Monday, December 27, 2010

The Budapest Gang, Part III

Switzerland


In 1942, Carl Lutz was the Vice Consul for the Swiss Consulate in Budapest, Hungary.   Coming from service as the Consul General in Jaffa, Palestine, Lutz worked immediately with the Jewish Agency for Palestine to help 10,000 Jewish children to emigrate.  When the Nazis arrived in Budapest in 1944, he got permission to issue 8,000 protective letters to help Hungarian Jews emigrate to Palestine as well.

Just like Sanz-Briz from Spain, Lutz extended the protective letters to entire families, then multiplied the 8000 permits indefinitely by simply numbering all of them between 1 and 8000.  Just like the rest of the Budapest gang, he set up 76 safe houses around Budapest bearing the Swiss flag to hide Jewish refugees.  He is credited with saving 62,000 Jewish lives.

Friedrich Born was sent to Budapest in May 1944 to represent Switzerland with the International Committee of the Red Cross.   He recruited as many as 4000 Jews to work in Red Cross offices, granting a protected status, as well as issued protective passes for 15,000 Jews.  He is believed to have saved 11,000 to 15,000 lives in his 7 months in Budapest.

Vatican

Monsignor Angelo Rotta was already 72 years old when he was sent as the Papal Nuncio (Ambassador) to Budapest in 1944.  In addition to protesting the deportation and persecution of the Jews vigorously, he issued around 15,000 protection letters and baptismal certificates.  Like Wallenberg, he sometimes distributed these in plain view of the SS

Summary

These diplomats found strength alone and in numbers, using what tools they have at their disposal to do something instead of nothing.  They took extreme risks and defied authorities to save human lives.
"I could not have acted otherwise, therefore I accept all that has befallen me with love."  -- Aristides de Sousa Mendes

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