Pabėgėliai, vizos, gelbėtojai? Kaunas 1939-1940 m.
Refugees, visas, rescuers? Kaunas 1939-1940

Summary/Abstract: On the first of September 1939> as World War II began, millions of Poland's citizens became victims of the disaster and cruelty of war. In that situation, thousands of refugees chose Lithuania as the safest haven. The absolute majority of refugees were persons of Polish and Jewish nationality. Numerous refugees, mostly of Polish nationality, became members of underground organizations which directed their activities against Germany, the Soviet Union and in some cases against Lithuania. TTiey had close contacts with foreign embassies and consulates in Kaunas, at the time the provisional capital of Lithuania, a small town by comparison with other European capitals. Twenty-one consulates or embassies of foreign countries worked in the (owns compact central area. Here the interests of many countries, Great Britain, France, Japan, the Soviet GPU and the Gestapo intertwined. Lithuania, and mostly Kaunas, was at that time an important link in the espionage networks that spread from Lisbon to Tokyo. There was a local „Rick's Cafe"; it is here that discussions about visas took place. The world famous Japanese consul Ch. Sugihara and the Dutch consul J.Zwartendijk, who together issued some 6000 life saving visas, had their quarters in Kaunas.

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