Item #2438 [A Certification of the Swedish Royal Legation.] A Svéd Királyi Követség igazolja, […]. Raoul Wallenberg.
Rare Wallenberg-Document

[A Certification of the Swedish Royal Legation.] A Svéd Királyi Követség igazolja, […].

Budapest: Dated on November 17, 1944. 1 page, typed document bearing Wallenberg's stamped signature, the stamp of the Königlich Schwedische Gesandtschaft in Budapest, and a signature of probably the Swedish Ambassador, Carl Ivan Danielsson in green ink. Folded twice. Small closed tears at the edges of the horizontal folding and the center. A brown stain at the lower-left corner. Overall in very good condition.

An exceptionally rare Hungarian Holocaust document with Raoul Wallenberg's stamped signature.

Typed document bearing Wallenberg's stamped signature, certifying that György Rózsa is empowered to act with the officials, according to the published law, on behalf of other holders of protective passes [Schutz-Pass]. The letter of assignment is effective between November 17 and 20, 1944.

Due to the dates and the emphasized detail of “other holders of protective passes [Schutz-Pass]” we strongly surmise that the present document is related to the ghettoization of a fraction of the Budapest Jewry, those who were granted protection by any foreign embassies. The relocation, with a deadline of November 18 which was eventually extended by 48 hours until November 20, was ordered by the radical anti-Semite Hungarian Government led by Ferenc Szálasi, who came into power in mid-October, 1944. The designated area (later called the International or Small Ghetto), was a neighborhood near the Danube on Pest side of the city, where the Embassies (such as the Swedish, Swiss, Portugal, Spanish, and of the Holy See) could establish safe houses, for some fifteen-thousand “protected Jews”, a small fragment of the 200,000 strong Jewish Community in Budapest. By the end of the war, about 40,000 Jews lived here, often up to 60 people sharing one room. In 1945 January, an estimated 119,000 Jewish people were liberated in Budapest, 25,000 survived International Ghetto (and about 70,000 in the “big” or Budapest ghetto that was set up in the meantime). Unfortunately, we don’t have enough information to identify György Rózsa, the assignee of the letter.

The document bears the stamped signature of Raoul Wallenberg, the secretary of the Royal Swedish Legation. In 1944–1945, Wallenberg saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews by granting them Schutz-Passes, these quasi-official documents of safe passage to Sweden, as Swedish nationals, and exempting them from having to bear the distinguishing yellow Star of David. These documents were also issued and signed by the Swedish Ambassador, Carl Ivan Danielsson (1880–1963). For his heroic actions, Wallenberg was honored by many countries after the war and awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal by the State of Israel. Wallenberg was captured by the Soviets after the Siege of Budapest and died in unexplained circumstances, most likely in the Lubyanka in Moscow in 1947.

Price: €4,000.00

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