Sanz Briz Room Inaugurated in a Budapest High School

A room named after Ángel Sanz Briz has been inaugurated at the Károlyi Mihály Hungarian-Spanish Bilingual High School in Kispest, the Hungarian capital's District 19. The Spanish diplomat saved the lives of 5,000 Jews in Budapest during the Holocaust.

In her welcoming speech, the head of the Outer Pest Education Territorial Directorate, Krisztina Rábel thanked Spanish Ambassador Alfonso Dastis for his commitment about this matter and for his firm support for the organization of this ceremony.

“Today, we have arrived to this solemn moment of inaugurating the commemorative plaque to Ángel Sanz Briz, the ´’Angel of Budapest’ who, by emitting Spanish documents to them, saved the life of more than 5,000 Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. I very much celebrate the noble objective of the following conference that it will be an important step ahead for all of us helping the younger generations to know the past, and thus, to understand better our present. I am convinced that we must transmit to the children of the 21st century the values of humanity and courage that Sanz Briz is an example of,” she said.

The Ambassador of Israel, Yacov Hadas-Handelsman pointed out that Angel Sanz Briz, the ‘Spanish Schindler’ was a selfless human, a man with a strong determination to help save the lives of as many Jews as he could whilst risking his very own life. “Moreover, he probably also risked his very own career because he did not ‘exactly’ follow the official policy of the Spanish government at the time,” he added.

Spanish Ambassador Alfonso Dastis thanked Károlyi High School that has for more than 35 years been the flagship of the bilingual education of the Spanish language in Hungary.

“The human being’s definition must always be the widest possible, this is a moral command that many preserved even in the darkest of times, and did their best to aid their fellow humans suffering persecution. Among Raoul Wallenberg, Angelo Rotta, Carl Lutz, Sára Salkaházy, Henrik Slawik, József Antall Sr., Jorge Sampaio Garrido, and many others whose names we cannot possibly know all, the Spaniard Ángel Sanz Briz is in very good company. Facing danger and even death, all of them actively committed to save lives. Being their humanitarian work a clear example to follow, I wish the Ángel Sanz Briz Hall to be a place of joy, happiness and celebration of life for the Young who study among these walls,” he emphasized.