Carl Lutz was posted to Budapest as vice-consul at the Swiss embassy in 1942. In March 1944 German troops invaded Hungary. With Hungarian support, over 400,000 Jews were then deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp within the space of several weeks.
The Swiss diplomat Lutz also represented Britain’s interests in Hungary, and compiled emigration lists for British-mandated Palestine. He received immigration certificates for 7,800 Jews, but it was impossible for them to leave Hungary. So as to protect them from deportation nonetheless, he issued them with letters of protection from the Swiss authorities, without permission. By reusing the numbers on the certificates several times, he issued several thousand additional letters. Others were forged by Zionist resistance groups. Carl Lutz also placed 76 buildings inside the Budapest ghetto under diplomatic protection. More than 30,000 Jews were housed in these buildings. Aside from that, Lutz harbored up to 3,000 people seeking protection on the premises of the Swiss embassy.
Up to 62,000 Jews owed their lives to Carl Lutz. He was honored as Righteous Among the Nations in 1964.
Carl Lutz in front of the temporary site of the Swiss Embassy, Bicske near Budapest, 1944. Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C., courtesy of Eric Saul 45638
Jews queuing outside the “glasshouse,” the Swiss embassy building on Vadász Street, to get a letter of protection, Budapest, 1944. Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C., courtesy of Agnes Lutz Hirschi, 82746
Letter of Protection for Maria Magdalena Grausz, signed by Carl Lutz, Budapest, July 1, 1944. Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C., courtesy of Eric Saul 45647
Carl Lutz in the ruins of the former British embassy, Budapest, 1945. Source: Fortepan, Budapest, courtesy of Archiv für Zeitgeschichte ETH Zürich / Agnes Hirschi, 105770
