Malala Prize

2015

For Freedom and Human Rights

Giorgio Perlasca

“A righteous among the nations”

His Life

Giorgio Perlasca worked for an Italian importing firm in Budapest. When Mussolini fell in July 1943, all Italians in Hungary were requested to return home. Perlasca refused to go to a German-ruled Italian puppet state. As Perlasca said: "I was neither a fascist nor an anti-fascist, but I was anti-Nazi." Perlasca was interned; however, on October 13, 1944, he was able to talk his way out of the hotel where he was being held. He made his way to Angel Sanz-Briz, the Spanish envoy in Budapest, and applied for a job. Sanz-Briz, along with other members of the diplomatic community, had been issuing protective passes to Budapest Jews since the spring of 1944. Sanz-Briz put Perlasca in charge of the "safe houses" sheltering Jews from deportation and from the Arrow Cross militia. On November 30, 1944, Perlasca learned that Sanz-

Briz had gone, leaving him a note saying that he could

obtain a visa to Switzerland through the Spanish

embassy in Vienna. Although Perlasca did not have an

official letter appointing him the charge d'affaires of

Spain, he made himself the charge d'affaires and

continued to issue protective passes. He changed his first

name from the Italian "Giorgio" to the Spanish "Jorge."

He died in Padua, Italy in 1992

His commitment for

Human rights. “the heroic impostor”

d

During the Nazi-occupation of Budapest in 1944-45 he

saved at least 5,500 Jews from the gas chambers,

constantly risking his life in doing so. Evidence is now

emerging that he may have played a leading role in

saving a further 60,000 people from a massacre

planned by the Hungarian Nazis in the Budapest ghetto

just before the Russians took over the city.

.

Giorgio working to rescue Jews.

Quotations “I couldn’t stand the sight of people being branded like

animals . . . I couldn’t stand seeing children being killed.

I did what I had to do.” - Giorgio Perlasca

I would like young people to take interest in this story of

mine, purely to think not only about what happened , but

also about what might happen and to be able to oppose

violence of this kind, if necessary - Giorgio Perlasca

On April 5, 1945 - "On this occasion we want to express the affection and gratitude of the several thousand Jews who survived, thanks to your protection. There are not enough words to praise the tenderness with which you fed us and with which you cared for the old and the sick among us. You encouraged us when we were close to despair, and your name will never be omitted from our prayers. May the Almighty grant you your reward." - Dr. Hugo Dukesz (one of the Jews saved by Giorgio Perlasca)

Why this candidate is a

good candidate?

Giorgio Perlasca is a good candidate because who

would expect that an escaped political prisoner

would pose as a Spanish diplomat during WWII

to save the lives of people in a country not his own?

He had the option to sneak away and pursue his

personal safety, yet he chose to remain in order to

give hope and heroic aid to over five thousand Jews.

The memorial of the righteous among the nations in

Budapest

The bust devoted to Giorgio Perlasca in Budapest