The rescue of the Mir Yeshiva

In oral testimonies deposited at Yad Vashem, Rabbi Hayyim Szmulewicz, who succeeded Rabbi Finkel as the Rosh Yeshiva (Head) of Mir, and his wife Miriam, described the rescue of the Mir Yeshiva:
“When Lithuania was annexed to the Soviet Union, (they) were ordered to leave Kaidan, a district capital, and were split into four groups [..] They took steps to obtain exit permits from the Soviet Union for the Mir Yeshiva community. Several functionaries were in contact with Dr. Zorach Warhaftig, who headed the Palestine Office when Vilna belonged to independent Lithuania and who dealt with exit plans even after the Soviet annexation. Because of the illegal nature of the activities, only three members of the yeshiva were involved in all the arrangements [contacts with the Dutch consul, visa arrangements and other formalities]. [..] Before obtaining a Soviet exit permit, all had to appear in person before the Soviet secret police, whose screening seemed to be a mere formality [..] The applications for exit permits were approved by the NKVD offices in Vilna and Kaunas (Kovno). Despite the relatively liberal attitude, several dozen yeshiva students were nevertheless detained and failed to gain exit permits. These included former Polish citizens who had opted for Lithuanian citizenship. No survivors have been found among those Mir yeshiva students who failed to leave at that time. The Germans and their henchmen no doubt murdered them."