BNS reports on plans to commemorate Holocaust-era Dutch consul in Kaunas Jan Zwartendijk, who issued end-visas to complement the “visas for life” transit visas Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara issued to Jews, saving thousands of lives.

Speaking to BNS, Dutch ambassador to Lithuania Bert van der Lingen said Sugihara was well known in Lithuania, while Zwartendijk was not.

In truth, both men worked together to save Jews trying to flee the Nazis in Soviet Lithuania. Sugihara issued visas for transiting Japan, thus allowing many to cross the USSR, but without a final destination visa, many weren’t allowed to even begin their journeys. Zwartendijk issued end-point visas for Curaçao, a Dutch territory in the Caribbean, but one which required no entry visa in any event. While there is no evidence Zwartendijk met with Sugihara–although van der Lingen says they did speak by telephone–both diplomats were aware of one another and knew exactly what they were doing.

The Dutch ambassador said the monument to Zwartendijk, still at the planning stage, probably won’t be a personal statue commemorating his character alone. “It [will be] a monument which is connected with the Holocaust, but it should be positive, it should be a monument to hope,” van der Lingen told BNS, adding they are considering how to use light in the monument as a symbol of hope.

The monument is estimated to cost a total of 150,000 euros, with a third coming from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a third from the Philips company and a third from supporters in Lithuania yet to be found. Zwartendijk was the local Philips representative in Kaunas when he was appointed consul by the Dutch ambassador resident in Riga in 1940. While Philips, a Dutch company, is known to many as a consumer electronics producer, it began life as a lightbulb factory. In the 1930s Philips was heavily engaged in producing consumer radio sets.

The exact location for the monument hasn’t been determined yet, according to BNS, and Dutch artists able to design the project are being sought, BNS reports.