Remembering Ángel Sanz Briz in Budapest

The Spanish Embassy in Budapest held two events this Thursday to commemorate the heroic actions of Spanish diplomat Ángel Sanz Briz during World War II: unveiling a plaque and planting a tree in his memory in the Hungarian capital.

The year 2020 marks the 110th anniversary of the birth and the 40th anniversary of the death of Ángel Sanz Briz, a Spanish diplomat who saved more than 5,200 Hungarian Jews during World War II in Budapest. This year is also the 75th anniversary of the end of the War.

The Spanish Ambassador to Hungary, Anunciada Fernández de Córdova – together with the mayor of District 13, József Tóth – inaugurated a memorial plaque of Ángel Sanz Briz in front of the house at 48 Pannónia Street, which was under Spanish protection during World War II.

Later in the day, the Ambassador was joined by the mayor of the capital's District 3, László Kiss to plant a tree on the occasion of Ángel Sanz Briz Day next to the monument at the Avenue that bears the name of the Spanish diplomat.

As a summary by the Spanish Embassy highlights, the young Sanz Briz arrived in Budapest in 1942 and would soon assume, as Charge d'Affaires, the leadership of the diplomatic mission, facing the challenges of an increasingly difficult war situation. The imminent threat of deportation to Nazi death camps loomed over Jews. That was when Sanz Briz, based on a Royal Decree of Alfonso XIII that allowed to grant Spanish citizenship to Sephardic Jews, began his humanitarian work: issuing passports and safe-conducts to those in need.