Ernst Prodolliet, Secretary of the Swiss Consulate in Bregenz, Austria, April 1938 - April 1939, Amsterdam, April 1939-end of 1942

Ernst Prodolliet was the Swiss consul in charge of visas in Bregenz, Austria, 1938-1939.  He personally issued hundreds of transit visas and documents to Jews and other refugees and accompanied them to the Swiss border to help them escape Austria after the Nazi Anschluss [annexation] of March 13, 1938.  He worked closely with Swiss police captain Paul Grüninger, who allowed the Jews to cross into Switzerland at the border area of St. Gallen.

Prodolliet issued the lifesaving transit visas against Swiss Foreign Ministry regulations and without permission from his superiors.  In Austria, Prodolliet worked with two prominent Jewish rescuer organizations, Recha Sternbuch and Gusty Bornstein.  He provided visas that allowed Jews to flee to neutral Italy or Switzerland.  From Italy, many Jews were able to go to Palestine.

Prodolliet wrote reports for the Swiss Foreign Ministry in Bern informing them about the persecution of Jews in Germany and Austria.

After numerous complaints against him, Prodolliet was called to Bern to face disciplinary proceedings.  There, he was reprimanded for issuing transit visas to refugees in violation of regulations. 

In 1939, Prodolliet was transferred to the Swiss consulate in Amsterdam.  In late 1942, Jews were being deported from Holland.  Prodolliet issued numerous Swiss transit visas to help Jews escape.  In Amsterdam, Prodolliet worked with Gertrude van Tijn of the Jewish Council and Gusty Bornstein to rescue Jews.  Prodolliet even went to the deportation trains, where he was able to save Jews.  During this period, Prodolliet was aided and supported by his wife Freida.

Prodolliet received Israel's Righteous Among the Nations award in 1982 for his life saving activities.  He died in Amriswil, Switzerland, in 1984.