Colonel José Arturo Castellanos was the Salvadoran Consul General in Geneva, Switzerland in 1942-45. He appointed George Mandel-Mantello, a Romanian Jewish refugee living in Geneva, as the First Secretary at his consulate. He authorized Mantello to issue thousands of ”citizen certificates” to Jewish refugees throughout Nazi occupied Europe. These certificates stated that the holder was a recognized citizen of El Salvador who was then protected from deportation. In 1944, Castellanos requested that Switzerland represent El Salvador’s interests in Nazi occupied Hungary. Soon, Mantello was issuing thousands of Salvadoran citizenship papers to Hungarian Jews through the office of Swiss Consul Charles Lutz.

A Ceremony in Honor of Coronel Castellanos held in El Salvador

The Official Ceremony honoring Colonel José Arturo Castellanos, who was recently declared Righteous Among the Nations, was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of El Salvador on Tuesday, July 27 2010. The IRWF was part of the team that worked on achieving this recognition.

Per Anger kept the Swedish Embassy open in Hungary and worked closely with Raoul Wallenberg. He personally intervened on behalf of Jews who were being deported to the Nazi death camps. On other occasions, Anger rescued Jews from Nazi death marches leaving Budapest. Consul Anger is credited with saving thousands of Jews from the spring of 1944 until the end of the war in May 1945. Anger died in Stockholm, Sweden, on August 26, 2002.

Boyan Atanassov was serving as a consul at the Bulgarian embassy in Paris in 1940. He saved scores of. Jewish people, many of whom were Bulgarian Jews trapped in France after the Nazi occupation. He issued Bulgarian passports and visas and arranged transport for these people through Germany to a safe refuge in Bulgaria. He did this without authorization from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sofia.

Lars Berg was part of the diplomatic mission to Budapest, Hungary. Along with his other diplomatic colleagues, he was responsible for saving Jews from Nazi and Arrow Cross deportations and murder. He has been honored by Yad Vashem for his actions.

Hiram Bingham was an American Vice Consul in charge of visas, stationed in Marseilles, France, in 1940. Shortly after the fall of France, Bingham, against the orders and policy of his superiors, issued visas, safe passes, and letters of transit to Jewish refugees. Many visas were falsified in order to protect the refugees from internment. Bingham worked closely with Varian Fry, of the Emergency Rescue Committee, and other rescue operations. He was, in part, responsible for saving more than 2,000 Jews. Among them were Jewish artists, intellectuals, writers and scientists, such as Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, André Breton, Heinrich Mann, and Jewish Nobel Prize winners.

Monsignor Bernardini repeatedly intervened on behalf of Jewish refugees who were stranded in Switzerland after fleeing Germany and Nazi occupied countries. This prevented them from being deported from Switzerland during the war. Bernardini placed couriers of the Vatican diplomatic service at the disposal of Jewish relief agencies. They were thus able to issue visas through Ambassador Lados and Dr. Julius Kuhl in countries that had severed diplomatic relations with Poland. Bernardini personally intervened on behalf of the Jews of Slovakia. In addition, Bernardini helped Jewish relief agencies to save Jews by acquiring and distributing fictitious South American passports. Bernardini also worked with the Red Cross to obtain recognition of these documents by South American governments.

Friedrich Born came to Budapest, Hungary, in May 1944. During the period from May 1944 to January 1945, Born issued thousands of Red Cross letters of protection to Jews of Budapest. He is credited with retrieving thousands of Jews from deportation camps and death marches in and around Budapest. He provided an additional 4,000 Jews with employment papers, preventing their deportation. He put over 60 Jewish institutions under Red Cross protection and housed over 7,000 Jewish children and orphans. He worked closely with the other neutral diplomatic legations, and set up dozens of Red Cross protected houses. He is credited with rescuing between 11,000 and 15,000 Jews in Budapest.

Franz Bischof was actively involved in rescuing Jews along with Carl Lutz in the Swiss Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, 1944-45. In addition, Bischof personally hid more than 30 Jews from Nazi deportation and murder.

Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho was the Portuguese Chargé d’Affaires in Budapest in 1944 and obtained permission from the Portuguese government to issue safe conducts to all persons who had relatives in Portugal, Brazil, or the Portuguese colonies. Each safe conduct was signed by Branquinho. After October 15, 1944, there was a great demand for these documents. Branquinho was authorized to issue 500 safe conducts, but in actual fact issued more than 800. Soon, the Portuguese established several safe houses to shelter the 800 protected Jews. Despite constant raids by the Arrow Cross, the Portuguese houses remained relatively safe throughout the war. He also established an office of the Portuguese Red Cross at the Portuguese legation to care for Jewish refugees.

Bosques gave visas to refugees, mainly anti-Franco fighters from the Spanish Civil War. He also issued visas to artists and politicians from Germany, Austria, France and Spain. Bosques and others working at the consulate were arrested by the Germans.