Dangerous Journey - The WW2 Trans-Siberian Express

                                  

by Deborah Swift

    

The Trans-Siberian Railway, stretching over 9,000 kilometres from Moscow to Vladivostok, is the longest railway line in the world and during the second world war the Trans-Siberian Express became an unlikely lifeline to thousands of refugees fleeing the ravages of war.

Completed in stages from the late 19th century and officially finished in 1916, the Trans-Siberian Railway was designed to be a symbol of Russian imperial ambition. By the 1930s, under Stalin’s regime, the railway was tightly controlled by the Soviet government, serving both civilian and military purposes for the Soviet regime.

After Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the Trans-Siberian route took on an entirely new strategic importance—not only as a supply corridor for the Eastern Front but also as a humanitarian exit route.

As the Nazis swept through Europe, millions of Jewish civilians, through lack of anywhere else to go, ended up in Lithuania, which was then taken over by Soviet forces. For Jewish refugees, it was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire – under Stalin, political repression, deportations, and forced labour were commonplace, especially for intellectuals. Yet for many refugees, particularly Jews escaping the Holocaust, the USSR represented a narrow but unexpected path to survival.

                                                

The ‘Sugihara Survivors’

Some Jewish refugees who managed to flee to the Soviet Union were able to reach Japan or Shanghai, China, by traveling east. Many of these refugees were Polish or Lithuanian Jews who obtained transit visas through the efforts of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who held the consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Sugihara defied his government’s orders and issued thousands of transit visas to Jewish refugees. With these documents, refugees could travel across the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Express. In Vladivostock they could then board a ship to Kobe, Japan, and later to Shanghai. This escape route saved thousands of lives.

                                       

Chiune Sugihara’s Visa from the Holocaust Museum

Life on the train

Wartime travel on the Trans-Siberian Express was far from the romanticized version sold in modern travel brochures. Refugees endured extreme cold, food shortages, overcrowded compartments, and frequent stops for inspections and detentions. Nevertheless, compared to the alternative—death camps, gulags, or starvation—these hardships were endurable.

The Soviet government’s motive in allowing these transports was not purely humanitarian. In many cases, the USSR was removing anti-communists and also making them pay handsomely for the privilege. Many refugees were stopped and their valuables confiscated by the Russians.

Memorials and testimonies from survivors continue to shed light on these lesser-known refugee journeys. Documentaries, such as The Trans-Siberian Railroad: A Path to Survival, and the memoirs of survivors brought home to me the profound impact the Trans-Siberian railway had on people fleeing for their lives.

 

Read more about it:

1. Marvin Tokayer and Mary Swartz The Fugu Plan: The Untold Story of the Japanese and the Jews During World War II.
2. "Sugihara Survivors: Jewish Refugees Who Escaped via Japan." Yad Vashem. https://www.yadvashem.org
3. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Polish Refugees and the Soviet Union.” https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org
4. PBS Documentary: Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness, 2000.

LAST TRAIN TO FREEDOM tells the story of some of the Sugihara Survivors.