During World War II, Japan was regarded by some as a safe refuge from the Holocaust, despite being a part of the Axis and an ally of Germany. Jews trying to escape German-occupied Poland could not pass the blockades near the Soviet Union and the Mediterranean Sea and were forced to go through the neutral country of Lithuania (which was occupied by belligerents in June 1940, starting with the Soviet Union, then Germany and then the Soviet Union again). Of those who arrived, many (around 5,000) were sent to the Dutch West Indies with so-called Curaçao visas issued by the Dutch consul Jan Zwartendijk , and Japanese visas issued by Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul to Lithuania. Zwartendijk went against Dutch consular guidelines, and Sugihara ignored his orders and gave thousands of Jews entry visas to Japan, risking his career. Together, both consuls saved more than 6,000 lives.