World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseÁngel Sanz-Briz was born in Zaragoza (Saragossa), Aragón, Spain in 1910. Upon graduating with a law degree, he joined the Spanish Foreign Ministry and was posted to Egypt and then Hungary. While in Hungary between 1942 and 1944, with assistance from others in the Spanish legation, he saved the lives of about 5,200 Jews by protecting Jews of Spanish origin, issuing fake papers to other Jews, and renting buildings on behalf of the Spanish legation to hide refugees. In Dec 1944, as Soviet forces approached Budapest, he departed Hungary for Switzerland. After the war, he continued his Foreign Ministry service in the United States, Peru, Switzerland, France, Guatemala, Belgium, Communist China, and the Holy See. On 18 Oct 1966, he was named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem of Israel. He passed away in Rome in 1980 while serving as the Spanish Ambassador to the Holy See. In 1994, he was posthumously awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.

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Ángel Sanz-Briz Timeline