Zorach Warhaftig was an activist in the religious Mizrachi movement. Shortly after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, he and his family fled Warsaw for Lithuania. There, Warhaftig ran the Palestine committee for Jewish refugees from Poland. Many refugees were living in Lithuania at the time.
Wahrhaftig contacted the representative of the Dutch government-in-exile in Kaunas, Jan Zwartendijk. He asked him to issue entry permits for refugees to Dutch colonies in the Caribbean. Many hoped this would help them evade Soviet repressions. The documents did not allow the refugees to enter the destination countries directly, but they could take them to the Japanese consulate in Kaunas. Wahrhaftig convinced the Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara to issue them with the necessary Japanese transit visas.
Wahrhaftig also fled to Japan, where he continued to care for stranded Jews. He and his family stayed there until June 1941 and then relocated to Vancouver. In 1947 Wahrhaftig settled in Jerusalem, where he became a politician.