Charles "Carl" Lutz, Consul for Switzerland in Budapest, Hungary, 1942-45, and Gertrud Lutz,* Wife of Consul Carl Lutz, Budapest, Hungary

Carl Lutz (1895-1975) was the first neutral diplomat in Budapest to rescue Jews. He is credited with inventing the Schutzbrief (protective letter) for Jewish refugees in Budapest. 

After March 19, 1944, the Germans occupied Hungary and the new government of Döme Sztojay closed the Hungarian borders to Jewish emigration. In tough negotiations with the Nazis and the Hungarian government, Lutz obtained permission to issue protective letters to 8,000 Hungarian Jews for emigration to Palestine.  Using a ruse and interpreting the 8,000 "units" not as persons but as families, he and his staff issued tens of thousands of additional "protective letters."  He established 76 Swiss safe houses throughout Budapest.  Carl Lutz and his wife, Gertrud, liberated Jews from deportation centers and death marches. 

In 1942-43, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency for Palestine, Lutz helped 10,000 Jewish children and young people to emigrate to Palestine.  He worked with hundreds of Jewish volunteers who helped him process the protective letters and distribute them throughout Budapest.  Lutz was told that as long as he stayed in Budapest, his protectees would survive.  He is credited by Jewish relief agencies with saving 62,000 Jews from the Nazi Holocaust. 

After the war, Carl Lutz was admonished for exceeding his authority in helping Jews.  In 1958, he was rehabilitated by the Swiss government and honored for his actions.

Carl Lutz and his wife, Gertrud, were both honored with the title Righteous Among the Nations by Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Authority in 1964.  They were the first Swiss citizens to be honored as such.  Lutz has been declared an honorary citizen of the State of Israel.  Carl Lutz died in 1975 at the age of 80.