Holokauszt korabeli személyes dokumentumok: Védlevelek

A major but ultimately failed ambition of the Arrow Cross government of Hungary was to acquire diplomatic recognition. In pursuit of this goal, the Arrow Cross regime was also willing to make certain concessions to the diplomatic representatives of neutral countries present in Budapest. These representatives of neutral countries in turn issued tens of thousands of so called Schutzpässe. Through issuing these newly developed documents, they aimed and largely though not fully succeeded at putting persecuted Jews in Budapest under their legal protection. The collection of these protective papers at the Hungarian Jewish Archives contains documents issued by the major parties that were locally involved, i.e. the Swiss, Swedish, Spanish and Portuguese Embassies, the Papal Legate and the Swedish Red Cross. The box also contains a name list of Hungarian Jews who received their protective document from the Swedish Embassy (though the time of the creation of this document and the exact period it concerns are unfortunately not known) as well as a list of those individuals whom the Swedish Embassy intended to protect additionally. There is also a name list of Hungarian Jews who were brought back by the Swedish Embassy from the Western border after their forced march westwards from the capital city. Moreover, next to these protective documents, the collection contains miscellaneous personal papers.