Lot 288

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Lot 288
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Inspired Wallenberg, Valdemar Langlet Protecting Jews Signed Swedish Pass
Inspired Wallenberg, Valdemar Langlet Protecting Jews Signed Swedish Pass
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Description:

Inspired Wallenberg, Valdemar Langlet Protecting Jews Signed Swedish Pass

A 1p document in Hungarian, known as an Igazolvány, or identifying protective pass, boldly signed by Valdemar Langlet (1872-1960), then attached to the Royal Swedish Legation in Budapest, Hungary. Langlet has signed the document as "Langlet Valdemar" in green ink at center right. [Budapest, Hungary.] November 6, 1944. On letterhead reading in part "Sved Voroskerezt," or Swedish Red Cross. The official issuance at top has been xeroxed, while the bearer's name and physical characteristics have been typed below. A vintage black and white photo of the pass-carrying individual, cropped at the corners, is mounted at center. Also bearing two bilingual hand-stamps in Swedish and Hungarian identifying the Swedish Red Cross. Expected wear including flattened transmittal folds, and a few isolated breaks or closed tears along these folds. A minor xeroxing smudge is located at top and mentioned just for accuracy, else near fine. 8.25" x 11.5."

This unnumbered Igazolvány, or identifying protective pass, was issued to a 38-year-old woman named Mrs. Antal Csapó, née Margit Kohn. Born in Budapest on October 1, 1906, Margit had brown hair and blue eyes, and stood 5'4." The official text at the top of the document states that the bearer had been retroactively under Swedish protection since October 2, 1944, in compliance with aforementioned laws, and as a foreign subject, she will be transferred to a special, unarmed "collective military unit" and is thus exempted from compulsory labor service.

The Nazis had occupied Hungary from March 1944, escalating their deportation of Hungarian Jews throughout that spring. At its peak, the Nazis were deporting approximately 12,000 Hungarian Jews each day to Auschwitz and other concentration and death camps. In early November 1944, the new Hungarian government, led by the radical Anti-Semitic Nyilaskeresztes Párt, or Arrow Cross Party, expanded compulsory labor service from Jewish men to Jewish women between the ages of 16 and 40. At 38, Margit would have fallen within the new compulsory labor gender and age bracket. (The expanded policy was mainly implemented because approximately 25,000 Jewish men had died in labor camps since March 1944.) The Hungarian government handed over to German authorities more than seventy labor service units, along with about 35,000 Jewish civil forced laborers, including 10,000 women.

Valdemar Langlet signed this protective pass in his role as "fomagbizott" or "form commissioner" at the Swedish Embassy in Budapest. A Swedish citizen, Langlet had served as an unpaid cultural attaché at the Embassy since 1932 in addition to being a Swedish language lecturer at the University of Budapest. Langlet used his association with the Swedish Embassy and the Swedish Red Cross to shelter Jews threatened with deportation during 1944, as well as provide them with food, medicine, and diplomatic paperwork. Langlet and his wife Nina Borovko-Langlet are credited with saving approximately 20,000 Hungarian Jews. They were named Righteous Among the Nations for their heroic conduct during the Holocaust.

Valdemar Langlet's humanitarian efforts preceded those of his more famous counterpart, Raoul Wallenberg (1912-1945), the "Swedish Schindler" who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews in his role as Secretary of the Royal Swedish Legation from 1944-1945. As such, Langlet served as Raoul Wallenberg's inspiration and also proved that such life-saving protection could be realistically extended. Langlet survived the war, unlike Wallenberg.

“Red Cross Schutz-Passes” and other documents like this Igazolvány, or identifying protective pass, protected many Jews like Mrs. Antal Csapó. The fate of Margit remains unknown; her name is not found in the Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database curated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It is likely that Margit had been previously separated from her husband before receiving this pass. Margit's passport is for an individual, not for married couples, of which there exist similar Valdemar Langlet signed pass examples. One Antal Csapó who may have been Margit's husband, originally from Orosháza, Hungary, is listed in the Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database as having been part of the Bekes deportation.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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