Yerachmiel Wajngarten (1902 – 1982) was Janusz Korczak’s close friend that started his cooperation with Korczak when he arrived to Warszawa from his home town Sierpc (My grand-grand-grandparents lived in Sierpc as well). Wajngarten was accepted as bursa student at Dom Sierot and later he was the deputy editor of the gazette Mały Przegląd (The Little Review).
Wajngarten mentioned Janusz Korczak in the book written in Yiddish A velt in flamen, milkhome iberlebungen (The World in Flames. The War Experience) that was published in Montreal as early as in 1942 and printed with the financial help of a group of the author’s friends from New York who came from his native town Sierpc, Poland.
Wajngarten is also the author of the book Janusz Korczak, the Jewish Martyr. A Memoir of His Life and Time (in Yiddish and Hebrew.) Both books are difficult to find and the translation do not exist.
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| In the newspaper Alim Wajngarten interviewed Korczak about Zionism and Korczaks presence in the two World Zionist Congresses in 1899 and in 1913. |
Wajngarten was saved thanks to Japanese Consul General in Kovno, Chiune Sugihara.
Another person associated with Korczak that got this type of Sugiharas visa was Marta Heyman, dotter of Korczaks friend and co-worker Izaak Eliasberg (1860-1929). Marta Heymans sister was Helena Syrkus (1900-1982).
Dr. Izaak Eliasberg met young Korczak at the Berson-Bauman Hospital in Warsaw. Eliasberg was a chairman of the "Pomoc Dla Sierot" [Orphans Aid] Society, that supported Janusz Korczak's activities by providing funding.
Dr. Eliasberg served as the Society's chairman during the years 1913 - 1929. He passed away on June 1, 1929. It is probably due to the Eliasbergs merchant connections with his grandparents (Lurie and Eliasberg) home city - Pinsk that resulted in numerous bursa students (a.o Ryfka Boszes and thereafter my father, Misza Wasserman-Wroblewski were working and Dom Sierot.
The occupation and division of Poland by Germany on September 1st, 1939 was followed by the invasion from east by Soviet troops. Several millions of Polish citizens ended in two different zones. Among them Yerachmiel Wajngarten that ended on the Soviet occupied territories.
In order to leave the the Soviet territories, actually the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, the war refugees needed to obtain transit visas, thus, leaving Soviet for another country. As Soviet had a border with Japan such visas could be issued by the Japanese Consul General in Kovno Chiune Sugihara. Mr. Sugihara fully understood the situation of Jewish refugees and agreed to issue the visas on the condition that the people promised not to stay in Japan and had to prove their Polish citizenship. In the summer of 1940, when most of the foreign consulates already had been closed, the Dutch Honorary Consul Jan Zwartendijk, having the permission from his chief L. P. J. de Decker, agreed to issue the so-called “Curaçao visas”, which showed the Caribbean islands as the final destination of the war refugees.
Sugiharas visas were valid for little more than travel across Russia and a 14-day stay in Japan. The final destination of Curaçao in the Caribbean was put on paper because it did not require an entry visa, but no one ever really intended to reach the island. Having obtained the visas in Kovno, the refugees still needed to get permissions to leave the Soviet. After that they just needed to buy a Trans-Siberian Railway ticket and were fully set for the long journey to Vladivostok. From Vladivostok the refugees were usually arriving by ship to the Japanese port city of Tsuruga. Delegates of JEWCOM from Kobe gave the refugees a warm welcome and paid for their transport from Tsuruga to Kobe.
Dr. Eliasberg served as the Society's chairman during the years 1913 - 1929. He passed away on June 1, 1929. It is probably due to the Eliasbergs merchant connections with his grandparents (Lurie and Eliasberg) home city - Pinsk that resulted in numerous bursa students (a.o Ryfka Boszes and thereafter my father, Misza Wasserman-Wroblewski were working and Dom Sierot.
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| Yerachmiel Wajngarten and Marta Heyman born Eliasberg were saved thanks to Japanese Consul General in Kovno, Chiune Sugihara. Their names are listed among the 2200 others that got this type of visa. |
The occupation and division of Poland by Germany on September 1st, 1939 was followed by the invasion from east by Soviet troops. Several millions of Polish citizens ended in two different zones. Among them Yerachmiel Wajngarten that ended on the Soviet occupied territories.
In order to leave the the Soviet territories, actually the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, the war refugees needed to obtain transit visas, thus, leaving Soviet for another country. As Soviet had a border with Japan such visas could be issued by the Japanese Consul General in Kovno Chiune Sugihara. Mr. Sugihara fully understood the situation of Jewish refugees and agreed to issue the visas on the condition that the people promised not to stay in Japan and had to prove their Polish citizenship. In the summer of 1940, when most of the foreign consulates already had been closed, the Dutch Honorary Consul Jan Zwartendijk, having the permission from his chief L. P. J. de Decker, agreed to issue the so-called “Curaçao visas”, which showed the Caribbean islands as the final destination of the war refugees.
Sugiharas visas were valid for little more than travel across Russia and a 14-day stay in Japan. The final destination of Curaçao in the Caribbean was put on paper because it did not require an entry visa, but no one ever really intended to reach the island. Having obtained the visas in Kovno, the refugees still needed to get permissions to leave the Soviet. After that they just needed to buy a Trans-Siberian Railway ticket and were fully set for the long journey to Vladivostok. From Vladivostok the refugees were usually arriving by ship to the Japanese port city of Tsuruga. Delegates of JEWCOM from Kobe gave the refugees a warm welcome and paid for their transport from Tsuruga to Kobe.
