Holocaust Survivors' Network


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Roll Call: "The Righteous Among Nations" Diplomats
(Part I)

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I.
II.

<> Per Anger, Sweden
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Lars Berg, Sweden
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Friedrich Born, Switzerland
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Angel Sanz-Briz, Spain
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Carl Ivan Danielson, Sweden
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Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, Germany
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Waldemar Langlet, Sweden
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Charles "Carl" Lutz, Switzerland
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Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Portugal

<> Giorgio Perlasca, Italy
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Ernst Prodolliet, Switzerland
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Aracy de Carvalho-Guimaraes Rosa, Brazil
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Monsignor Angelo Rotta, Italy
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Jose Santaella, Spain
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Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara, Japan
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elahattin Ülkümen, Turkey
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Raoul Wallenberg, Sweden
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Jan Zwartendijk, The Netherlands
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P a r t   I
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Per Anger, Sweden: Secretary of the Swedish Legation in Budapest, Hungary, 1944-45

Per Anger kept the Swedish Embassy open in Hungary and worked closely with Raoul Wallenberg. He personally intervened on behalf of Jews who were being deported to the Nazi death camps. On other occasions, Anger rescued Jews from Nazi death marches leaving Budapest. Consul Anger is credited with saving thousands of Jews from the spring of 1944 until the end of the war in May 1945. Anger died in Stockholm, Sweden, on August 26, 2002.
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Lars Berg, Sweden: Swedish Consul in Budapest, Hungary, 1944-45

Lars Berg was part of the diplomatic mission to Budapest, Hungary. Along with his other diplomatic colleagues, he was responsible for saving Jews from Nazi and Arrow Cross deportations and murder. He has been honored by Yad Vashem for his actions.
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Friedrich Born, Switzerland: Chief Delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross of Switzerland in Budapest, Hungary, 1944-45

Friedrich Born came to Budapest, Hungary, in May 1944. During the period from May 1944 to January 1945, Born issued thousands of Red Cross letters of protection to Jews of Budapest. He is credited with retrieving thousands of Jews from deportation camps and death marches in and around Budapest. He provided an additional 4,000 Jews with employment papers, preventing their deportation. He put over 60 Jewish institutions under Red Cross protection and housed over 7,000 Jewish children and orphans. He worked closely with the other neutral diplomatic legations, and set up dozens of Red Cross protected houses. He is credited with rescuing between 11,000 and 15,000 Jews in Budapest.
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Angel Sanz-Briz, Spain: Spanish Minister (Ambassador) in Budapest, Hungary, 1944

In the summer of 1944, Don Angel Sanz-Briz, Spanish Ambassador in Budapest, appealed to Madrid for permission to provide protective papers for Jewish Spanish citizens residing in Budapest. Eventually, Sanz-Briz issued between 500 and 700 Spanish protective passes. In addition, he authorized the establishment and protection of dozens of safe houses in Budapest. By the end of the war, many thousands of Jews were saved by receiving protection from the Spanish legation.
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Carl Ivan Danielson, Sweden: Swedish Minister (Ambassador) in Budapest, Hungary, 1944-45

Carl Ivan Danielsson, as head of the Swedish mission to Budapest, Hungary, was responsible for the rescue and protection of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews. For his actions, he was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal by Israel.
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Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, Germany: Trade Attaché to the German Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1943

Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz was a member of the Nazi Party and was sent as a Trade Attaché to the German Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark. When Duckwitz learned that the Nazi occupying government was planning to deport Danish Jews, he alerted the Danish government. In addition, he made a clandestine trip to the Prime Minster of Sweden to arrange for safe haven for the Jews. For these actions, he could have been killed. The Danish underground in turn implemented the rescue of more than 7,000 Danish Jews. As a result, 99% of Danish Jews were hidden and smuggled into neutral Sweden, where they survived the war. After the war, Duckwitz became the German Ambassador to Denmark.
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Valdemar (or Waldemar) Langlet, Sweden: Swedish Red Cross Delegate in Budapest, Hungary, 1944-45

On June 11, 1944, Carl Danielsson, Swedish Minister in Budapest, requested the Hungarian government allow the Swedish Red Cross to join the Hungarian Red Cross in feeding and housing thousands of orphaned Jewish children. Dr. Langlet launched a humanitarian campaign immediately, working with the Hungarian Red Cross. Langlet and his wife issued and distributed Swedish protective passes to Hungarian Jews, which prevented them from being deported or murdered by the Arrow Cross or Nazis.

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Charles "Carl" Lutz, Switzerland: Consul for Switzerland in Budapest, Hungary, 1944-45

Swiss Vice-Consul Carl Lutz was the first neutral diplomat in Budapest to rescue Jews. He is credited with inventing the Schutzbrief (protective letter) for Jewish refugees in Budapest. After March 19th., 1944, the Germans occupied Hungary and the new government of Done Sztojay closed the Hungarian borders to Jewish emigration. In tough negotiations with the Nazis and the Hungarian government Lutz got the permission to issue protective letters to 8,000 Hungarian Jews for emigration to Palestine. Using a ruse and interpreting the 8,000 "units" not as persons but as families, he and his staff issued tens of thousands of added "protective letters", totally about 62,000. Lutz established 76 Swiss safe houses throughout Budapest and liberated Jews from deportation centers and death marches. Already in 1942/43, in co-operation with the Jewish Agency for Palestine, he had helped 10,000 Jewish children and young people to emigrate to Palestine. He is credited with saving 62,000 Jews from the Nazi Holocaust.
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Aristides de Sousa Mendes: Portugal: Portuguese Consul General in Bordeaux, France, June 1940

Aristides De Sousa Mendes was the Consul General in Bordeaux, France. He issued more than 30,000 life-saving Portuguese visas. Ten thousand were for Jews and 20,000 were for other refugees. Mendes saved the entire royal Habsburg family, including the Empress Zita. In addition, he saved the entire Belgian cabinet in exile. Mendes personally conducted hundreds of Jewish refugees across a border checkpoint on the Spanish frontier. All of his life saving activities were done against the orders and policies of his government. He was fired by his government and lost all of his property. He died in poverty in Lisbon in 1954. In November of 1995, Portugal restored his career and awarded him a special medal for saving lives.
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end of Part I

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