Lot 424

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Description:

Raoul Wallenberg-Era Schutz-Pass Protecting Well-Known Hungarian Doctor, Holocaust Survivor

A 2pp contemporary photostatic image of a bilingual document in German and Hungarian, known as a Schutz-Pass or protective passport, originally issued by the Royal Swedish Legation in Budapest, Hungary on August 26, 1944. The photocopied document shows the COPIED initials of Secretary of the Royal Swedish Legation Raoul Wallenberg (1912-1945) at lower left, along with the COPIED signature of Swedish Ambassador in Budapest Carl Ivan Danielsson (1880-1963) at lower right. The early photostat form features a section in Hungarian on the reverse signed by a notary, and bearing two contemporary certification and/or revenue stamps, these are not copies and make this an original document. The notary certified that this copy of the passport holder's Schutz-Pass "was identical in all respects" to the original document on November 19, 1944. Docketed verso at lower left. Expected wear including folds, a few with closed tears, and minor ink weathering verso, else near fine. 8" x 13.125."

Schutz-Pass No. 398/1, of which this was an authentic copy, was issued to "Dr. Heinrich Halász." Dr. Henrik Halász (1865-1953) (favoring the Hungarian, and not the Germanized spelling) was born in Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary, about 200 km southeast of Budapest. After receiving his doctorate in medicine from the University of Budapest Medical School in 1890, Dr. Halász toured medical schools in Poland, Germany, Austria, France, and England. He eventually specialized in otolaryngology, or, the study of the ears, nose, and throat. Dr. Halász served as chief physician at a local hospital. By the 1920s, Dr. Halász was proscribing surprisingly modern cancer treatments for his patients, including raw fruit and vegetable diets, fasting, sweating, yoga, swimming, and sunbathing. Dr. Halász's name does not appear in the Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database curated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, but his biographical information is readily accessible in Hungarian encyclopedias, which give his death date as December 31, 1953, at the age of 88. Sadly, Dr. Halász's youngest son, Dr. György Halász (1896–1945), was killed during the Holocaust.

Raoul Wallenberg had been appointed Secretary of the Royal Swedish Legation in July 1944 at the request of various Jewish organizations. The "Swedish Schindler" was tasked with saving--through ingenious and diplomatic means alike--as many Hungarian Jews as he could from certain death. Wallenberg did so by allocating 32 buildings in Budapest as extraterritorial, thus allowing them to serve as Jewish safe houses; and by distributing as many Swedish passports to members of the Budapest Jewry as possible. The Schutz-Pass, or "Wallenberg Passports" as they became known, offered invaluable protection to Jews by extending Swedish citizenship rights to them. The sovereignty of Sweden, then a neutral nation, as well as that of its citizens, both native-born and honorary, went unchallenged. Estimates vary as to how many Hungarian Jews Wallenberg and his team saved, but it is conservatively in the tens of thousands.

The Wallenberg-issued certificates were truly life-saving. 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. Nearly 500,000 Hungarian Jews had already been deported by the time Wallenberg's appointment began, with an estimated 220,000 Hungarian Jews left behind and in immediate danger.

Raoul Wallenberg chose to remain in Budapest when hundreds fled in advance of the encroaching Soviet Army, in order to safeguard the remaining Jews in the city. He was charged with espionage and disappeared after going to Soviet headquarters at Debrecen in mid-January 1945. Reports indicate that he died at Lubyanka Prison on July 17, 1947.

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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June 22, 2022 10:30 AM EDT
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