Kai atbėgėliai virto pabėgėliais. Pilietybės neturinčių žydų emigracija iš Lietuvos 1939-1940 m.

LTStraipsnyje, be jau gana gerai žinomo Japonijos vicekonsulo Lietuvoje Čijunės Sugiharos gyvybės vizų išdavinėjimo epizodo Kaune 1940 m. vasarą, pristatoma Lietuvos pozicija pabėgėlių klausimu, Lietuvos diplomatų pastangos derantis dėl norinčiųjų pabėgėlių Lenkijos žydų emigracijos galimybių su Britanijos ir SSRS vyriausybėmis. Primenamas ir Nyderlandų garbės konsulo Lietuvoje Jano Zwartendijko indėlis į išsigelbėjimo istoriją. Aptariami emigracijos keliai, parodant visą jų spektrą, o ne tik įprastai su Č. Sugiharos vizomis susijusį Transsibiro maršrutą. Apžvelgiama kintanti Japonijos vyriausybės politika tranzitinių vizų išdavimo klausimu. Esminiai žodžiai: Antrojo pasaulinio karo pabėgėliai, žydai, Č. Sugihara, J. Zwartendijkas, tranzitinės vizos, sovietų okupacija. [Iš leidinio]

ENThe departure point for the article is the story of Chiune Sugihara, the well-known Japanese Vice-Consul in Lithuania, who in summer of 1940 issued visas for life for over 2,000 Jewish refugees from Poland, thus saving them. But in the text it is argued that refugees from Poland (approximately 30,000 civilians) were primarily hosted, i.e., saved, by the state of Lithuania.Lithuania at the beginning of WW2 acted differently than the tenor of the Evian conference (1938), which, when called to resolve growing numbers of Jewish refugees from Nazi occupied territories, ended with harder restrictions on migration and a negative result for the Nazi-occupied Jewish population. So, Lithuania let refugees in. Until the first Soviet occupation in 1940, Lithuania was seen by the refugees as a safe haven, and migration was limited to the personal decision to leave. Having in mind that quite a number of the Jewish refugees were religious Jews or Zionists, they were planning to reach their final destination places – Palestine or the USA - sooner or later, the Soviet occupation in 1940 boosted the process to the utmost. Refugees desperately tried to escape Soviet occupation, and in this case Chiune Sugihara’s Japanese transit, and Jan Zwartendijk’s (Dutch Honorary Consul in Lithuania) final destination visas, became crucial. To accomplish the journey, the Trans-Siberian railroad was used, but in the article other routes, such as via Odessa and Turkey, or India and Iran, are described, since Japan was only a first staging-post, and Jewish refugees tended to continue their journey, depending on visas and money issues. The article ends noting changes in Japanese policies regarding immigrants: from spring 1941, stricter regulations were applied in issuing Japanese transit visas in Europe; the Japanese MOF directed that Japanese transit visas could be issued only at the Japanese Embassy in Moscow.Keywords: refugees of the Second World War, Jews, Ch. Sugihara, J. Zwartendijk, transit visas, Soviet occupation.