First published 2017
In March 1944, Carl Lutz faces an impossible mission in Nazi-occupied Budapest. As a Swiss diplomat, he must navigate deadly political waters while secretly orchestrating one of the war's most ambitious rescue operations. Working alongside his wife Gertrud Lutz-Fankhauser, Palestine Office director Moshe Krausz, and fellow Swiss citizens Harald Feller, Ernst Vonrufs, and Peter Zürcher, Lutz transforms Swiss diplomatic protocol into a lifeline. The team issues protective letters and establishes safe houses as annexes to the Swiss Legation, racing against time as deportations accelerate. Underground Zionist Youth Movement members risk their lives to support the operation. With each forged document and each family smuggled to safety, Lutz and his collaborators defy both Nazi authorities and diplomatic conventions. Their network grows to encompass 76 safe houses sheltering thousands of persecuted Jews. The novel captures the tension between official neutrality and moral action, showing how ordinary people made extraordinary choices when confronted with systematic murder.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, world-war-ii, jewish
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: based-on-true-events, moral-dilemma, ordinary-people-in-extraordinary-circumstances
Setting: Budapest, Switzerland, Palestine
Period: 1944
416 pages · Paperback · ibidem Press
Content warnings: violence