Jan Zwartendijk, Acting Dutch Consul in Kovno, Lithuania, 1940

Zwartendijk was the honorary Dutch Consul in Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania.  He was the representative of the Phillips electronics company in Lithuania.  He is credited with devising and pioneering the use of the "Curacao visa" in early July 1940.  Zwartendijk issued end visas to the destinations of Curacao and Surinam, Dutch island possessions in the Caribbean.  Zwartendijk worked in conjunction with Japanese consul in Lithuania Chiune Sugihara.  Sugihara provided a transit visa through Japan.

Zwartendijk is credited with saving at least 2,139 lives.  Jewish survivors nicknamed him "the Angel of Curacao." 

Jan Zwartendijk died in his native Holland in 1975.  In 1997, he was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations honor by Yad Vashem.