A. Until 5 July. I was detained for about seven weeks - I was imprisoned in the gaol for political prisoners. On 5 July I was brought to the police in Budapest for interrogation. I was handed over for further examination. On 6 July, I fell ill. I had an internal haemorrhage. At that time, it was the Feast of Peter and Paul. I was brought to the prison for young people. I was brought there without papers and without documents. I was there for some days. There were some more Jews there. They were in a bad way. They were seriously ill. On the 7th or the 8th of July, all the Jews were taken away from there for deportation. I remained there as the only one in the hospital. Since I was not released by the police and it was a holiday, and I did not bring any papers with me, and the documents had not been brought, I remained there. I saw that it was a dangerous place. Jews did not remain there. That was the period when there were the last deportations from Budapest, from the environs of Budapest.

I got in touch with the director of the Palestine Office, Krausz, and asked him for help. With his assistance, I was moved from that place to the hospital of the Jewish Community at 9 Bethlen Square. I was there for a long time. My condition was serious. I suffered another internal haemorrhage. From that place, too, Jews were taken away for deportation. I remained there. With the aid of Moshe Krausz, I obtained a certificate from there, stating that I was employed in the Swiss legation.

Q. Was Moshe Krausz the person whom you mentioned previously

A. Yes. I was there for almost a month and a half, and I began feeling that in this place Jews were being attended to in some way. Someone from the Wallenberg group visited me there.

Q. Perhaps you would tell the Court who this Wallenberg was?

A. He was perhaps the only man who had great influence in Budapest. He had been sent there by the King of Sweden. I met him on several occasions, and also carried out some joint activities with him. I was together with him on the road to the Austrian border. He was the person who achieved perhaps the greatest amount of rescue activities. At that time, there was a large rescue operation. But he was the man who took the initiative, gave us the strength, who gave a personal example. He was the complete opposite of everything taking place in Budapest.

Presiding Judge: I hear that you are a lawyer and you understand these matters. Please do not give us general evaluations. Mr. Bach was not referring to that. You know what we require.

State Attorney Bach: I shall return to Wallenberg. Mr. Breszlauer, you say that someone from his group visited you; where did he visit you?

Witness Breszlauer: In hospital.

Q. Did they give you assistance?

A. They said they would help me, they offered me a Swedish passport. After some time I received the passport.

Q. You say "Wallenberg and his group" - were they all from the Swedish legation?

A. These were Hungarians whom he had dealt with. He had them released from the obligation to wear the yellow badge, and they looked for people whom they could help, in particular by giving them Swedish protective passports (Schutzpaesse). But I was not liberated in this way. I was released afterwards by the Swiss consulate. That was already at the beginning of August. This was the document I received [shows the document].

Q. May I see it for a moment?

A. That was at a later stage.

Q. Was that the "Schutzpaesse" issued by the Swedish Government?

A. Yes, but I did not use it.

Q. When did you get it?

A. At the end of August. They took me for registration before that, but this was given to me at the end of August.

Q. Perhaps the document can be shown to the Court?

Presiding Judge: Show or submit?

State Attorney Bach: Show.

Presiding Judge: As you wish, but something that is only shown does not become part of the record.

State Attorney Bach: Perhaps we could do what we have done with other documents, submit a photocopy to the Court at a later stage.

Dr. Breszlauer, perhaps we can make more systematic progress. I asked you at the outset when you yourself began your activities within the framework of the legation.

Witness Breszlauer: I began operating within the rescue framework - I was still living in the hospital, but they allowed me to go out already at the beginning of August. In August I received an identity card, on the strength of which I could move around freely in the streets of Budapest. At first I went from there every day, I did not have an apartment. I went from the hospital to a place which afterwards became known as the "Glass House," at 29 Vadasz Street,* {*There was an organization there which already at that time was engaged in work for Aliyah, but later this was the centre.} for the rescue of Jews. There I worked in this framework.

