Josef Altminc

Josef Altminc received transit visa no. 157 at the Japanese consulate in Kaunas on 29 July 1940. The register records manufacturer, aged 42.

What the register records

Nationality as recorded

Polnisch

Age in 1940

42

Occupation

Manufacturer

Family, per the Kitade-Bluman list

husband of #158, father of #156

The journey

Reached Japan; reached Shanghai.

Where this comes from

• List of Refugees, Vilna, 1940 — JDC Archives, New York, collection AR 33/44, file 00876. The contemporary register of Polish Jewish refugees in Lithuania, running to more than nine thousand numbered entries; the fullest independent check…
  The 1940 Vilna refugee list has, at entry 64, Josef Altminc, born 1898 at Warszawa, who came from Warszawa; the year agrees with the register's compiled age.
• The Kobe relatives list — refugees at Kobe in 1941 recorded with their relatives abroad. Seventy-six pages in numbered sheets (LIST No. 7, No. 16 and others), each line giving a name, age, birthplace, occupation and citizenship, and then…
  Entry 7 of the Kobe community's list of refugees and their relatives abroad: aged 33, born at Warsaw, a manufacturer; relatives abroad: a cousin, Kohan, 1068 Lincoln Place, Brooklyn, New York; a cousin, Heshel Farbstein, Jerusalem.
• The Shanghai Ledger — register of Polish citizens kept by the Consulate of Poland in Shanghai, 1934-1943 (original at the Archives of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ref. 43/2003; digitised by the Library of Congress; indexed as…
  Registered with the Polish Consulate in Shanghai (ledger entry 1340); the names closely match this register line — approved by the owner's review, 19 Aug 2026 — the ledger reads: Altminc Jozef, INDUSTRIALIST, born 8 February 1892 Warsaw, married — wife LAJA DWOJRA born 6 July 1903 Warsaw (the register's No.158) and daughter EWA born 30 March 1927 Warsaw (No.156); 925/1/5 Avenue Joffre; registered 13 December 1941 on a passport issued by the Shanghai consulate itself (A-42, 7 December 1941).
• World Jewish Congress, London: 'List of refugees in Shanghai', received in London 11 June 1946, 10 sheets, no list of nationalities — sheet 3, headed 'List of Jewish refugees registered with HIAS Shanghai, China, address c/o HIAS, Shangh…
  Sheet 3 of the World Jewish Congress's copy of the HIAS Shanghai list (received in London 11 June 1946; Arolsen Archives 3.1.1.3, DocID 78796289, read online 18 September 2026) lists the family together: 'Altminc Jos., 1898, Warschau; Laja Dw., 1903, Warschau; Eva, 1927, Warschau.' The wife's and daughter's years are exactly those of the Polish Consulate's Shanghai ledger (Laja Dwojra 6 July 1903, Ewa 30 March 1927, both Warsaw), which puts the three on the HIAS list as the family of this page. His own year is given as 1898 here, 1892 in the consulate ledger and 1898 on the Vilna list of 1940 — the sources disagree about him, not about who he is.
• La-karov ve-la-rachok, 21 March 1946 — the Far Eastern Palestine Committee's list of Jewish refugees in Shanghai (National Library of Israel, Historical Jewish Press)
  The Far Eastern Palestine Committee's list of Jewish refugees in Shanghai, printed by the Jewish Agency Search Bureau's bulletin La-karov ve-la-rachok on 21 March 1946, lists Josef Altminc: born 1898 at Warschau, a merchant, arrived in 1941 from Kaunas; the year and the town agree with the 1940 Vilna refugee list, the Kobe community's list of refugees and their relatives (National Library of Israel, Historical Jewish Press).
• Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem — the card file of Jewish refugees from Poland who found refuge in various countries, 1939–1941
  Yad Vashem's card file of Jewish refugees from Poland who found refuge in various countries, 1939–1941, has a card for Josef Altminc, born in 1898, of Warsaw, who was in Wilno during the war; the year and the city agree with this register line. Credit: Yad Vashem Archives.

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