Diplomats Who Saved Jews

Per Anger- Swedish Charge d'Affaires in Budapest, Hungary, 1944-45.

Per Anger worked with Raoul Wallenberg in the Swedish Embassy. He personally intervened on behalf of Jews being deported to the Nazi death camps. Credited with saving thousands of Jews from the spring of 1944 until the end of the war in May 1945.

Hiram Bingham - US Vice Consul in Marseilles, France, 1940

Against orders & US policy, Bingham issued visas, safe passages, & letters of transit to Jewish refugees to protect from internment & deportation. Working closely with Varian Fry, of the Emergency Rescue Copmmittee, Bingham was, in part, responsible for saving more than 2,000 Jews.

Friedrich Born - Chief Delegate of the International Commttee of the Red Cross of Switzerland in Budapest, Hungary, 1944-45.

Born issued thousands of Red Cross letters to Jews in Budapest. He saved thousands of Jews from deportation camps & death marches. He put over 60 Jewish institutions under Red Cross protection, housed over 7,000 Jewish children & orphans, and set up dozens of Red Cross protected houses. He is credited with rescuing more than 10,000 Jews in Budapest.

Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz - Trade Attache to the German Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark 1943.

A member of the Nazi party. When Duckwitz learned that the Nazi occupying government was planning to deport Jews, he alerted the Danish government & made a clandestine trip to Sweden to arrange a safe haven for the Jews. The Danish underground in turn implemented the rescue of more than 7,000 Danish Jews. As a result, 99% of Danish Jews were hidden in neutral Sweden where they survived the war.

Frank Foley - British Vice Consul in Charge of Visas in Berlin, 1938-1939.

He was a passport officer in the British Embassy in Berlin. He also worked as a MI6 agent. Jewish officials estimate that he issued thousands of visas to Jewish refugees between 1938-39, at a time when the British government was anxious to limit immigration, particularly to Palestine.

Dr Feng-Shan Ho - Consul General of China in Vienna, 1938-39.

Feng-Shan Ho defied direct orders and issued innumerable visas to Jews escaping the Nazi occupation of Austria after the Anscluss of 1938. This enabled Jewish refugees to escape from Austria to the United States, Canada, South America, Palestine, the Philippines and Shanghai, China. Many Jews were released from concentration camps on the strength of the Chinese visas.

Paul Komor - Honorary Consul for Hungary in Shanghai, China, 1938-1941.

In 1938, he co-founded the International Committee for European Immigrants [IC]. The IC provided housing, jobs & financial assistance for the 18,000 Austrian, German & other refugees who came into Shanghai. The IC also issued international passports to Jews whose passports were confiscated or lost, allowing them to emigrate to the US, Canada, Australia & elsewhere.

Carl Lutz - Consul for Switzerland in Budapest, Hungary 1944-45.

He is credited with inventing the Schutzberief [ protective letter ] for Jewish refugees in Budapest. With these protective letters, he rescued 10,000 Jewish children who were sent to Palestine. He also helped established 76 safe houses. Consul Lutz and his wife, Gertrud, liberated Jews from labour camps, deportation centres, and death marches. Lutz is credited with saving more than 50,000 Jews.

Dr. Aristides de Sousa Mendes - Portuguese Consul General in Bordeaux, France, June 1940.

He issued more than 30,000 life-saving Portuguese visas to Jews and other refugees. 10.000 were for Jews and 20,000 were for other refugees. Mendes also guarantee safe passage for 100s of Jewish refugees across a border checkpoint on the Spanish Frontier. These activities were carried out against the orders and policies of his government. He was fired by his government and lost all of his property.

Giorgio "Jorge" Perlasca - "Acting Charge d' Affaires" of the Spanish Legation, Budapest, Hungary, 1944-45.

Giorgio Perlasca, an Italian, is credited with saving more than 3,000 Jewish refugees in Budapest. He volunteered to assist the Spanish legation's efforts to rescue Jews in Budapest. When the Spanishg Legation closed, Perlasca appointed himself " Spanish Ambassador " and issued thousands of protective passes. Nazi officials accepted his authority.

Pio Perucchi and Candido Porta - Swiss Consular Officers in Milan, 1938-39.

Perucchi & Porta, stationed in Milan in 1938, issued more than 1,600 illegal and unauthorised visaz to Jews who had fled Austria after the Anschluss. The 2 Consuls issued visas against the specific regulations and policies of the Swiss government. For their activities, Perucchi was transferred and Porta was demoted.

Archbishop Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli - Papal Nuncio [ Ambassador] in Istanbul, Turkey, 1943-45.

Archbishop Roncalli, who later Pope John XXIII, interceded with King Boris of Bulgaria on behalf of the Bulgarian Jews, and with the Turkish government on behalf of the Jews who fled Turkey. He also did his utmost to prevent the deportation of Greek Jews. Roncalli provided reports to the Vatican about the annihilation of millions of Jews in Poland and Eastern Europe.

Monsignor Angelo Rotta - Italy, Papal Nuncio [Ambassador] in Budapest, 1944-45.

As a member of the Vatican, Diplomatic Corps in Sofia, Bulgaria, Rottan saved Bulgarian Jews by issuing false baptismal certificates and visas for Palestine. In Budapest, he actively protested the deportation and murder of Hungarian Jews. He issued more than 15,000 safe conduct certificates and issued hundreds of baptismal certificates to Jews inlabour camps, at deportation centres and on the death marches.

Chiune Sugihara - Consul for Japan in Kovno, Lithuania, 1940.

In July & August 1940, Sugihara issued Japanese visas to thousands of Polish Jews in Kovno [Kaunas], Lithuania. He issued the visas against the orders of his government. Numerous refugees escaped to Japan and other countries. ABout 1,000 refugees survived the war in Shanghai, China. In 1947, Sugihara believed he was forced to resign from the Japanese diplomatic service for his actions in Lithuania.

Selahattin Ulkumen - Turkish Consul General in Rhodes, July 1944.

In July 1944, the Germans began rounding up the Jews of Rhodes. The Turkish Consul General, intercepted on behalf of those Jews who were Turkish nationals. By his efforts, 42 Jewish families, totalling more than 200 Jews were set free from the deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau. In reprisal, the Nazi authorities bombed Ulkumen's house, fatally injuring his pregnant wife.

Raoul Wallenberg - Swedish Special Envoy in Budapest, Hungary, 1944-45.

He issued Swedish diplomatic papers to more than 30,000 Hungarian Jews, preventing their deportation and murder. With his staff of Jewish volunteers, he rescued thousands of Jews who were being forced on death marches. He also established dozens of safe houses throughout Budapest. In Jan 1945 Raoul was arrested by the Russians and disappeared.

Jan Zwartendijk - Acting Dutch Consul in Kovno, Lithuania, 1940.

He is credited with devising and pioneering the use of the " Curacao visa " in early july 1940. Along with Sugihara, he issued end visas to the destinations of Curacao & Surinam. He is credited with saving thousands of lives.

Source: Eric Saul of the Visas for Life: The Righteous Diplomats Project.