Kronhill Pletka Foundation | Preservation of Yiddish Language, Secular Jewish Culture, Education and the Arts Preservation of Yiddish LanguageSecular Jewish CultureEducation and the Arts 125 West 69th StreetNew York NY 10023 The Kronhill Pletka Foundation was created in 2007 by Irene Kronhill Pletka to honor the memories of her parents Lilka Julia and Kuba Jacob Kronhill In September 1939 Kuba and Lilka Kronzylberg fled Poland for Lithuania. In 1941 they were granted transit visas to Japan by Chiune Sugihara the Japanese consul in Kovno Kaunas. Against the wishes of his government this heroic man saved thousands of desperate Jews. They traveled across the Soviet Union via the TransSiberian railroad and a ship to Kobe in Japan where they stayed for several months trying as all refugees did to get visas to any country that would accept them.