Ángel Sanz-Briz | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 28 September 1910 Zaragoza, Spain |
| Died | 11 June 1980(1980-06-11) (aged 69) Rome, Italy |
| Resting place | Cemetery of Torrero, Zaragoza, Spain |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Diplomat |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Signature | |
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| Righteous Among the Nations |
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| By country |
Ángel Sanz-Briz (28 September 1910 – 11 June 1980) was a Spanishdiplomat andhumanitarian. Sanz-Briz is credited with saving more than 5,200Jews inGerman-occupied Hungary from theHolocaust in the later stages ofWorld War II.[1][2]
For his actions, Sanz-Briz has been referred to as "the Angel of Budapest" and the "SpanishSchindler".[3][4]
Sanz-Briz was born on 28 September 1910 inZaragoza,[5][6] the youngest of four sons and one daughter of Felipe Sanz, a merchant, and Pilar Briz.[7] He attended the Colegio Escuelas Pías in Zaragoza,[7] then earned a degree in law at theComplutense University of Madrid.[6]
In 1942, he married Adela Quijano y Secades, with whom he had five children.
Sanz Briz began his diplomatic career with theSpanish Foreign Ministry in 1933.[7] His first diplomatic posting was toCairo, Egypt.[8]
At the beginning of theSpanish Civil War, Sanz volunteered for theNationalists in opposition to the socialist government ofFrancisco Largo Caballero. Sanz served as a truck driver in theCuerpo de Ejército Marroquí, a unit ofFrancisco Franco's army created in 1937 and commanded by GeneralJuan Yagüe. Unknowingly, Sanz was part of the same side of the ItalianGiorgio Perlasca, who would be his main partner during World War II inBudapest.[9]
On 1 April 1937, almost a year after the start of the Civil War, he was fired by the government of theSecond Spanish Republic. However, he was reinstated on 19 August 1938.[7]
Sanz-Briz began his posting as the first secretary at the Spanish Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, in 1942.[3]
In the summer of 1944, Sanz-Briz was appointed the embassy'schargé d'affaires. Shortly after the persecution ofHungarian Jews began, he offered on behalf of the Spanish government to provide passports toJews of Spanish origin, and to negotiate for their protection. He was authorised by his superiors to extend these rights to 200 Jews; however, Sanz-Briz extended his efforts to 200 Jewish families instead.[10]
He lied to the Hungarian authorities and said that Spain, under the dictatorMiguel Primo de Rivera, had given Spanish citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. Primo de Rivera had issued such a decree on 20 December 1924 but it had been canceled in 1930, a fact the Hungarian authorities were not aware of. Sanz Briz dutifully informed the Spanish Foreign Ministry of his actions, that were deliberately permitted by Madrid through administrative silence, a typical diplomatic procedure used to not compromise the chancellery.[11]
In addition, Sanz-Briz rented buildings and apartments around Budapest at his own expense to shelter for the Jews to whom he had issued papers. He placed Spanish flags at these locations, which survivors referred to as the "Spanish houses" and posted notices indicating that they were offshore properties belonging to the Spanish embassy.[10]
Between June and December 1944, according toGiorgio Perlasca,[12] he and his assistants issued fake Spanish papers to 5,200 Jews, saving them from deportation to concentration camps.[3][13]
The Spanish government ordered Sanz to leave Hungary in December 1944.[10] In 1944, as theRed Army approachedBudapest, he followed government orders to leave for Switzerland. He was replaced by the ItalianGiorgio Perlasca, who pretended to be a Spanish consul and continued to issue Spanish visas and to patrol the safehouse system for Jews set up by Sanz Briz.[14][15]
After the war, Sanz-Briz continued his diplomatic career, with much of his actions during the war unknown, even to his family. He was posted toSan Francisco andWashington, D.C., Ambassador toLima,Bern,Bayonne,Guatemala,The Hague,Brussels and China (1973, where he became the first Spanish Ambassador). In 1976 he was sent to Rome as Ambassador of Spain to theHoly See, where he died on 11 June 1980.[16]
Sanz Briz himself tells how he was able to save the lives of so many Jews, in Federico Ysart's bookLos judíos en España (1973). He is also the subject of the 2011 Spanish television seriesEl ángel de Budapest, based on Diego Carcedo's bookUn español frente al Holocausto ("A Spaniard against the Holocaust").[17]
On 8 October 1966,Yad Vashem recognized Ángel Sanz-Briz as aRighteous Among the Nations.[10]
In 1991, he was recognized by the Holocaust MuseumYad Vashem of theState of Israel, who gave his family the title ofRighteous Among the Nations. In 1994 the Government of Hungary gave him the Cross of theOrder of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.[18]
In 2015, a street inÓbuda-Békásmegyer in Budapest was renamed Angel Sanz Briz Avenue. Sanz-Briz was also honored with a statue.[19]
Sanz Briz has been caught up in modern Spain's debate about the legacy ofFrancoist Spain and theregime's actions during the Holocaust. In 2023,Committee on Culture and Sports [es] in theSpanish Senate rejected a proposal by far-right partyVox to commemorate Sanz Briz. Vox argued that Sanz Briz acted with the knowledge and direction of the Franco-led Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Left-wing parties, however, accused Vox of attempting to "whitewash Francoism" by associating Sanz Briz's actions with the Franco regime.[20]
Media related toÁngel Sanz-Briz at Wikimedia Commons
