Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • SCOTUS
  • Life
  • Religious Liberty
  • News
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Opinion

This Forgotten Swiss Hero’s Brilliant Scheme Saved Thousands of Jewish Lives During the Holocaust

Carl Lutz. Screenshot: YouTube
Carl Lutz. Screenshot: YouTube
Share Tweet
By Will Maule
Author

January 8, 2018

Does the name  Carl Lutz mean anything to you? Probably not. That’s because his remarkable story of heroism during the Second World War had been largely forgotten – until now.

nAn experienced diplomat, Mr. Lutz had served as the Swiss consul to Palestine, then under British mandate, in the 1930s. His extraordinarily risky actions to save thousands of Jews from the gas chambers have earned him the name “Switzerland’s Schindler.”

Lutz was sent to Budapest in 1942. A year earlier, Hungary had joined the war on the German side and the Nazis were just gearing up to occupy the nation. The rooting out and deportation of Hungary’s vast Jewish population was almost immediate.

“After the German occupation of Budapest, the Hungarian Jewry in the countryside was in very quick succession deported to Auschwitz,” said Holocaust expert Charlotte Schallié, as reported by the BBC.

“Lutz realized he needed to act very quickly.”

With a bit of ingenuity, and utilizing his credentials a diplomat, Lutz managed to engineer the rescue of thousands.

In his official capacity as an envoy for Switzerland, Lutz represented the interests of those nations who had closed their embassies in Hungary, including Britain and the United States. So, he began placing under Swiss protection anyone connected to the countries he represented.

Carl Lutz at his desk. Screenshot: YouTube

Agnes Hirschi was just one of his many beneficiaries. She was born in the UK to Hungarian parents who returned home to Budapest. “My mother and I went to the Swiss consulate,” she told the BBC. “We were all dressed up. Carl Lutz was there at a big desk. And he gave me a protective passport.”

But Lutz realized this was not going to be enough. In an astonishingly bold move, he managed to convince the Nazis to allow him to issue some 8,000 diplomatic letters of protection.

The Nazi authorities were acting on the understanding that one letter would grant just a single individual diplomatic protection, but Lutz had other ideas. He issued them per family, covering thousands with an umbrella of protection against the German’s murderous regime.

He did not stop at 8,000 families, however. Once he reached his 7,999th letter, he simply repeated the process and hoped that the Nazis wouldn’t notice anything was awry.

Historians estimate that his letters saved up to 62,000 people.

“It is the largest civilian rescue operation of the Second World War,” said Charlotte Schallié.

Fellow diplomats got word of Lutz’ actions and followed suit. Eventually, the Nazis caught on to his protection scheme and many officials called for him to be assassinated, though this never came to pass.

As it became clear that winning the war was beyond the grasp of Hitler’s German forces, the Nazis grew ever more brutal in their slaying of the Jewish community in Hungary.

With little time for the organization of deportations, SS troops rounded up Jewish families, marched them to the banks of the river Danube, and shot them dead. Lutz once again stepped in to try and stem the bloodshed and save lives.

Shoes memorial on the bank of the river Danube, Budapest. Screenshot: YouTube.

On one occasion, the courageous diplomat dived into the Danube River to save a bleeding Jewish woman after fascist militiamen opened fire.

Keeping her afloat, Lutz dragged the injured woman back to the river bank and demanded to speak to the officer in charge of the firing squad. Quoting international treaties, he began to speak with authority to the commanding officer, convincing him that the woman was a foreign national under Swiss diplomatic protection.

Lutz marched the injured woman back to his car in front of the stunned militants. Incredibly, no one dared question him.

The quay where this took place in Budapest now bears his name: Carl Lutz Rakpart.

But Lutz wanted to find a way to save people en masse. So he set up 76 safe houses. Again, he was shrewd in his tactics. The properties were technically located in the relative safety of Switzerland’s territory, so the shelters took in thousands.

Among the safe houses was the now notorious “Glass House” (Üvegház) at Vadász Street 29. Approximately 3,000 Hungarian Jews found refuge at the Glass House and in a neighboring building.

“Glass House” today. Screenshot: YouTube

Both Sweden and the Red Cross also set up safe houses too. In total, Budapest was home to some 120 safe houses, saving thousands upon thousands from certain death.

“I celebrated my seventh birthday in that cellar,” said Agnes Hirschi, who was once of those who evaded capture by taking refuge in safe house. She also recalled meeting Mr. Lutz in person.

“And Carl Lutz was a very nice man,” she said. “He had some chocolate for me, which he had saved.”

Lutz himself spent two whole months hiding from German forces in a basement cellar.

When the war eventually came to an end, Carl Lutz was ordered back to Switzerland, where he half expected a hero’s welcome. But there was none.

“The huge disappointment was that there was no-one,” he recalled in an interview shortly before his death in 1975. “I was just asked, ‘Do you have anything to declare?'”

Instead, he was reprimanded for overstepping the realms of his authority.

“No one thanked me, they just told me I was lucky to survive the war. No government minister even shook my hand.”

Despite his home nation’s unwavering commitment to neutrality and ardent refusal to recognize him as anything more than a rogue diplomat, Lutz was viewed as a man of astonishing bravery and honor by all of those he saved.

“I think he was a hero,” said Agnes, who later became Lutz’ stepdaughter.

“He was a very shy man, it was not necessarily in his nature to do what he did. But he saw the misery of the Jews and he thought he had to help.”

 

Latest

  • News

    Will Christianity Be Destroyed in Syria? A Warning After Trump’s Pledge

  • Faith

    He Died and Visited Heaven? 20 Years Later, Colton Burpo Revisits Claims He Met Jesus

  • Life

    Pregnancy Center Leader Reveals ‘Violent Attacks,’ Chaos as She Fact Checks ‘Fake Clinics’ Myths

  • Faith

    As Robert Morris Case Continues, How Should Christians Interpret Such Scandals?

  • News

    Joe Rogan Stuns With Skepticism of Big Bang, Proclamation About Jesus’ Resurrection


Sponsored
Sponsored

Newsletter
Signup

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recent Posts

  • Will Christianity Be Destroyed in Syria? A Warning After Trump’s Pledge
  • He Died and Visited Heaven? 20 Years Later, Colton Burpo Revisits Claims He Met Jesus
  • Pregnancy Center Leader Reveals ‘Violent Attacks,’ Chaos as She Fact Checks ‘Fake Clinics’ Myths
  • As Robert Morris Case Continues, How Should Christians Interpret Such Scandals?
  • Joe Rogan Stuns With Skepticism of Big Bang, Proclamation About Jesus’ Resurrection

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016

Categories

  • Christian Persecution
  • Coronavirus
  • Culture
  • culture
  • Entertainment
  • Faith
  • Faith
  • Family
  • George Floyd
  • Go!
  • Israel
  • Life
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • Media
  • Men
  • Mission Haiti
  • News
  • News
  • Opinion
  • P.O.V
  • Politics
  • Politics
  • Roe
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Virtue
  • Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.