Icek Lederman

Icek Lederman received transit visa no. 263 at the Japanese consulate in Kaunas on 30 July 1940. The register records manufacturer, aged 45.

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What the register records

Nationality as recorded

Polnisch

Age in 1940

45

Occupation

Manufacturer

The journey

Reached Japan; reached Shanghai.

What is known

Jcek Majer Lederman, a Polish Jew from Warsaw, fled to Lithuania in 1939 and received Sugihara visa number 263 on July 30, 1940. He crossed Siberia via Moscow and Vladivostok, arriving in Kobe, Japan, in 1940. On August 13, 1941, he exchanged his travel document for Polish passport no. 396/729/22/VIII/41 at the Polish embassy in Tokyo, then was deported with the embassy staff to Shanghai. In September 1942 he was among civilians repatriated via Lourenco Marques (Mozambique) in a diplomatic exchange, and his passport was later extended in London in 1944.

Jcek was among those lucky individuals who received his visa on July 30th 1940, visa number 263. Polish passport number 396/729/22/VIII/41 was issued to Jcek Majer Lederman from Warsaw on August 13th 1941 at the Polish embassy in Tokyo Three times he managed to cheat death during the war: First when fleeing to Lithuania in 1939; a second time when obtaining the life-saving Sugihara visa on July 30th 1940 and a third time when he got on board the vessels that took him to safety, away from Shanghai, in 1942.

Where this comes from

• 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 1207) — the consulate's register of Polish citizens who reached the city, 1934-1943 — the ledger reads: Lederman Icek Majer, INDUSTRIALIST (przemyslowiec), born 1894 Krasniczyn, married; Tokyo-issued passport of 13 August 1941 (Ser. II 004170) on a British Legation Kaunas certificate of 23 July 1940 (L-96) and a Chelm identity card of 1934; valid to 12 August 1942.
• Tadeusz Romer papers, Library and Archives Canada, MG 31 D 68, vol. 2 (microfilm reel C-10451, frame 1088): 'Lista obywateli polskich ewakuowanych z Dalekiego Wschodu… — cited by link only (Canadiana Heritage); frame image not republished
  Named on the Polish Embassy's list of Polish citizens evacuated from the Far East on the exchange ship s/s Kamakura Maru, Shanghai, 16 August 1942 — one of the 41 'civilian refugees' for whom Ambassador Romer obtained places (evacuee no. 82, 'LEDERMAN Icek Majer'); the party sailed with Romer to Lourenco Marques and most went on to England
• Library and Archives Canada, Tadeusz Romer fonds, MG 31 D 68, reel C-10452, frame 626, via Canadiana Heritage — the same list, page 2, entries 11-22 (the Goldhammer family, Halpern, Hazenberg, Klibanski, Klok and wife, Kostelaniec, Kronz…
  On the Polish Embassy's list of 41 Polish refugees (Romer's Shanghai-period papers) (Romer fonds, reel C-10452, frame 626, entry 22): LEDERMAN Icek-Majer, born 1894; passport 390/729/22/VIII/41, Tokio 13.8.41, do 8.12.43 — Holds no visa. Applies for military service; failing that wishes to go to the Union of South Africa, where he has a wealthy family who looked after him during the war.
• 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 6633, Icek Majer Lederman, born in 1894 at Krosniczyn, who came from Warszawa.
• 1941 Important Tokyo issued passport - Our Passports
• Shanghai Ledger, page 151 (left): entries 1202-1209, registered 3-6 October 1941: Kulik Boruch (translator, b. 25 Apr 1909 Warsaw), Silvan Wincenty (journalist, b. 9 Jul 1896 Kalisz), Ryzak Izrael (book-keeper, b. 28 Nov 1910), Rapaport…
• Shanghai Ledger, page 151 (right): entries 1202-1209, registered 3-6 October 1941: Kulik Boruch (translator, b. 25 Apr 1909 Warsaw), Silvan Wincenty (journalist, b. 9 Jul 1896 Kalisz), Ryzak Izrael (book-keeper, b. 28 Nov 1910), Rapaport…
• Tadeusz Romer papers, Library and Archives Canada, MG 31 D 68, vol. 2 (microfilm reel C-10451, frame 1087): 'Lista obywateli polskich ewakuowanych z Dalekiego Wschodu… — cited by link only (Canadiana Heritage); frame image not republished
• Library and Archives Canada, Tadeusz Romer fonds, MG 31 D 68, reel C-10452, frame 626, via Canadiana Heritage — the same list, page 2, entries 11-22 (the Goldhammer family, Halpern, Hazenberg, Klibanski, Klok and wife, Kostelaniec, Kronz…

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