Földvári Books

Rare Valdemar Langlet Signed Letter Of Protection For A Holocaust Endangered Jew

[Langlet, Valdemar]

Igazolvány [Pass]

Igazolvány (Pass), in Hungarian, signed by Valdemar Langlet. One page official paper with the header of the Swedish Red Cross, typed, size: 205 × 290 mm. Signed on the recto in green ink. Inclusive of a black and white ink stamped photo. With the round ink stamp of the Swedish Red Cross, in Budapest, dated November 6, 1944. Signature clean and fresh. Fold lines, with tiny closed tears at foldings.

An exceptional life-saving document during the Holocaust, with the handwritten signature of the Righteous among the Nations Valdemar Langlet. Rare original official Igazolvány (Pass) signed by Valdemar Langlet, issued in Budapest, dated November 6, 1944, with the ink stamps of the Swedish Red Cross, stating in Hungarian that the bearer, by the referring laws, is under Swedish protection since October 2, 1944, and as a foreign subject, she will be replaced into a “collective military unit” thus exempted from the labor service. In 1939, due to the anti-semitic legislation, “the politically unreliable” Hungarian Jewish men were excluded from serving in regular armed forces, and as an alternate for these people, the government imposed the labor service in unarmed battalions. By 1942, approximately 100,000 Jews had been drafted into the forced labor units. When Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944, about 25,000 Jewish labor servicemen had been killed due to the proximity of the front, the harsh living conditions, famine, and the brutality of the Hungarian guards. After a successful coup d’état in mid-October, 1944, the radical anti-Semite Nyilaskeresztes Párt (Arrow Cross Party) took over the power. In early November 1944, the new government extended the obligation of the labor service to Jewish women between the age of 16 and 40, and soon they handed over to the German authorities more than seventy labor service units, along with about 35,000 Jewish civil forced laborers, including 10,000 women. The present document was issued by Valdemar Langlet to protect Mrs. Antal Csapó, b. Margit Kohn, being enrolled into one of these units. Valdemar Langlet (1872–1960) was a Swedish journalist who lived in Hungary since the early 1930s, taught Swedish at the Budapest University, and served as a delegate of the Swedish Red Cross and an unpaid cultural attaché at the Swedish Legation. During the Holocaust, Langlet saved thousands of Hungarian Jews by providing – without the permission of the organization – “Red Cross Shutz-Passes” and other documents like the present Pass, which allowed Jews to avoid deportation, labor service, and death. Together with his wife Nina, they are credited for saving about 20,000 Hungarian Jewish lives, and they are awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal by the State of Israel.

Price: €5,500.00