-
Charles Lutz Birth
Charles (Carl) Lutz was born March 30th 1895 -
In the early years
In 1909 when he was 14 years old his mother died of tuberculosis. At the age of 15 he began working in a training textile mill in St. Margrethen. -
Before he was in the War
He worked in Granite City, Illinois from 1913–18 to earn money for college, and started his studies at In 1920, Lutz found a job in the Swiss consular corps at the Swiss Legation in Washington D.C. -
Before the war
A seasoned diplomat, Lutz had served as the Swiss consul to Palestine, then under British instruction, in the 1930s. He was transferred to Budapest in 1942. Hungary had already joined the war on Germany's side in 1941, and in 1944 the Nazis occupied the country. -
During War World II
Charles was given permission to concern 8,000 passes to individual Jews, but he explained this to mean families, so he printed and numbered the passes accordingly. -
Saving over 60,000 Jews
He is credited with saving over 62,000 Jews. That was the largest rescue operation of Jews of the Second World War. -
He stopped the deportation of German people
In 1942 Carl Lutz served as the Swiss counsel in Palestine, where he was able to intervene and stop the deportation of German people that the british thought of as enemies. -
He built safe houses
During World War two he set up 76 "safe houses" around Budapest, declaring them annexes of the Swiss misson and banned to Hungarian forces or Nazi soldiers, about 3,000 Hungarian Jews found refuge at the Glass House and in a neighboring building. -
Charles trying to help keep everyone positive
Agnes Hirschi remembers being in the cellars in December 1944, as Budapest was getting ready for a bloody battle with the Soviet Army. "I celebrated my seventh birthday in that cellar," she says.
"And Carl Lutz was a very nice man. He had some chocolate for me, which he had saved." -
Lutz helped more than 10,000 Jews during WWII
Lutz soon began working with the Jewish Agency for Israel. He issued Swiss safe-conduct documents that set up almost 10,000 Hungarian Jewish children to depart, and saved over 62,000 Jews. -
Swiss Diplomatic
Started distributing special diplomatic documents that protected Jewish Swiss citizens. -
Rescued innocent Jews from dying and suffering
Charles rescued thousands of Jews in Hungary from concentration camps and death -
The people were terrified and suffering
During the war the Russians came down to the cellar and they were terrible looking men. For weeks they didn't shave and they didn't wash. They wanted watches and they wanted alcohol. They even drank the “eau de” cologne of my mother. -
Charles finally got them out of the cellar
They could finally leave the cellar in February 1945, when the Battle of Budapest ended in Soviet victory. -
The Protective Letters
In the chaos and ruthless violence created by the Arrow Cross thugs and the paramilitary Lutz distributed “protective letters” to all who kept Swiss papers then these letters were given to Budapest Jews seeking asylum. -
Lutz's life after WWII
After World War 2 Lutz and his wife returned to Switzerland in January 1945 and divorced in 1946, and in 1949 he re-married, to Magda Csányi, during the war she asked him to protect her and her daughter, Agnes. -
Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Lutz was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize and was the first Swiss person to be given the title Righteous Among the Nations -
After WWII
After the war they returned to Switzerland, and in 1964, Lutz and his wife, Gertrud, were labeled as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. -
Interview with Charles Lutz
The huge disappointment was that there was no one to help the people suffering and how the other people wanted to help but couldn't because they would also be torchered was how Charles lutz remembered it in an interview right before his death in 1975. "I was just asked, 'Do you have anything to declare?'" Far from being commended for his bravery, Lutz was reprimanded for overstepping his authority. -
Charles Lutz died
Charles Lutz died in February 12th 1975