Q. Please tell the Court what this "Glass House" was, to whom did it belong, who managed it, and who protected this building?

A. The handling of British affairs, of Palestine affairs, passed to the Swiss embassy and, with the approval of the Swiss ambassador, Jaeger, and with the active assistance of Lutz, Mr. Moshe Krausz set up an organization. This organization was stationed in the "Glass House." It was a two-storied building. This was a place with extra- territorial status; there were officials there of all political parties, and they began dealing with the problem of Aliyah. From one point of view, it was an important place, for every person who received confirmation that he had a passport and that he was able to immigrate to Palestine - there were then instructions that such a person should not be sent out of the country. Several thousand people had already, at that time, received certificates to the effect that they appeared on collective passports for immigration into Palestine via Switzerland. They were held up by the Hungarian authorities in Budapest and were not allowed to move from Budapest.

Q. Dr. Breszlauer, you said that Mr. Moshe Krausz was the director of this department. How many people worked in this department under his direction?

A. It varied. At first there were some sixty to eighty officials there - they belonged to all the parties, from the left to the extreme right. After that, this house was converted into a larger dwelling place, into a shelter. In the end, 3,000 to 3,500 Jews were given shelter in this building. Thereafter, we obtained another building - it was no longer possible to work there, the congestion was terrible. In that building, at a later stage, there were more than 3,000 persons. At this particular period, more than eighty officials worked there, and their number increased gradually. If anyone was released and was able to leave the framework of the labour camp - for labour of young people - and went there, he had some positive link with the Jews, and he remained there as an official and was supplied with documents enabling him to remain there.

Q. You mentioned Lutz - who was he?

A. He was the consul. He was in charge, on behalf of the Swiss embassy, of attending to the problems of Palestine and those of rescuing Jews.

Q. And the activities which you mentioned were carried out under his protection?

A. Under his protection, as organized by Moshe Krausz.

Q. Is this a copy of the certificate you mentioned previously, which was in your possession? [Shows a document to the witness]. This is a document which was submitted to the Accused and was given the number T/37(216).

A. Yes.

State Attorney Bach: I beg to submit this.

Presiding Judge: We shall understand very little without a translation.

State Attorney Bach: I am actually referring to the German stamp, but I believe that something is stated here in German as well. This is our document No. 852.

Presiding Judge: This document will be marked T/1236.

State Attorney Bach: Dr. Breszlauer, are you able to estimate how many Jews were rescued thanks to the activities of that department which you described?

Witness Breszlauer: To my knowledge - some tens of thousands. The majority of the Jews of Budapest were saved under this arrangement, which was set up at the time by the director of the Palestine office.

Q. You wanted to say something about Wallenberg's activities. Can you tell us how Wallenberg went about saving Jews?

A. Mr. Wallenberg visited the most dangerous localities. He had good connections, he had influence, he was respected. He also had an attractive external appearance, he was a handsome man, with a fine presence. He was daring, and a man of action, and devoted himself with all his heart and soul to the rescue of Jews. He was limited to certain numbers. According to what he told me, he distributed between four and five thousand Schutzpaesse.

Q. Did you meet him personally?

A. I met him personally several times.

Q. Do you remember that you were given a special task connected with the Fussmarsch - the foot march - in November 1944?

A. The situation changed radically on 15 October, the day the Hungarian Regent wanted to surrender. At that time, the radio was in the hands of the Germans. May I be permitted, Your Honours, to say a few words about the position as it was prior to this? The Jews were concentrated in marked Jewish houses, but these houses were in different parts of the city. However, the general atmosphere was more reassuring. There was a feeling in the air that the situation was about to change. Some of the Hungarians were looking for an alibi and a possibility to be of help. We were relieved of the necessity of wearing the yellow badge. It was also possible to go outside.

