Carl Lutz (1895 – 1975)
A long ignored person in the history of the Holocaust is now a national hero
CARL LUTZ worked in Budapest, Hungary as the Swiss Vice-Consul from 1942 until the end of WWII. Being the first neutral diplomat in Budapest those times, he was the first one to issue protective letters (Schutzbrief), establishing protected houses and he is credited with saving the life of 62.000 Hungarian Jews. After the war his achievements were not acknowledged by Switzerland for a long time, because of being accused to having exceeded his competence. In 1964 he was awarded the title of “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem.
He was born on 30 March, 1895 in Walzenhausen. At the age of 18 he emigrated to the U.S, where he spent his next 20 years, working in Illinois, studying at Central Wesleyan College (Warrenton, Missuori) and George Washington University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1924. He started his career at the Swiss Legation in Washington, later went to Philadelphia and St.Louis as chancellor at the Swiss Consulates. He was appointed as vice-consul to the Swiss Consulate General in Jaffa.
From 1942 he worked in Budapest, Hungary as Swiss vice-consul and as chief of the Swiss Legation’s Department of Foreign Interests in Budapest. He was in charge of the interest of 14 nations at war (among them the United States and Great Britain).
First with the help of the Jewish Agency for Palestine he started issuing Swiss safe-conduct documents to let Jewish children to emigrate to Palestine.
When the Nazis occupied Budapest in 1944, deportation started to death camps. Lutz started negotiating with the Hungarian government and the Nazis, and as a result he got a permission to issue protective letters to 8,000 Hungarian Jews for emigration to Palestine. There was only one restriction: he would not offer refuge to any others. (Later on this technique was adopted by Raoul Wallenberg who visited Lutz in the summer of 1944. He started issuing similar documents on behalf of the Swedish government)
In the following months he worked assiduously to hinder the planned death of innocent people. By deliberately misinterpreting his permission for 8,000 as applying to families rather than individuals, he went on issuing tens of thousands of protective letters (these were no more backed by any Palestine Certificates), with all of them having an ordinal number on between 1 and 8,000.
His “office” – namely the ‘Department of Emigration of the Swiss Legation’ - located at 29 Vadasz Utca, called the ‘Glass house’ (literally) which had previously belonged to a wholesale glass merchant. The house was declared an annex of the Swiss legation, which meant a neutral area. Later on this diplomatic immunity was extended to other 72 buildings in Budapest, trying to hide and save as many Jews as possible.
He worked together with other diplomats of neutral countries, like Raoul Wallenberg (Swedish), Angelo Rotta (Apostolic Nuncio), Angel Sanz Briz (Spanish Minister), Giorgio Perlasca (Italian businessman), and Friedrich Born (Swiss delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross).
After the war he went back to Switzerland, but he was accused to having exceeded his scope of authority, and his achievements were not recognized until 1958, when he was “rehabilitated”.
He was one of the first ones to receive the “Righteous among the Nations” medal from Yad Vashem.
Carl Lutz died on March 30, 1975, in Berne, Switzerland.
A street is named after him in Jaffa (Israel) and Berne (Switzerland). In 1999 Switzerland honoured him by issuing a postage stamp.
Places in Budapest with the memory to Carl Lutz:
- Carl Lutz Memorial at the corner of Dob utca and Rumbach utca
- Carl Lutz Memorial at the American Embassy
- Carl Lutz Memorial Museum (V., Vadàsz u. 29)
- Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Garden
A long ignored person in the history of the Holocaust is now a national hero
CARL LUTZ worked in Budapest, Hungary as the Swiss Vice-Consul from 1942 until the end of WWII. Being the first neutral diplomat in Budapest those times, he was the first one to issue protective letters (Schutzbrief), establishing protected houses and he is credited with saving the life of 62.000 Hungarian Jews. After the war his achievements were not acknowledged by Switzerland for a long time, because of being accused to having exceeded his competence. In 1964 he was awarded the title of “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem.
He was born on 30 March, 1895 in Walzenhausen. At the age of 18 he emigrated to the U.S, where he spent his next 20 years, working in Illinois, studying at Central Wesleyan College (Warrenton, Missuori) and George Washington University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1924. He started his career at the Swiss Legation in Washington, later went to Philadelphia and St.Louis as chancellor at the Swiss Consulates. He was appointed as vice-consul to the Swiss Consulate General in Jaffa.
From 1942 he worked in Budapest, Hungary as Swiss vice-consul and as chief of the Swiss Legation’s Department of Foreign Interests in Budapest. He was in charge of the interest of 14 nations at war (among them the United States and Great Britain).
First with the help of the Jewish Agency for Palestine he started issuing Swiss safe-conduct documents to let Jewish children to emigrate to Palestine.
When the Nazis occupied Budapest in 1944, deportation started to death camps. Lutz started negotiating with the Hungarian government and the Nazis, and as a result he got a permission to issue protective letters to 8,000 Hungarian Jews for emigration to Palestine. There was only one restriction: he would not offer refuge to any others. (Later on this technique was adopted by Raoul Wallenberg who visited Lutz in the summer of 1944. He started issuing similar documents on behalf of the Swedish government)
In the following months he worked assiduously to hinder the planned death of innocent people. By deliberately misinterpreting his permission for 8,000 as applying to families rather than individuals, he went on issuing tens of thousands of protective letters (these were no more backed by any Palestine Certificates), with all of them having an ordinal number on between 1 and 8,000.
His “office” – namely the ‘Department of Emigration of the Swiss Legation’ - located at 29 Vadasz Utca, called the ‘Glass house’ (literally) which had previously belonged to a wholesale glass merchant. The house was declared an annex of the Swiss legation, which meant a neutral area. Later on this diplomatic immunity was extended to other 72 buildings in Budapest, trying to hide and save as many Jews as possible.
He worked together with other diplomats of neutral countries, like Raoul Wallenberg (Swedish), Angelo Rotta (Apostolic Nuncio), Angel Sanz Briz (Spanish Minister), Giorgio Perlasca (Italian businessman), and Friedrich Born (Swiss delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross).
After the war he went back to Switzerland, but he was accused to having exceeded his scope of authority, and his achievements were not recognized until 1958, when he was “rehabilitated”.
He was one of the first ones to receive the “Righteous among the Nations” medal from Yad Vashem.
Carl Lutz died on March 30, 1975, in Berne, Switzerland.
A street is named after him in Jaffa (Israel) and Berne (Switzerland). In 1999 Switzerland honoured him by issuing a postage stamp.
Places in Budapest with the memory to Carl Lutz:
- Carl Lutz Memorial at the corner of Dob utca and Rumbach utca
- Carl Lutz Memorial at the American Embassy
- Carl Lutz Memorial Museum (V., Vadàsz u. 29)
- Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Garden