Tree Planted to Honor Ángel Sanz Briz in Budapest

On the occasion of Ángel Sanz Briz Day, next to the monument at the Avenue that bears the name of the Spanish diplomat who saved the lives of thousands of Jews in Hungary during World War II, the Spanish Ambassador to Hungary, Anunciada Fernández de Córdova and the mayor of Budapest's District 3, László Kiss, planed a tree to remember him as well as the victims and survivors of the Holocaust.

Ángel Sanz Briz witnessed the start of the deportations in 1944 as the Spanish Embassy's Chargé d'Affaires in Budapest. The young diplomat, like Sweden's Raoul Wallenberg, dedicated his efforts to saving as many lives as possible. In fact, he managed to save over 5,200 Hungarian Jews from deportation in that year.

In her speech, Ambassador Anunciada Fernández de Córdova said that "it's always a pleasure to see the younger generations here, because in today's world, dominated by Instagram and Tiktok, which is mostly about appearances, the human values of solidarity, humanity and the will to help, which Sanz Briz is a good example of, will hopefully be a model for the generation that comes after us."

Mayor Dr László Kiss was of the view that "the tree is a symbol of life, of renewal, and also a symbol of the future because when the tree planted now becomes strong and proud, the young people here today will be as old as I am now. We say, as we do every year, a resounding ‘no’ to death and lack of solidarity, and a ‘yes’ to life."

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.