Welcome to History Shadows — a podcast that uncovers forgotten stories from the twilight zones of the past.
Picture Europe in the late 1930s: a continent on the brink, borders trembling, and an uneasy silence before the storm.
In this gripping four-episode series, hosted by historian and author Dr. Simonas Strelcovas, we explore one of the remarkable and lesser-known rescues: the life-saving visas issued by two diplomats in Lithuania during the chaotic window from September 1939 to summer 1940.
Tiny, neutral Lithuania unexpectedly became a vital transit zone for thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi and Soviet occupation. Trapped between giants — Nazi Germany to the west and the Soviet Union to the east — Lithuania's fragile independence was doomed by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
Yet in this narrow crack in history, Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara and Dutch honorary consul Jan Zwartendijk defied orders, issuing thousands of visas that offered a desperate path to freedom across the Soviet Union and beyond.
This isn't the story of two men. It's about a country at history's crossroads, refugees navigating bureaucracy and danger, spies, shadow deals, and acts of extraordinary courage as the Red Army's shadow loomed.
Drawing on archives and vivid storytelling, History Shadows brings to light the people and moments hidden in the past — where conscience collided with catastrophe.
If you love deeply researched history told like a thriller, subscribe now.

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