DS in German and Hungarian, quickly signed with an ink scribble (as typical on documents of this type), one page, 8.25 x 13.25, October 9, 1944. Blue and gold two-language Schutz-Pass issued to Mrs. Dr. Eugen Fuchs geb. Eva Schwarz. The upper left section is filled out in type with her personal information including her 1898 birth date, height, and eye and hair color. Affixed adjacent to her personal information is a passport-style photo bearing an official ink stamp. The bottom portion bears printed statements in German and Hungarian, hastily signed in the lower left corner by Wallenberg, and countersigned by Swedish Minister to Budapest Carl Ivan Danielsson. Central vertical and horizontal folds with a pinhole at the intersection, scattered creases, and trivial dampstaining to edges, otherwise fine condition. A similar example of Wallenberg’s rushed signature can be found in the book Fleeing from the Fuhrer by William Kaczinski and Charmian Brinson. Accompanied by a two-language protective letter signed by Danielsson, dated August 1, 1944, issued to her husband, Dr. Eugen Fuchs; the letter bears an affixed and stamped photo of him as well. Eugen [Jeno] Fuchs was a lawyer who had previously won four Olympic gold medals in fencing—two in London in 1908 and two in Stockholm in 1912. These two different types of passes are rarely found in combination, and many have had their photographs torn off and lost.
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. Thus, with his simple, nondescript scribble on this Schutz-Pass, Wallenberg saved Eva Fuchs—an important reminder of one heroic man’s tireless efforts to outwit the Nazis and save countless lives. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA.
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