Tamar Ravitz — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Tamar Ravitz was born in Warsaw, Poland; she was a member of the Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzair and when war broke out in 1939, she fled on the same train as the members of the Polish government to Rivne and the surrounding villages. When the Soviets arrived, she moved to Vilna with her parents and her father managed to get an exit visa, with the help of a friend, from the Japanese consul, Chiune Sugihara. At the end of 1940, the family traveled to Japan where they stayed for about two months and got visas to America, within the framework of visas that were issued to intellectual refugees. In 1941 they moved to America and ten years later they came to Israel.

I only know a little about the story of the Japanese consul Sugihara but I do not know anything about what went on in the interim. A few years ago I became more curious about how we managed to get the visa to Japan so I went to talk to Mordechai Tsanin who went to Japan together with us, then came to Israel and was the editor of Letste Nayes (Latest News). He then told me things that I had not known about how we got the visa to Japan. I had known that that my father was in Kovno and, one day, he came home and said to my mother: "We have a visa to Japan."

Q: Just a minute, what was in Kovno? Did he go specially to get it?

A: They were always traveling back and forth from Vilna to Kovno because the consulates were in Kovno, so the only way to get out of Vilna was to go to Kovno. I think I can still remember that when he came home, my mother burst into tears. For her, Japan was the end of the world.

Q: But it wasn't really a visa; it was a transit pass.

A: No, it was an entry visa – a tourist visa, a temporary visa.

Q: That's it. It was supposed to be temporary.

A: Yes, but you could leave with that visa.

Q: But when your father came and said: "We have a visa for Japan, did he then describe the route you would be taking?"

A: There was no route, you got on the train and travelled east.

Q: No, there was a point. In other words, the visa was issued and those transit passes were given to Japan so that Jews could get to the island of Curacao that was under Dutch rule, which, to me, sounds even worse than Japan.

A: We were given a visa to Japan. There was no other visa.

Q: Right, because you did not need a visa to enter Curacao and the whole point was to finally get to the island.

A: I think that their aim was somehow to get to Palestine or the U.S.A., but first of all, you had to get out.

Q: I would imagine that there were problems getting the visa because those who were active in getting visas were the Mizrahi movement and religious groups and not people like my father.

A: I don't know but I can tell you my father's story as I heard it from Tsanin. Tsanin was a member of the Bund, but, for personal reasons, he very much wanted to go to Palestine. He was friendly with my father, who said: "Do you know what? I am going to talk to the association of journalists about you; perhaps when the certificates arrive, there will also be one for you." They went and father began to praise Tsanin. However, Tsanin noticed that there was something amiss and after he left, they said to father: Moses, what are you talking about? He is a loyal Bundist, why did you bring him?  Why should he get a certificate?  Tsanin understood that this was not going to work. They were staying together at the same hotel, maybe even sharing a room. According to Tsanin, he turned to father and said: "Mendel, why are you so worried?" father answered: "I have a wife and two children. I have to get out of here." Tsanin also wanted to leave very much; he wanted to get to Palestine for personal reasons. He was so desperate that that same evening he went to the Japanese Consulate after closing time.

Q: What do you mean he went? Weren't there long lines of people waiting?

A: I can only tell you what he told me. I don't know if it was before or after but it could not have been after because there was no after. Perhaps it was before there was a massive onslaught of requests. By the time he got there the gate was closed but Mordechai Tsanin was very charismatic and the guard was Polish. He spoke to him in Polish, charmed him in Polish and the guard let him in. He went into the house, spoke to Sugihara and burst into tears. That was what he told me. I wasn't there. Sugihara asked him: "What happened to you?" Tsanin answered: "I must get out of here, my life is in danger, I really must get out." Sugihara responded: "Fine, wait outside. At that moment he saw father walking in the street. He said: "It was a basement and I saw his legs. He said to father: "Mendel, Mendel, give me your passport." My father handed him the passport through the window and he stamped the visa in my father's passport too. That was how we got the visa to Japan. It was sheer chance who survived, who was saved and who managed to flee. It was maybe 5% brainpower and 95% luck. It was sheer chance. So we had a visa to Japan but we still had to get an exit permit from the U.S.S.R.

From: Center for Educational Technology