A rare Schutz-Pass associated document with a Raoul Wallenberg signature will be auctioned by Boston-based RR Auction.
The one-page document in Hungarian is signed "R. Wallenberg," and dated September 28, 1944. Translated, it reads: "To the National Central Authority Supervising Foreigners…We are pleased to inform you that the Royal Swedish Legation in Budapest has issued a protective passport to Mr. Miksa Lévai according to which the above-named person must be considered a Swedish citizen. The Legation kindly requests that the above-named individual be exempt from wearing the distinguishing symbol. The Legation certifies that the reciprocity mentioned in the relevant regulation exists with Sweden."
"While Wallenberg typically signed Schutz-Passes with quick scribbles, this document boasts— a more neat complete signature," said Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction.
Wallenberg arrived in Hungary in July 1944 as the country's Jewish population was under siege.
Nearly every other major Jewish community in Europe had already been decimated, and the Nazis were dispatching more than 10,000 Hungarian Jews to the gas chambers daily. With time of the essence, he devised and distributed thousands of these 'Schutz-Passes'—official-looking, but essentially invalid, Swedish passports granting the Hungarian bearer immunity from deportation. Nazi officials readily accepted the paperwork, leading to the escape from certain death for thousands of Hungarian Jews.