Diplomacy Walzenhausen commemorates diplomat and rescuer Carl Lutz with a museum
During the Second World War, Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews. To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, a new temporary museum will open in his birthplace of Walzenhausen AR on Wednesday.
12.02.2025, 10:00
SDA
As Swiss vice-consul in Budapest from 1942 until the end of the Second World War, Carl Lutz saved the lives of over 60,000 Jews. When he died in Bern on February 12, 1975, Lutz was disappointed and embittered by the attitude of official Switzerland. The municipality of Walzenhausen is now commemorating the 50th anniversary of his death with a pop-up museum in memory of the diplomat, who was only honored late.
"For us, the work of Carl Lutz, who saved tens of thousands of people, is a testimony to the highest civil courage and deepest humanity," Anita Winter told the Keystone-SDA news agency. Winter is president of the Swiss foundation "Gamaraal", which cares for Holocaust survivors in Switzerland and is involved in Holocaust education work. She designed the exhibition "Carl Lutz - Lifesaver from Walzenhausen."
In the exhibition in the so-called "Hohl" house in Walzenhausen, several texts provide information about the life and work of Carl Lutz. "The exhibition also describes the immensity of the Second World War, which goes beyond all imagination," says Anita Winter. The pop-up museum also aims to show where anti-Semitism, which according to Winter is "flaring up again today in a frightening way", can lead.
Carl Lutz's time as a diplomat in Palestine and Budapest, for example, will be highlighted. In the Hungarian capital, he headed the department for foreign interests and thus also represented the interests of other countries such as the USA and Great Britain.
Switzerland held back on paying tribute
The Swiss national, who came from a devout Methodist background, procured protective passports and letters of protection for tens of thousands of Jews to emigrate to Palestine. This saved them from deportation.
Lutz was able to negotiate a contingent of 8,000 such letters of protection from the Nazis. Together with other people, Lutz developed a proper system and issued several times the permitted number of letters of protection. He numbered these documents from 1 to 7999, and the Swiss also succeeded in extending diplomatic protection to no fewer than 76 buildings in Budapest.
While Lutz's work was honored abroad, Switzerland held back for a long time. Instead of praise, the diplomat who returned to Switzerland after the war was initially reprimanded for exceeding his authority.
Honored in Israel
In 1963, his birthplace Walzenhausen granted him honorary citizenship. A year later, the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem honored him and his first wife Gertrud Lutz-Fankhauser with the title "Righteous Among the Nations".
It was not until the mid-1990s that official Switzerland remembered the courageous men and women who had selflessly worked to save Jews, probably also against the backdrop of the dispute over dormant assets. Lutz was posthumously rehabilitated in 1995. In April 2018, the largest meeting room in the Federal Palace was named after Carl Lutz.
The next big step would be a permanent museum dedicated to Carl Lutz in his birthplace of Walzenhausen. According to Anita Winter, the number of visitors will be analyzed at the end of the year and a decision will then be made. The pop-up museum will certainly be open until the end of 2025.
