Brothers for Resistance and Rescue 1 - CENDO

Two together – The “Glass House” – Rescue attempts
The”Glass House” was located on 29, Vadász Street (hunter in Hungarian), a quiet street in the
exclusive 5th district of Budapest. Near the house there were government offices, foreign countries’
embassies. On one side was the Parliament and the Danube River and on the other side the
Basilica Church and the city center.
This was a two storey building, among 4 and 6 storey ones, owned by Arthur Weisz, a Jew and
one of the Jewish community’s respected members, a well-to-do glass merchant. The house
looked different from the other houses mainly because of its wide glass walls. Weisz’ office as well
as his private apartment were on the top floor, while the goods storage rooms were on the ground
floor and in the basement.
There was also a wide inner yard in the back of which there was a building used by the workers as
well as workshops for repairs.
Arthur Weisz agreed to let the Swiss consulate use the premises and, already in 1944, the
department of emigration of the Swiss consulate and the foreign interests was set up there. The
use of the house for the needs of the Jews was made possible thanks to Karl Lutz who was the
Swiss consul in Budapest. Lutz agreed to the issue of 7,800 Swiss Protection Documents but the
forgery laboratories of the youth movements issued many more documents and distributed them to
anyone who asked for them. Lutz probably knew of this operation but turned a blind eye. The
Hungarian government authorized the use of all the unused certificates for the emigration of Jews
from all over Europe. At the beginning only “clerks” stayed in the house on Vadász Street. After
15.10.1944 Alexander Grossmann opened the doors to everyone. The Swiss emblem was
displayed on the gate to the house and, as a branch of a foreign consulate, it was considered as an
exterritorial space (outside the borders of uncertified persons).
Soon the house turned into a refuge for Jews running away from the forced labor units some of
whom intended to make aliya. The German and Hungarian authorities, gave their consent to the
existence of the house under the protection of Switzerland for the “emigration of Jews to
Palestine”.
Before the Hungarian authorities gave the authorization, Lieutenant Colonel Ferenczy of the
gendarmerie, who had a bad reputation and was known for his cruel deportation operations, visited
the place. Moshe Krausz met him and the atmosphere was businesslike. Ferenczy said to Krausz:
“In this house only candidates for emigration to Palestine will be registered and you will be
responsible for it”.
The people living on the premises were equipped with real Swiss documents which gave them
maximum protection under the circumstances in those days in Budapest. The paperwork in
Brothers for Resistance and Rescue 26