Rescue Mission

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Schutzpass: a passport to survive

By the time Raoul Wallenberg arrived in Budapest on July 9, 1944; 437,402 men women and children had been deported from Hungary which included all of the the Jews outside of the capital. There were 230,000 remaining Jews. His mission was to issue protective passports to provide Swedish protection for the passport holders. Protective passports were also issued by other neutral legations as well as the International Red Cross, Swedish Red Cross and the Papal Nuncio Angelo Rotta. These passports could make the difference between life and death. The Hungarian Foreign Ministry had allotted 1,500 passports to be issued by Wallenberg. He negotiated the quota to 4,500 and actually ended up issuing 3 times that number.

Raoul's office was staffed with 250 Jews working 24 hours in shifts. As his staff soon increased to 400, he allowed himself no more than 4 hours of sleep at night. Wallenberg set up hospitals, nurseries, soup kitchens and safe houses throughout the city. Though the deportations had been ordered to cease in July, the ambitious Adolf Eichmann constantly looked for an opportunity to annihilate the remaining Jewish population in a "24-hour blitz." In August the SS troops in Budapest reached an intimidating 9,500. Hungarian Regent, Miklos Horthy heard of the rumors and ordered temporary banishment of Eichmann.

Arrow Cross Terror

In September and October, the Russians began to advance on the eastern Hungarian plain. Wallenberg, hoping that the worst was over, began to prepare to go home. On October 15, Regent Horthy announced the end to the war for Budapest but the announcement was not supported by military assertion. Instead, the Arrow Cross (A Hungarian fascist political party ), seized power. Horthy was replaced by Arrow Cross leader, Ferenc Szalasi and Eichmann returned the next day. During the first night, arrests and pogroms took place. 100-200 people were killed and Jewish homes were raided. Wallenberg's personnel and car disappeared. When he discovered this, he found a lady's bike and rode around relocating his staff. He found and freed all but 10, and moved them into safe hiding places.

Eichmann's Death Marches

In the beginning of November, the Soviets penetrated the south-eastern outskirts for the city. Within the city, Arrow Cross soldiers, many only teenagers, were terrorizing the city. Eichmann began his notorious "death marches" on November 9. Because there were no trains available, he decided to march deportees on foot from Budapest to the Austrian border at Hegyshalom where trains waited for them to take them to death camps. Raoul Wallenberg and his colleague Per Anger traveled up and down the 120-mile route distributing van loads of food, medicine, warm clothing and passports. Wallenberg placed controls on the main roads leading from Budapest to prevent Jews with protection passes from being deported. An estimated 2,000 Jews were saved this way and 15,000 labour service men were returned. Wallenberg reported corpses of many who had died or been murdered along the marches. Many people were found frozen to death, or hanging from trees. Some threw themselves into the icy waters of the Danube.

After investigation by Eichmann's superior, Heinrich Himmler, the marches were ordered to cease around the end of November.

Bad times get even worse

With the Soviet invasion came Allied bombing of the city. The Jews were trapped in two ghettos: 35,000 in the international ghetto, "protected" in Safe houses; and 75,000 in the General "unprotected" Ghetto in 243 houses and policed by 800 Arrow Cross appointed guards. The Arrow Cross men looted, raped, tortured and killed. A protective pass was often not a deterrent. However, because of the authentic design of Wallenberg's passes, they were sometimes respected.

This was a very hard time for all in Budapest. As the Gentile Refugees escaped from the city on foot, murders took place daily. Forty of Wallenbergs employees had been abducted and tortured. Despite the chaos, Wallenberg had set up a small section of his staff under Jewish economist Rezso Muller, to work out a detailed social and economic relief plan for Hungary to be utilized after the Nazi defeat. Meanwhile Wallenberg ran from house to house saving his Jewish residents from the Arrow Cross raids by means of manipulation, intimidation and sometimes bribery.

Eichmann's Last minute efforts

In the second week of January as the Soviets encroached upon the city, the Arrow Cross became even more enthusiastic and made raids upon the protected houses. Wallenberg convinced Szalay, the senior police officer and Wallenberg's private ally, to post guards outside of the houses which deterred raids.

The SS had begun to hunt for Wallenberg and his life was in danger. His private intelligence service had informed him that Eichmann's carefully planned massacre of the entire Jewish ghetto was to be carried out very soon. Wallenberg appealed to general August Schmidthuber, commander in chief of the German troops in Hungary as dynamite and armed troops surrounded the ghetto in preparation for its complete destruction. Wallenberg warned him that he would be hung after the war if the massacre was carried out. The massacre was called off.

Liberation

Wallenberg made a short visit to the Swedish legation in Buda where he met his close colleague, Per Anger for the last time. He, then, moved to the Pest side of the river, where the ghettos were located, despite the danger that he was putting himself in. The Russians entered the General ghetto two days after the massacre had been called off to find 69,000 Jews alive there. In the International Ghetto they found 25,000. On the Buda side, another 25,000 had emerged from hiding places in Gentile homes, monasteries, convents and church cellars. In all, 120,000 had survived. They were the only substantial Jewish population left in Europe, and even today, remain the largest. Unexpectedly, when the Russians "liberated" the city, they did a generous share of raping, looting and terrorizing its inhabitants.

With the arrival of the Russians, Raoul was concerned with delivering the plans for his post-war relief plan. When the Russians visited him at his office at 16 Benczur Street on January 13, Raoul asked to be taken to see Soviet General Tchernishev in Debrecen to present to him his relief plans. On January 17, Wallenberg and his driver, Vilmos Langfelder returned to Benczur street to pick up some belongings, and were then escorted to Debrecen.

Neither Raoul Wallenberg nor Vilmos Langfelder were ever heard from again.

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