Ka kammala wannan jumlar: A lokacin da Yaƙin Duniya na Biyu ya fara, akwai Yahudawa 30,000 da ke zaune a Kaunas, wanda ya ƙunshi kusan kashi 25% na yawan mutanen birnin. Lokacin da Tarayyar Soviet ta karɓi Lithuania a cikin 1940, wasu Yahudawa 'yan ƙasar Holland da ke zaune a Lithuania sun kusanci jakadan Holland Jan Zwartendijk don samun biza zuwa Dutch West Indies. Zwartendijk ya yarda ya taimaka musu kuma yahudawan da suka tsere daga Poland da Jamus ta mamaye sun nemi taimakonsa. A cikin 'yan kwanaki, tare da taimakon mataimaka, Zwartendijk ya samar da biza sama da 2,200 ga yahudawa zuwa Curaçao. Daga nan 'yan gudun hijirar suka kusanci Chiune Sugihara, wani jakadan Japan, wanda ya ba su takardar izinin wucewa ta hanyar USSR zuwa Japan, duk da rashin amincewar gwamnatinsa. Wannan ya ba 'yan gudun hijira da yawa damar barin Lithuania zuwa Gabas ta Tsakiya ta hanyar hanyar Trans-Siberian. Yahudawan da suka tsere sun kasance 'yan gudun hijira ne daga Yammacin Poland da Jamus ta mamaye.
Soviet-mallakar Gabashin Poland, da kuma mazaunan Kaunas da sauran Lithuania yankuna. Gidan Sugihara, inda ya kasance yana bayar da biza na wucewa, a halin yanzu gidan kayan gargajiya ne da Cibiyar Nazarin Asiya na Jami'ar Vytautas Magnus.