Zwartendijk saved thousands of Jews but was reprimanded, Chamber wants award

United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumJan Zwartendijk (1896-1976)

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 14:55

The entire House of Representatives has made a special request to Prime Minister Rutte and King Willem-Alexander. In an open letter, all parliamentary parties, together with Jewish organizations, ask that diplomat Jan Zwartendijk (1896-1976) be posthumously honored with the highest royal honour.

The Dutchman saved many Jews in World War II by providing them with a Dutch visa in Lithuania. With that they went via the Soviet Union to Japan, from where they could travel to the Netherlands Antilles or Suriname, the only parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that were not occupied. Zwartendijk worked for Philips in Lithuania and was deputy consul there.

In that role he issued visas for thousands of Jews. For years Zwartendijk thought that because of his actions only one person had survived the Second World War, it made him depressed. But in the end it turned out to be thousands.

United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumJan Zwartendijk with his daughter and son in Kaunas, Lithuania

On the day of his funeral, his next of kin received a letter from which it appeared that not just one person, but more than 95 percent of the thousands of Jews that Zwartendijk helped had survived the war.

Reprimanded in the Netherlands

His exploits did not go completely unnoticed. In Israel Zwartendijk bears the title ‘Righteous among the nations’, in Lithuania there is a monument to the diplomat in the city of Kaunas and in 2020 a monument to the former director of Philips was unveiled in Eindhoven.

But there was absolutely no such hero worship in the Netherlands after the war. The diplomat was even reprimanded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the war for “wrongly” issuing visas. As consul, he had not acted according to the rules, it was believed.

AFPThe monument in Lithuania in honor of the Dutchman Jan Zwartendijk

“Blackendijk deserves recognition for this, a statue and a prominent place in our history books. Unfortunately, the Netherlands gave him none of that,” the open letter reads.

“He was a modest man and he himself did not care much for public recognition and royal awards, but it always stung him that he received a reprimand for this,” says initiator of the request and MP for D66 Sjoerd Sjoerdsma in NOS Radio 1 Journal.

Five years ago, Sjoerdsma was captivated by Zwartendijk’s story when he read the book The righteous by writer Jan Brokken, which chronicles the life of the diplomat.

Break rule

Now all factions in the House of Representatives and various Jewish organizations are calling for Zwartendijk to be posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. A special request, as royal honors are never awarded posthumously.

“He broke the rules to help thousands, so let’s honor him by breaking a rule here in the Netherlands,” said Sjoerdsma.

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