Description:

Raoul Wallenberg
Budapest, Hungary, September 22, 1944
Raoul Wallenberg Saves Hungarian Jew by Issuing a "Swedish Passport"
TDS
Very rare document signed by Swedish Diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, related to the issuance of a protective "Schutz-Pass" to Izso Kampf that exempts him from wearing the yellow star, in Hungarian (translated), one page, measuring 8.25" x 5.75", in typescript and bearing a rare full signature at bottom right in bright blue ink. A stamp of the Royal Swedish Legation also appears at bottom, not intruding on signature. Dated Budapest, Sept. 22, 1944, While most Wallenberg documents display his initialed signature, this example with full signature is especially desirable. Very light folds and a slight rusted paper clip impression at top right, otherwise fine condition.

it reads, in full: "To the National Central Authority Supervising Foreigners, we are pleased to inform you that the Royal Swedish Legation in Budapest has issued a protective passport to Mr. Kampf according to which the above-named person be exempt from wearing the distinguishing symbol. The Legation kindly requests that the reciprocity mentioned in the relevant regulation exists in Sweden."

An exceptional document signed by one of the 20th-century's greatest humanitarians.

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg engaged in extraordinary efforts to save Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust with his historic mission, commencing July 1944 and when the Swedish Foreign Ministry, at the request of Jewish organizations, sent him on a rescue mission to Budapest as an attaché to the Swedish Embassy.

Jews in Hungary had been subjected to discrimination and anti-Semitic laws since 1939 but because of Hungary's alliance with Germany, Hungarian Jews had, until that point, been insulated from the horror experienced by Jews in other parts of Europe. At the time of this document, and six months following Hitler's official break with Hungarian leader Miklos Horthy and the German occupation of Hungary, over 476,000 Hungarian Jews had already been deported to extermination camps, and deportation had been ordered for Budapest Jewry in toto. Before Wallenberg's arrival in July 1944, the Swedish embassy in Budapest was already issuing travel documents to Hungarian Jews which functioned as a Swedish passport ("Schutz-Pass" or protective passes) and thus granting immunity from deportation. The papers had no real authority in law, but the Swedes managed to persuade the Hungarian authorities that people holding them were under their protection as a neutral nation. Wallenberg – well-acquainted for the Nazi love of iconography and symbolism – embellished these passports with the yellow-and-blue Swedish flag and added an official-looking stamp of Swedish Crown, borne by our document as well. Working from a special department in the Swedish Legation and was assisted by more than 300 volunteers to create thousands of these life-saving documents.

So devoted was Wallenberg to his work that even as Soviet tanks rolled towards the Budapest, he chose to remain there "…in order to protect ‘his Jews' in any eventuality which might arise…." (Encyclopedia Judaica). He was last seen on January 17, 1945, in the company of Soviet officials as the Red Army invaded Budapest. It has been suggested that he was detained on accusations of espionage and imprisoned in the notorious Lubyanka Prison in Moscow, his last whereabouts noted as of July 17, 1947. Sources claim that Wallenberg may have lived on for years, but no doubt he paid dearly with his life for providing the escape from almost certain death for between15,000-20,000 Jews.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8.25" x 5.75"
  • Medium: TDS

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