten and hand-signed) by Chiune Sugihara, and an entry permit to Dutch territories in South America, dated July 24, 1940, issued and hand-signed by Jan Zwartendijk. Both the transit visa and entry permit are stamped onto a travel document issued by the Polish Government in Exile in Kaunas. This document bears Sorotzkin's photo and details on the first page.
A number of inked stamps documenting Sorotzkin's route of travel during the war appear on the Polish document next to the abovementioned visa and permit: an entry stamp to Japan; a transit visa via India issued by the British Consulate in Cuba; a travel pass to Palestine from the British Consulate in Kobe; a travel pass issued by the Egyptian Consulate in Tokyo; and additional inked stamps.
Chiune Sugihara (1900-1986) was a Japanese diplomat who served as Japan's Consul in the city of Kaunas during the Holocaust. From July to September, 1940, he issued more than two thousand visas authorizing transit via Japan, and these are known to have saved the lives of both the bearers and their family members. According to some estimates, roughly 10,000 lives were saved as a result. Sugihara issued the transit visas over a three-month period. By doing so, he was deliberately ignoring instructions passed down by his superiors and acting in violation of the terms of eligibility, persevering in this mission in a flurry of activity up until the closure of the embassy. Roughly half of the transit passes issued by Sugihara were accompanied by another life-saving permit – this one issued by the Dutch Consul in Kaunas, Jan Zwartendijk (1896-1976). These permits were issued on behalf of Jews whose passports lacked an entry permit into a third country. Zwartendijk's entry permits – certifying that the holder was entitled to enter Dutch territories in South America – were required to fully ensure safe passage for the individuals in question insofar as the Japanese passes only enabled transit via Japan. For all their noble efforts and achievements in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust, Israel's Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center bestowed upon both Sugihara and Zwartendijk the title of "Righteous Among the Nations."
Polish travel document: [2] ff. (three pages bearing handwriting and inked stamps), 27.5 cm. Fair-poor condition. Stains. Creases. Fold lines. Tears, especially to edges and to lengths of fold lines, most of them reinforced with acidic adhesive tape (strips of adhesive tape applied to full length and width of leaves). Several open tears to edges.
2-5. Four personal documents belonging to R. Eliezer Sorotzkin: • Birth certificate of his son, Joseph Judah Leib (who would one day become dean of the Me'or Eliyahu Yeshiva in Telz-Stone and author of the book "Megged Yosef"), issued by the Health Department in Shanghai and dated December 11, 1945. English. • Letter from the Eastjewcom aid organization to the delegation of the Polish Government in Exile in Shanghai: request to issue a passport on behalf of Rabbi Sorotzkin, dated 1941. Polish. • Identity paper bearing passport photo, issued by the Polish Residents Association in China, dated 1943. • "Special Pass for Rabbi Student" in Shanghai, authorizing exit from the residential area from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM, dated 1945. Japanese and English.
Size and condition vary.
The Holocaust and and She'erit Hapletah
The Holocaust and and She'erit Hapletah