At first, Jews were allowed to be outside for three hours, after that also for six hours. But they were not very strict about it. On 16 October, the first thing that happened was a total curfew imposed on Jewish houses. For five days they were not permitted to go outside, to leave the houses. On the sixth day, they were allowed to go outside for two hours, in order to do their shopping. Throughout all that period, Jews were kidnapped, taken from their homes, forced to walk in the street with upraised arms to various places. In the main, they were taken to the brick factory in Buda.

Q. Who did this?

A. Some were Germans, but a large part were Nyilas.* {* Nyilas: A member or follower of the Arrow Cross Party} When Szalasi rose to power, he issued a general pardon to political prisoners, and a substantial number of these people were given arms and took a decisive part in the events which occurred after 15 October.

Presiding Judge: What political prisoners were these?

Witness Breszlauer: They were political prisoners in Hungarian gaols - not Jews.

Q. Of what political beliefs?

A. The extreme right wing.

Q. And they had been imprisoned before Szalasi's ascent to power?

A. Before Szalasi's time, there were some political prisoners.

Q. And who arrested them - Horthy?

A. Yes, Horthy.

State Attorney Bach: You mentioned, previously, the "Nyilas." Perhaps you could explain to the Court who these Nyilas were?

Witness Breszlauer: It was an armed band under Nyilas Szalasi.

Q. Was it a political party?

A. It was a part of Szalasi's party, the youths, the armed youths, party stewards and so on.

Q. You say the Jews were concentrated in this brick factory?

A. On the 23rd of the month, or on the 22nd, various proclamations appeared. If I am not mistaken, there was a separate proclamation for men and another for women. All men aged from 16 to 60, irrespective of their physical condition, were ordered to report at certain places, and that applied also to women aged 16-40. But they removed older people from the houses and took them away - younger people also - they robbed them of their possessions and took them away. The streets were full of Jews who were being removed by the Nyilas. And here came the Swiss embassy's great opportunity to do something. In this proclamation, which appeared on the 23rd of the month, and which called for a general mobilization of the Jews, there was a section which stated that those who held passports or who were foreign nationals were given consideration, and they would not have to report.

Then the people came in their masses. They got to know on the 23rd that the department for the rescue of Jews in the Swiss consulate was issuing Schutzpaesse, letters of protection, in which it was stated that the holder thereof, Mr. So-and-So, was under the protection of the Swiss consulate, that he was to be treated like a Swiss citizen, that his name appeared in the collective passport of the Swiss consulate.

Q. How many such certificates were issued by the Swiss consulate?

A. There was a limit, a limit of 7,800 who were allowed to leave. We saw that we would not be able to make do with that number. A delegation went to Lutz. He was in a difficult situation. At first, they brought him forged Schutzpaesse. He summoned us. I was a member of the delegation to Lutz. Krausz was there. He brought us along so that we could explain to him. I was in constant touch with the outside world. I looked for the people, I went from place to place. I explained to him that the situation was impossible, since they were seizing the people, tearing up their protective documents, taking them away, withholding all consideration, despite the fact that the proclamation that had appeared had given the assurance that their position would be taken into account. But the mob that led the Jews away robbed them of everything; in the brick factory, they took away all their remaining possessions, their valuables and all their papers - even their papers. In this way, in the first few days, we exceeded the total of 7,800. Lutz, however, did not himself know that we were working with such large numbers. There was a certain policy...

Presiding Judge: Perhaps we do not need all these particulars.

State Attorney Bach: How many documents were issued by your department?

Witness Breszlauer: A total of between 70,000 and 80,000 of these Swiss letters of protection. And let me explain to whom they were issued. There were young Jews from the Ukraine and Russia who were brought back at the time of the retreat of the German army; they came to Budapest and said: "This morning, they are going to take us to western Germany." They told us there was one chance of being rescued - and that was if they would bring letters of protection. They came en masse. I must admit that Hungarian officers from these battalions helped them to present themselves at the Swiss consulate. And, without exception, whoever appeared there received his protective certificate.

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