Auction 72 - Rare and Important Items
Letter of Protection for a Jewish Woman – Budapest, 1944 – Signed by the Portuguese Diplomats Carlos Branquinho and Jules Gulden
Opening: $8,000
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000
Unsold
A letter by the Protection Division (Section de protection) of the Portuguese embassy in Budapest to the National Central Authority for Controlling Foreigners (KEOKH), instructing the recipient to regrant the rights of a Jewish woman who had been issued a Portuguese passport. August 25, 1944. Hungarian.
The letter announces the issuing of passport no. 2216 to Blanka Rohrlich and directs the recipient to exempt her from the compulsory Yellow badge, grant her food coupons and issue her a Hungarian visa in preparation for a trip to Portugal.
The letter bears the stamp of the embassy, and to its right, in blue ink, the signature of the chargé d'affaires and acting ambassador Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho. A postscript, handwritten in black ink and signed by the vice consul, Jules Gulden reads: "The house arrest should be aborted forthwith".
Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho (1902-1973) was the chargé d'affaires of the Portuguese government in Budapest and the close assistant of the Righteous among the Nations, ambassador Carlos Sampaio Garrido. The two obtained permission from the Portuguese government to issue safe conduct passes to all persons who had relatives in Portugal and thus issued hundreds of life-saving documents for Jews (some of whom never set foot in Portugal). In April 1944, Ambassador Garrido left Hungary by order of the Portuguese government and Branquinho replaced him as acting ambassador, continuing to issue hundreds of protection documents on his own. After the Portuguese government ordered Branquinho to leave too, in October 1944, he was replaced by the vice consul Jules Gulden (1898-1979) who remained in the embassy to protect the Jewish proteges of Portugal despite the daily death threats he received.
The name on this document, Blanka Rohrlich, appears in the list of survivors from Budapest (in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).
Documents for the protection of Jews signed by Branquinho and Gulden are extremely rare.
[1] leaf, 29.5 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Stains and minor blemishes.
The letter announces the issuing of passport no. 2216 to Blanka Rohrlich and directs the recipient to exempt her from the compulsory Yellow badge, grant her food coupons and issue her a Hungarian visa in preparation for a trip to Portugal.
The letter bears the stamp of the embassy, and to its right, in blue ink, the signature of the chargé d'affaires and acting ambassador Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho. A postscript, handwritten in black ink and signed by the vice consul, Jules Gulden reads: "The house arrest should be aborted forthwith".
Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho (1902-1973) was the chargé d'affaires of the Portuguese government in Budapest and the close assistant of the Righteous among the Nations, ambassador Carlos Sampaio Garrido. The two obtained permission from the Portuguese government to issue safe conduct passes to all persons who had relatives in Portugal and thus issued hundreds of life-saving documents for Jews (some of whom never set foot in Portugal). In April 1944, Ambassador Garrido left Hungary by order of the Portuguese government and Branquinho replaced him as acting ambassador, continuing to issue hundreds of protection documents on his own. After the Portuguese government ordered Branquinho to leave too, in October 1944, he was replaced by the vice consul Jules Gulden (1898-1979) who remained in the embassy to protect the Jewish proteges of Portugal despite the daily death threats he received.
The name on this document, Blanka Rohrlich, appears in the list of survivors from Budapest (in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).
Documents for the protection of Jews signed by Branquinho and Gulden are extremely rare.
[1] leaf, 29.5 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Stains and minor blemishes.
Holocaust and She'erit Hapletah
Holocaust and She'erit Hapletah