"Laissez-passer" – Jewish-Polish Refugee – Kovno, 1940 – Ink-Stamps from Border Controls in Odessa, Istanbul ...

"Laissez-passer" – Jewish-Polish Refugee – Kovno, 1940 – Ink-Stamps from Border Controls in Odessa, Istanbul, Lebanon and Palestine
Leidimas / Sauf-Conduit, Laissez-passer issued in Lithuania for a Jewish Polish refugee. Kovno, 1940.
When World War II broke out, thousands of Polish Jews fled to East European countries, among them Lithuania. Those Jews were considered by the authorities as "Stateless" and therefore Laissez-passer documents were issued for them, instead of passports. In Lithuania, annexed to the Soviet Union in 1940, the Soviet authorities continued to use the Lithuanian forms, with ink-stamped authorizations by N.K.V.D.
This certificate (four printed pages, filled-in by hand and ink-stamped, was issued on 3.9.1940 for a Jew named Mošek-Šmul Cygler-Borenštein (Moshe-Shmuel Cygler-Borenstein). On the first page appear his personal details and his photograph, and in the following pages appear some 15 ink-stamps documenting his voyage to Palestine: Exit Visa from Lithuania through Odessa to Palestine, 3.9.1940, with an authorization ink-stamp by N.K.V.D; entrance ink-stamp to Istanbul dated 27.2.1941; exit ink-stamp from Lebanon in Rosh HaNikra border control, dated 2.3.1941; entry inkstamp to Mandatory Palestine, dated 2.3.1941; and other ink stamps.
Sheet: 40.5X31 cm (spread). Good condition. Stains, creases and folding marks. Small tears at margins and along folding marks, some restored with adhesive tape. The sheet is attached to the original booklet cover with adhesive tape; cover is scratched and slightly damaged, with restored damages at corners.