Carl Lutz Memorial, Budapest

As you wander through the old Budapest Ghetto, you might stumble upon a quiet memorial, partly hidden among the trees, dedicated to Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz. Created in 1991 by sculptor Tamás Szabó, the piece shows two bronze figures: an angel above, sending a bolt of cloth down to a figure lying helpless below.

During his time as Swiss Vice-Consul in Budapest, from 1942 to the end of World War II, Carl Lutz saved thousands of Jewish lives. He negotiated a special deal with both the Nazis and the Hungarian government, allowing him to issue safe-conduct passes to British-controlled Palestine. Cleverly stretching the limits of his authority, he treated each pass as covering not just one person, but entire families, issuing tens of thousands of protective letters, each numbered between one and eight thousand. Beyond that, he established around 76 “safe houses” across Budapest, declaring them extensions of the Swiss legation—thus making them off-limits to Nazi and Hungarian forces. One of the best-known of these was the “Glass House” on Vadász Street, where nearly 3,000 Jews found shelter.

In 1965, Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to Holocaust victims, recognized Carl Lutz as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations" for his extraordinary courage and compassion.