escaping Lithuania - 1940

[huddyhuddy]

Hi all,

Thought of sharing this interesting WW2 travel document.

The holder was a Polish national but his status was lost, or 'undetermined' following the out break of war once he reached Lithuania. During 1939 to 1941 several thousand Polish refugees managed to find themselves in Lithuania, not being able and not wanting to return to occupied Poland. Those who where lucky managed to flee east to Japan via Siberia and some went to British Palestine, the Jewish refugees. This individual here opted for the latter, and on December of 1940 managed to obtain the right exit permits from the occupying forces and arrive, via Moscow, to Odessa, where he boarded a ship to Turkey (transit visa obtained in Moscow earlier). Once in Turkey he secured his entry visa to Haifa: thus manging to avoid the fate of thousands of others who where gunned down into pits half a year later by the Germans. These type of papers also had, for a short period of time, the infamous Japanese transit visas to Japan (July-August of 1940).

One of the lucky ones indeed...



Neil

[StefanM]

An great historical document on which the transit stamps tell the story of a fortunate journey of survival. Thank you for posting!

Were there any identity documents issued for the Jewish refugees prevented from entering Palestine and detained by the British in the "detainee detention camps" of Atlit and the British "detention camps" for Jewish refugees in Mauritius?

[huddyhuddy]

I presume there would be some sort of registration upon arrival in them camps, but to date I have not seen an ID that was issued to them.
Have seen an ID for Polish individuals who entered the internment camps in Tehran in 1942 though. The camp in Mauritius had a strong cultural activity: they issued donation receipts for those who handed in money for Jewish events or organizations, for example, the SHEKEL. Other cmps had similar activity: the ones in Cyprus even issued canteen script and published news articles and magazines, they even had birth/death certificates issued there by the Jewish inmates or religious bodies inside.

Today Atlit is a museum and is on the coast just before reaching Haifa.

PS. I have a soft spot for 2nd Republic passports, mainly those issued during 1939-1945.

[dastier]

That is an amazing document! Thanks for posting.

[Dean]

I can't believe you actually tricked them into letting you fly this! I know you have experience Eric , but video games don't count
All joking aside, you are a lucky guy, bro. Thanks for sharing.

[huddyhuddy]

Thanks 8)