Bold Faith Faith Profile

during his childhood decades earlier. he studied Latin and theology with came to him for help,” Cornut said. The ruse was so effective, it Carl Lutz was born in the intent to become a pastor. He Lutz approached S.S. Lt. Col. was duplicated by other diplomats Walzenhausen, , on stayed there two years. Adolph Eichmann, who had come to of neutral countries, including March 30, 1895, the second young- A summer job in Washington, D.C., , and requested 8,000 diplo- ’s . In 1944, est of 10 children by Johannes and with the Swiss Legation prompted matic letters of protection. Eichmann Wallenberg had been given an assign- Ursula Lutz. Most of the community Lutz to consider a diplomatic career said Lutz must appeal to Hitler, which ment to bring 300-400 Jewish busi- RESCUING 60,000 surrounding Johannes Lutz’s sand- instead. So he left Missouri and he did. And he received a surprising nessmen and their families to safety in stone quarry consisted of impover- enrolled at George Mason University reply from Berlin: “This is the man Sweden. He was stunned to hear that ished farmers. in the nation’s capital, where he who represented our interests in Lutz had already provided safe haven Ursula Lutz, a devout Methodist, pursued history and law, graduating Palestine to such satisfaction that I’m for at least 20,000 Jews. Wallenberg taught Sunday school, and she taught in 1924. Lutz continued serving with willing to acquiesce to his request.” realized he needed to set his sights her own children to pray, read the the Swiss Legation, assuming respon- At every step, Lutz shrewdly higher. Soon, Sweden established 32 JEWS FROM THE Bible, and how to live a life that pleas- sibilities at consulates in Philadelphia extended the protection to cover of its own safe houses near the ones es God. Lutz biographer Theo Tschuy and then St. Louis. far more than the intended number Lutz had established. wrote that “entries in early diaries In 1934 he was appointed vice- of people. Instead of applying the Furious that Lutz had undermined show that in his youthful enthusiasm consul to the Swiss Consulate General protection letters to individuals, Lutz the genocide of Jews, Hungarian The Moral Courage he wanted Jesus to guide his life.” in Jaffa, in what was then Palestine— interpreted them to cover entire government leaders requested of Carl Lutz Just as the Lord Jesus retreated to leaving the U.S. with his wife Gertrud families. Each letter bore a distinct permission to assassinate him, but NAZIS a quiet place to pray, on the night of their honeymoon. number, and Lutz never reached Berlin never replied. While in Palestine, at the time under 8,000. When he reached 7,999 he Following the war, Lutz returned British rule, Lutz defended the rights forged tens of thousands of additional to Switzerland, only to have his of German citizens living throughout letters by starting again at number 1. rescue mission come under fire. He the region, keeping them from was reprimanded by his by Richard Greene being deported by the British. government for exceed- That very service would later ing his authority. Still, he arl Lutz heard the gunshots prove critical when Lutz stood was acclaimed by others. and knew he had to up to the Nazis in . In 1965, he became the first act—immediately. Lutz was transferred to Swiss national to be named On the banks of the Danube Budapest in 1944. Drawing by the State of to the River in Nazi-occupied from his previous experience, list of “Righteous Among CHungary, pro-fascist thugs were he quickly began working with the Nations,” and he was emptying their guns into a group the Jewish Agency for Palestine, nominated three times for of Jews they had rounded up and issuing safe-conduct documents the Nobel Peace Prize. stripped. After shooting them, they so nearly 10,000 Hungarian Lutz died on Feb. 13, 1975. began throwing the bodies into Jewish children could emigrate. Twenty years later, under the river. In March of that year, fear- pressure, Switzerland offi- Lutz, a Swiss diplomat, had been ing Hungary might sign a cially recognized his feats. protecting Jews from the Nazis since peace treaty with the Allies, In speech after speech, arriving at his post two years earlier. Germany invaded the country Agnes Hirschi, Lutz’s He had even snatched individuals and set up a puppet regime. stepdaughter, affirmed away from similar firing squads by Carl Lutz with a personal driver on the Danube, in front of the parliament building in Budapest. Pro-Nazi paramilitary began to her father’s heroics. “He showing that they were under Swiss ruthlessly enact Hitler’s “final launched his mission to save diplomatic protection. He was not Lutz’s public bravery that day Lutz one day bounded up into solution” and ordered Jews to the Jews in Budapest out about to stop now. He told his driver saved the woman’s life. But today, the wooded hills above his house to death camps. of his religious and moral Lutz looks out the window of the ruined British Legation to hurry toward the gunshots. Lutz is hailed much more for what talk privately with God. Tschuy wrote Terrified Jews besieged convictions. As an engaged in Budapest. Arriving on the scene—and still he accomplished in secret. Leading that the young boy “demanded loudly Lutz’s office, crying out for assis- Christian, he could not toler- wearing his suit—Lutz rushed into the what historians call the largest civil that Jesus make him do something tance. Moved by their plight, Lutz ate Jews being pursued and waist-deep water to rescue a bleeding rescue operation during the Second unusual when he grew up, become a remembered how his mother had At the same time, Lutz established killed. He risked his life and career. Jewish woman who, miraculously, World War, Lutz helped save some missionary or a great scientist.” shown Christian compassion to the 76 safe houses across Budapest, where He knew that God gave him this task, was still alive. He pulled her ashore, 62,000 Jews from being deported to At 18, Carl immigrated to the downtrodden back home. According Jews were housed, fed and diplomati- and he was confident that God would placed her in the back seat of his black Auschwitz and certain death. United States, working odd jobs to historian Xavier Cornut, that’s cally protected. The most legendary give strength to fulfill it.” ©2018 BGEA Packard and sped to a diplomatic safe The moral courage displayed by to finance his schooling. In 1918, the moment when Lutz recalled his was known as the “Glass House”—a house, where the woman underwent Lutz during the 1940s was rooted in he enrolled at Central Wesleyan childhood prayer. “He felt that God former glass factory where 3,000 RICHARD GREENE IS A SENIOR EDITOR FOR immediate surgery. his Christian faith, which was shaped University in Warrenton, Mo., where answered him when Budapest’s Jews Jews found refuge. SAMARITAN’S PURSE.

34 DECISION FEBRUARY 2018 PHOTOGRAPHS: ARCHIV FÜR ZEITGESCHICHTE ETH ZÜRICH/AGNES HIRSCHI FEBRUARY 2018 DECISION 35