March 2017 Auction Ends Thursday, March 30th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/30/2017
Scarce 1944 document signed by Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews at the close of WWII. After the publication of a 1944 report detailing the mass deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, Wallenberg, a Swedish citizen fluent in Hungarian, was chosen by the United States to lead a relief mission in Hungary. He was to issue fake "protective" passports claiming Jewish persons were actually Swedish citizens awaiting repatriation, with the full protection of such citizenship. In early 1945 Wallenberg was taken for espionage and never heard from or seen alive again; before his capture it's believed that he saved 15,000 people in the last months of the war. Document on "Royal Swedish Embassy / Budapest" letterhead is datelined Budapest, 22 September 1944. It confirms that the recipient has been awarded Swedish citizenship and respectfully asks that he be granted "immunity against the discriminatory [yellow star] mark". Document measures 8" x 5.75". Signed boldly by Wallenberg, with the Embassy's stamp. Single vertical fold with separation starting at ends. Light wear and toning. Overall very good condition.
Raoul Wallenberg Signed Document From 1944, Exempting a Jewish Person From Having to Wear the Star of David -- Very Rare
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