Lifesaving document, Schutz-Pass Issued at the time of the Holocaust
Budapest: 1944.09.26. Hungarian. Printed in blue and yellow, with passport photograph
of the bearer. Issued and countersigned by Raoul Wallenberg,
and signed and stamped by Carl Ivan Danielsson, Swedish
Ambassador in Budapest. Folded. 1 p. Fine condition. This life-saving document stands as one of the most powerful
symbols of diplomatic resistance during the Holocaust, part of a
coordinated effort that protected thousands of Hungarian Jews
from deportation and death.
Authentic example of the Schutz-Pass, the protective document
issued by the Swedish Legation in Budapest in 1944 to
safeguard Hungarian Jews from deportation. Following the Nazi
occupation of Hungary in March 1944, over 400,000 Jews were
deported to Auschwitz within four months. In response, the U.S.
War Refugee Board arranged for Swedish diplomat Raoul
Wallenberg to travel to Budapest, where, beginning in August
1944, he issued these passes identifying the bearer as under
Swedish protection and awaiting repatriation.
Together with Ambassador Carl Ivan Danielsson, Wallenberg
organized an extensive rescue operation, establishing safe
houses and distributing thousands of such documents. Their
efforts are credited with saving tens of thousands of lives. Both
men were later recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations”
by Yad Vashem; Wallenberg was also named an honorary
citizen of the United States, Canada, Hungary, and Israel.
This is a rare, original survival of one of the most important
documentary artifacts of humanitarian resistance during the
Holocaust.
Price: €8,000.00