Per Anger (1913 – 2002)
PER Johan Valentin ANGER was the second secretary of the Swedish Legion in Budapest during WWII. Together with Raoul Wallenberg they managed to save people from deportation and from death marches – some of them they saved with Swedish papers, others they saved with lies. After the war he has become one of the leading figures of the desperate search for finding Wallenberg.
Per Anger was born on December 7, 1913, in Göteborg, Sweden. After having graduated in law at the University of Stockholm, Per Anger was drafted into the army.
Shortly after he was offered a trainee position at the Swedish Legation in Berlin (1940), where he was working at the trade department, dealing with trade between Germany and Sweden.
In June 1941 he returned to Stockholm, where he worked on trade between Hungary and Sweden (Sweden offered steel in change of food to Hungary), later was appointed as second secretary of the Swedish Legion in Budapest, so he moved to Hungary (November, 1942).
His main function was still in connection with trade between the two countries. Until the German occupation to Hungary (1944) - apart from the discrimination and shortage of rights of the Jews – life seemed normal: restaurants open, no shortage of food, etc, which has drastically changed after the Nazis’ arrival.
„From that moment everything that had to do with trade with Sweden or other routine errands were of course put aside, and we concentrated... the whole legation concentrated on one thing. To save... try to save human lives."
( http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/anger.html )
With his original idea, they started issuing Swedish provisional passports and special certificates to help Jews escape from deportation. At first, 700 of these documents were issued, all of them in lack of any form of legality.
In those times the Swedish Legation was in charge of acting on behalf of seven countries, and since the number of people asking for help from the Swedes drastically increased, they needed to have reinforcement – to help rescuing Hungarian Jews. And the person who was appointed was a Swedish businessman: Raoul Wallenberg, who was given the status of legation secretary and arrived to Budapest July 9, 1944. It was his idea to modify the form of the documents – so that they could look like real, official papers with the Swedish state symbol, and the signature of the Minister – and the protective passes (Schutzpasse) came to alive.
Even if these documents had no legal support or background, the German and Hungarian officials started respecting them.
From this on, Anger and Wallenberg worked together, saving people from deportation and death marches – some of them they saved with Swedish papers, others they saved with lies.
In January, 1945, when the Soviets arrived to Budapest, both of them were taken into custody. Anger was free after 3 month, Wallenberg disappeared.
After the war was over, Per Anger continued working as a diplomat (Egypt, France, Australia, Canada, etc), but never giving up the idea of finding Wallenberg – he has become one of the leading figures of this desperate search.
Anger died on August 25, 2002 after suffering a stroke.
With his persistent and strenuous work, he saved more than 20,000 Jews.
Received decorations:
- Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem (1982)
- a tree planted on the “Avenue of the Righteous” in Jerusalem
- Order of Merit by the Hungarian Republic (November, 1995)
- Honor by the Jewish Council of Sweden (September, 1996)
- Honorary Israeli citizenship – Israel (2000)
- “Spirit of Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award” by the American Swedish Historical Museum (2001)
- “Illis Quorum Meruere Labores” – Sweden (April 2002)
Books about him:
“A Silent Value: Per Anger, The Wallenberg’s Co-Liberator of the Hungarian Jewish” – by E.R.Skoglund
One more Swedish Hero
PER Johan Valentin ANGER was the second secretary of the Swedish Legion in Budapest during WWII. Together with Raoul Wallenberg they managed to save people from deportation and from death marches – some of them they saved with Swedish papers, others they saved with lies. After the war he has become one of the leading figures of the desperate search for finding Wallenberg.
Per Anger was born on December 7, 1913, in Göteborg, Sweden. After having graduated in law at the University of Stockholm, Per Anger was drafted into the army.
Shortly after he was offered a trainee position at the Swedish Legation in Berlin (1940), where he was working at the trade department, dealing with trade between Germany and Sweden.
In June 1941 he returned to Stockholm, where he worked on trade between Hungary and Sweden (Sweden offered steel in change of food to Hungary), later was appointed as second secretary of the Swedish Legion in Budapest, so he moved to Hungary (November, 1942).
His main function was still in connection with trade between the two countries. Until the German occupation to Hungary (1944) - apart from the discrimination and shortage of rights of the Jews – life seemed normal: restaurants open, no shortage of food, etc, which has drastically changed after the Nazis’ arrival.
„From that moment everything that had to do with trade with Sweden or other routine errands were of course put aside, and we concentrated... the whole legation concentrated on one thing. To save... try to save human lives."
( http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/anger.html )
With his original idea, they started issuing Swedish provisional passports and special certificates to help Jews escape from deportation. At first, 700 of these documents were issued, all of them in lack of any form of legality.
In those times the Swedish Legation was in charge of acting on behalf of seven countries, and since the number of people asking for help from the Swedes drastically increased, they needed to have reinforcement – to help rescuing Hungarian Jews. And the person who was appointed was a Swedish businessman: Raoul Wallenberg, who was given the status of legation secretary and arrived to Budapest July 9, 1944. It was his idea to modify the form of the documents – so that they could look like real, official papers with the Swedish state symbol, and the signature of the Minister – and the protective passes (Schutzpasse) came to alive.
Even if these documents had no legal support or background, the German and Hungarian officials started respecting them.
From this on, Anger and Wallenberg worked together, saving people from deportation and death marches – some of them they saved with Swedish papers, others they saved with lies.
In January, 1945, when the Soviets arrived to Budapest, both of them were taken into custody. Anger was free after 3 month, Wallenberg disappeared.
After the war was over, Per Anger continued working as a diplomat (Egypt, France, Australia, Canada, etc), but never giving up the idea of finding Wallenberg – he has become one of the leading figures of this desperate search.
Anger died on August 25, 2002 after suffering a stroke.
With his persistent and strenuous work, he saved more than 20,000 Jews.
Received decorations:
- Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem (1982)
- a tree planted on the “Avenue of the Righteous” in Jerusalem
- Order of Merit by the Hungarian Republic (November, 1995)
- Honor by the Jewish Council of Sweden (September, 1996)
- Honorary Israeli citizenship – Israel (2000)
- “Spirit of Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award” by the American Swedish Historical Museum (2001)
- “Illis Quorum Meruere Labores” – Sweden (April 2002)
Books about him:
“A Silent Value: Per Anger, The Wallenberg’s Co-Liberator of the Hungarian Jewish” – by E.R.Skoglund