Ernst Vonrufs, Acting Representative of Swiss Interests in Budapest, 1945

Ernst Vonrufs went to Budapest to manage a textile business.  When the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944, he sent his family home to Switzerland.  Vonrufs was responsible for the rescue of many Jews in Budapest during the final days of the war.  He was involved in the rescuing of Jews being held for deportation at the Obuda brickyard.  Along with Peter Zürcher, he had been appointed by Consul Carl Lutz to be his assistant. Zürcher and Vonrufs were active between late 1944 and mid-January 1945 in the protection of numerous Jewish safe houses and the "Glass House" on Vadasz street. 

Zürcher and Vonrufs, along with Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, prevented a planned, last-minute mass murder of the Jews of the Pest ghetto. 

Vonrufs was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations in 2000.