Printed document - "Protective-Certificate" granted to János Károly on behalf of the Swedish Embassy in Budapest. Signed by hand by Raoul Wallenberg, in his capacity as secretary of the embassy. Budapest, 26 September, 1944.
The certificate instructs to refer to János Károly as a Swedish national in every respect and to grant him an exemption from wearing a distinguishing sign as a Jew [upon the occupation of Hungary, in March 1944, Jews were obliged to wear a Yellow Star]. 20.5X14.5 cm. Printed on official stationery of the Swedish Embassy in Budapest, stamped with embassy's ink stamp. Good condition. Folding marks. Minor stains.
The activity of the Swedish ambassador in Budapest to help Jews began 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 were deported to Auschwitz, Raoul Wallenberg was sent to Budapest by the Swedish foreign ministry to help assist Jews still left in the city.
The Hungarian and German authorities usually respected the authority of the Swedish ambassador, and Wallenberg managed to issue thousands of “protective passports” which protected Jews, even though they weren’t valid by law. Wallenberg also acted in other ways to save 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 demanding to free the ones holding “protective passports”. In 1966 Raoul Wallenberg was proclaimed “Righteous among the Nations” by “Yad Vashem”.