April 22, 2008

Carl Lutz Exhibition Opened in Kossuth House

On Saturday, April 19, an exhibition called "Carl Lutz and the Legendary Glass House in Budapest" was opened at the Kossuth House in Washington, which was co-sponsored by the Hungarian American Coalition, the Carl Lutz Foundation (Budapest), the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, and the Embassies of Switzerland and Hungary.

Carl Lutz in his office and on his official ID photo

The MC of the opening ceremony, Mr. Leslie Megyeri, Secretary-Treasurer  of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, welcomed guests and diplomats to the event.

Leslie Megyeri, Secretary General of the Kossuth House

Maximilian N. Teleki, President of the Hungarian American Coalition introduced György Vámos, President of the Carl Lutz Foundation. The remarks of György Vámos were read out by his son Tibor Vámos about the importance of keeping the memory of men like Carl Lutz, who saved people in WW2 from certain death.

György Vámos, Agnes Hirschi, Tibor Vámos, Max Teleki

Agnes Hirschi, the daughter of Carl Lutz talked about her personal memories of her father during his work as a consul in Budapest, and presented an official medal of him to the Embassy of Hungary and Switzerland.

Carl Lutz Medal

Alexander Wittwer, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Switzerland, stressed the importance of bravery and courage in difficult times, which is symbolized by the work of Carl Lutz. Béla Gedeon, Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Hungary, said that Carl Lutz had been the designer and leader of one of the biggest and most successful rescue operations of the 20th century.

Hungarian Cultural Attaché Béla Gedeon and Swiss DCM Alexander Wittwer

Swiss Consul Carl Lutz, the man who, with the help of his wife Gertrud, rescued 62 housands Jews in Budapest from deportation to Nazi death camps during WW2. From 1942 to 45, he was in charge of issuing visas at the Swiss Embassy in Budapest. In that capacity, he issued tens of thousands of protective letters (“Schutzbriefe”) for Hungarian Jews, documents the Nazi officials only reluctantly recognised.

He also established "safe houses" throughout Budapest by declaring them annexes of the Swiss legation and eventually extended diplomatic immunity to 72 buildings. Among these safe houses the most famous one was the Glass House, an old industrial building at 29 Vadász Street. Over 3,000 Jews found refuge and protection from their prosecutors here during World War 2.  The Glass House was opened in 2005 for visitors as a museum to document the history of Carl Lutz and his actvities.

Carl Lutz has been honoured by the Yad Vashem Institute, the State of Israel and the Swiss Government. In 1963 a street was named after him in Haifa, Israel, later in his home village Walzenhausen, Switzerlandand. Since 1991 a memorial at the entrance to the old Budapest ghetto remembers him as savior of Hungarian Jews, and in 2006 a memorial was unveiled in the park adjacent to the Embassy where he worked in Budapest.

Carl Lutz Memorial in Budapest at Szabadság tér 12.

The following text is engraved on the memorial:

"In the building at Szabadság tér 12, Swiss Vice Consul Carl Lutz honorably represented the interests of the United States of America and other countries between 1942 and 1945. He courageously saved the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian citizens persecuted as Jews."