Daniel Zultek received transit visa no. 623 at the Japanese consulate in Kaunas on 1 August 1940. The register records sailor, aged 30.
What the register records
Nationality as recorded
Polnisch
Age in 1940
30
Occupation
Sailor
The journey
Reached Japan; aided by the Polish ambassador Tadeusz Romer; registered in Kobe for Canada.
What is known
Daniel Zultek (b. Sept 1910, single) fled with a Polish nationality certificate in place of a passport. Sugihara handwrote his Japan transit visa on its reverse above a Curaçao destination line. He reached Japan without cash or an onward ship reservation and was specially admitted at Tsuruga (Fukui-ken entry permit, 5 Mar 1941) under the guarantee of the Kobe Jewish Community, later settling in Ontario, Canada. Documents preserved by Eileen Henry.
This page shows the back of Daniel Zultek's nationality certificate, on which his Japanese transit visa (handwritten by Sugihara) was affixed along with a Curacao visa stamp. The caption notes that the Curacao visa was issued on top of the Japanese transit visa, illustrating how holders combined the two documents to facilitate their journey.
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… #374, 31, Warsaw, Reeder, Polish; cousins Baumzweiger Ignacy Calle Pedro A.Diaz 3 Panam, Shalom Ash Stamford Conn. S.ky Meadow Drive
hunt/familysearch: US arrival manifest: Daniel Zultek, Seattle, 1941 "Seattle Passenger Lists", FamilySearch, entry for Daniel Zultek, 1941. Ship: Hikawa Maru. Matched from the Hikawa Maru's Polish-born passenger list (162 people, 35 matched). Register No.623 'Daniel Zultek' records age 30; the manifest gives born 1911, arriving 1941.
Certificate of Polish citizenship No. Z-53, issued to Daniel Zultek by the Legation of the Polish Republic at Kaunas on 18 November 1939, reproduced as a plate in a Japanese-language account of the Kaunas visas. The certificate records h… The certificate names Daniel Zultek, gives his birth as 1 September 1910 - the register's age of 30 in 1940 - and gives his calling as a sailor, which is the occupation the register records and an uncommon one on this list. The entry permit beside it places him landing in Japan in March 1941, admitted on the guarantee of the Kobe Jewish community.
Daniel Zultek certificate — front: Polish Legation Kaunas Zaświadczenie, b. 1 IX 1910 Warszawa, single, żeglarz (sailor), issued 18 Nov 1939 under British Chargé d'Affaires; NKVD registration to 18 Feb 1941; Fukui permit stamps (Facebook… The front of the certificate, No. Z-53 of the Polish Legation at Kaunas, dated 18 November 1939. It names Daniel Zultek, gives his birth as 1 September 1910 at Warsaw - the register's age of 30 in 1940 - that he was unmarried, and his calling as a sailor, the occupation the register records. A registration stamp of the Soviet foreign-visa office, dated 17 February 1941, is entered at the foot.
Daniel Zultek certificate — reverse with full visa mosaic: Lithuanian exit (Nov 1939), French VISA D'ENTRÉE No.3913 (to 29 Dec 1939), Swedish 14.12.39, Dutch transit No.1202 (18.12.39), Belgian transit (16.12.39), Norwegian & British Kov… The reverse carries his whole route in stamps: a Lithuanian exit visa of November 1939, French, Swedish, Netherlands, Belgian, Norwegian and British consular visas of December 1939, then the declaration of the Netherlands Consulate at Kaunas that no entry visa is required for Surinam and Curacao, and finally the Japanese transit visa dated 1940 VIII. 1. That date is the issue date the register records for this entry, and it agrees exactly. The Belgian transit visa names the beneficiary as Zultek (Daniel), of Polish nationality.
太平洋を渡った杉原ビザ p.126 — Daniel Zultek Polish nationality certificate, Polish Legation Kaunas; Fukui-ken entry permit 5 Mar 1941; Kobe Jewish Community guarantee note (courtesy Eileen Henry)
太平洋を渡った杉原ビザ p.127 — Zultek certificate reverse: French VISA D'ENTREE No. 3913, Sugihara handwritten Japan transit visa with Curaçao line (courtesy Eileen Henry)
太平洋を渡った杉原ビザ — close-up of Sugihara's handwritten Japan transit visa ("to Suranam, Curaçao and other Netherlands colonies", 1940 VIII, Consulat du Japon à Kaunas)