Did the Roshei Yeshiva Err?
In his interviews and to some extent in his book, Zuroff criticized some of the major Lithuanian roshei yeshiva for not having taken greater advantage of the “end” visas to Dutch-held Curacao issued by the honorary Dutch consul in Kovno, which played a crucial role in the flight of the Mirrer Yeshiva to Shanghai. (The potential of the “end” visas was discovered by Nathan Gutwirth, a Telshe Yeshiva student from Holland.) But the Curacao “end” visas were only of use in conjunction with Japanese transit visas issued by the temporary Japanese consul in Kovno against explicit orders. As Zuroff notes in his book, it did not take long for the Japanese to discover that the Curacao “end” visas were invalid, and to stop honoring them. In the end, only 2,000 of the 3,500 Curacao “end” visas issued were ever utilized. Thus, there is no reason to believe that this route could have been exploited further. Nor is the hesitancy of the roshei yeshiva hard to fathom, even with the benefit of 20/20 hinds
