75 / 194
“RELEASE HIM . . . FROMTHE OBLIGATION
OFWEARINGTHEYELLOW STAR”
108
●
WALLENBERG, RAOUL. Partly-printed Letter Signed, “RWallenberg,” as
Secretary of the Royal Swedish Embassy, to the Hungarian National Central Alien Control
Office, in Hungarian and German, verifying that Jenö Radványi has been issued a Swedish
protective passport, and releasing him from the obligation to wear a Yellow Star.
Accomplished in type. 1 page, tall 4to; purple ink stamp of Royal Swedish Embassy at
lower center, even toning overall, small holes on folds at upper and lower edges, few short
closed tears at upper edge.
Budapest, 31 August 1944
[6,000/9,000]
“
We have the pleasure to inform you that the Royal Swedish Embassy in Budapest has issued a pro-
tective passport for Mr./Ms. Jenö Radványi who thus is to be considered a Swedish citizen.
“
The Embassy kindly requests that you to release him/her from the obligation of wearing theYellow Star. . . .”
Raoul Wallenberg (1912-1945?), the offspring of a Swedish merchant family, was employed during
World War II by a trading company owned by a Hungarian Jew, often serving in the owner’s stead
because of the employment restrictions imposed by the Nazi regime on Jews working in the Axis
states.When Germany’s forces occupied Hungary,Wallenberg assented to a plan to bring Jews trapped
in Hungary to safety, and he began work at the Swedish Embassy in Budapest. Using the power of
his post, he issued over 4,000 protective passports, each granting the protection of Swedish citizenship
to the recipient.Although the legal validity of the documents was uncertain, they were accepted by the
authorities and resulted in the saving of thousands of lives. In 1945, Soviet troops suspected
Wallenberg of espionage, arrested him, and brought him to Moscow where he disappeared.