Schutz -Pass ["Protective passport"], given to Alexander (Sandor) Deveny, on behalf of the Swedish ambassador on September 26th 1944. German and Hungarian.
The "Protective passport" testifies that the one possessing it is under the protection of the state of Sweden. Signed by Carl Ivan Danielsson, the Swedish ambassador, by hand, accompanied with two stamps of the Swedish embassy in Budapest, and with another signature (a quick and formless signature) - by the hand of Raoul Wallenberg.
The activity of the Swedish ambassador in Budapest to help the Jews began just a short while after the 1944 German occupation of Hungary. The Swedish ambassador, Danielsson, issued Swedish temporary passports for Hungarian Jews who had family or commercial ties with Swedish subjects. In July 1944, after many of the Hungarian Jews have already been sent away to Auschwitz, Raoul Wallenberg was sent to Budapest by the Swedish foreign ministry to help assist the Jews who were still left in the city.
The Hungarian and German authorities usually respected the authority of the Swedish ambassador, and Wallenberg has managed to issue thousands of “protective passports†which protected the Jews, even though they weren't valid by law. Wallenberg also acted in other ways to save the Hungarian Jews. Part of this activity was the establishment of safe-houses for Jews, and the attempts to pressure the Nazi-regime seniors to stop the transportation of Jews to Auschwitz. According to testimonies, he used to arrive to the train station where the Jews were all gathered before a transport to Auschwitz took place, demanding to let loose the ones holding the “protective passportsâ€. In 1966 Raoul Wallenberg was proclaimed “Righteous among the Nations†in a ceremony in “Yad Vashemâ€.
Page of 34 cm. Fair-good condition. Folding marks, slight spotting. Tears within the folding mark.
* Enclosed are additional documents, which used to belong to Alexander (Sandor) Deveny from the years 1945-1938 (Hungarian).