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| Title |
[Raoul Wallenberg] |
| Number |
55157 |
| Size |
8" x 5.5" |
| Date |
October 22, 1944 |
| Place |
Budapest, Hungary |
| Category |
Judaica |
| Price |
$4,500.00 |
Rare Raoul Wallenberg’s Schutz-Pass Certification issued by the Swedish Embassy in Budapest in 1944 to a Hungarian husband and wife and their two children – four of the approximately 20,000 Jews saved by the Schutz-Pass.
Typed Document Signed by the Secretary of the Royal Swedish Legation, one page, 8” x 5.5”. Budapest, October 22, 1944. In German and Hungarian. On stationery imprinted, in German, “Royal Swedish Legation.” Completed in manuscript. In full, “The Royal Swedish Embassy certifies that the Protective-Pass in the possession of Vilmos Kreutz and his wife nee Jolan Landsman, children Gyorgy and Eva represents a valid passport.” Rubber stamped with the official seal of the Swedish legation. Slight fraying at edges, originally split at the mid-vertical fold and repaired on verso with tape.
In March 1944, Hitler ordered German troops to occupy Hungary. In July, the Swedish Foreign Ministry, at the request of Jewish organizations, sent diplomat Raoul Wallenberg on a rescue mission to Budapest, Hungary, as an attaché to the Swedish Embassy. By this time, 476,000 Hungarian Jews had already been deported to extermination camps, Wallenberg’s chief operation was the distribution of a Swedish certificate of protection, a “Schutz-Pass.” Accompanying each Schutz-Pass was a certification document from the Royal Swedish Legation issued in Budapest.
On October 15, 1944, the legal Hungarian government of Admiral Horthy fell and a pro-Nazi government called the Arrow-Cross was installed. The Germans, who had previously not been so much in evidence, came pouring across the Hungarian border. On October 22, 1944, in a report on the situation of Hungarian Jews. Wallenberg wrote, in part, “Several Jewish houses were emptied by the Arrow Cross troops and the occupants taken away to detention centers … The new government intends to draft the Jewish population to work in the countryside and on the defense of Budapest, and then expel them after the end of the war.” This certification was issued on the day Wallenberg sent his report.
The certification here offered, for a family of four, was typed on the upper half of an actual sheet of watermarked legation stationery. On all other such certification which we have seen, most of which are in libraries and museums, the words “Royal Swedish Legation” in the upper left are typed. In this certification, it is imprinted.
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