[A Certification of the Swedish Royal Legation.] A Svéd Királyi Követség igazolja, [...]

Budapest, 1944. 1 page, typed document bearing Wallenberg's stamped signature, the stamp of the Königlich Schwedische Gesandtschaft in Budapest, and a likely signature of the Swedish Ambassador, Carl Ivan Danielsson, in green ink. Folded twice. Small closed tears at the edges of the horizontal folding and the center. A brown stain at the lower-left corner. Overall in very good condition.. 1 page, typed document bearing Wallenberg's stamped signature, the stamp of the Königlich Schwedische Gesandtschaft in Budapest, and a likely signature of the Swedish Ambassador, Carl Ivan Danielsson, in green ink. An exceptionally rare Hungarian Holocaust document with Raoul Wallenberg's stamped signature.

This typed document certifies that György Rózsa is empowered to act with officials, according to the published law, on behalf of other holders of protective passes [Schutz-Pass]. The letter of assignment is effective between November 17 and 20, 1944.

Due to the dates and the emphasized detail of "other holders of protective passes [Schutz-Pass]," it is strongly surmised that this document is related to the ghettoization of a fraction of the Budapest Jewry who were granted protection by foreign embassies. The relocation, initially with a deadline of November 18 and later extended to November 20, was ordered by the radical anti-Semitic Hungarian Government led by Ferenc Szálasi, who came into power in mid-October 1944. The designated area, later called the International or Small Ghetto, was a neighborhood near the Danube on the Pest side of the city, where embassies (such as the Swedish, Swiss, Portuguese, Spanish, and the Holy See) could establish safe houses for some 15,000 "protected Jews," a small fraction of the 200,000-strong Jewish community in Budapest. By the end of the war, about 40,000 Jews lived there, often with up to 60 people sharing one room. In January 1945, an estimated 119,000 Jewish people were liberated in Budapest, with 25,000 surviving in the International Ghetto and about 70,000 in the "big" or Budapest ghetto established later.

Unfortunately, there is not enough information to identify György Rózsa, the assignee of the letter. The document bears the stamped signature of Raoul Wallenberg, secretary of the Royal Swedish Legation. In 1944-1945, Wallenberg saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews by granting them Schutz-Passes, quasi-official documents of safe passage to Sweden, exempting them from bearing the distinguishing yellow Star of David. These documents were also issued and signed by the Swedish Ambassador, Carl Ivan Danielsson (1880-1963). For his heroic actions, Wallenberg was honored by many countries after the war and awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal by the State of Israel. Wallenberg was captured by the Soviets after the Siege of Budapest and died in unexplained circumstances, most likely in the Lubyanka in Moscow in 1947.

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