Language:
Spanish
Year of publication:
2009
Titel der Quelle:
Judaica Latinoamericana; estudios histórico-sociales
Angaben zur Quelle:
6 (2009) 351-378
Keywords:
Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Rescue
;
Diplomats Biography
Abstract:
Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero (1891-1976) was the consul general of Ecuador in Stockholm from 1931. In 1935 he became an honorary consul; he did not receive a salary but was granted a percentage of commercial operations between the two countries. In 1941 he issued hundreds of blank passports to help Polish refugees. As a result of that action he was removed from his post in 1942. However, he kept documents and seals belonging to the consulate. In 1943 he facilitated the distribution of hundreds of passports to Jewish organizations, through different channels, in order to help persecuted Jews in Poland and in the Netherlands. The passports were helpful in three ways: to avoid deportation, to avoid confinement in ghettos, and to grant the Jews a possibility of being exchanged for German prisoners. It is known that in January 1945, 100 Jews carrying Ecuadorian passports who were confined in Bergen-Belsen were exchanged for German prisoners. The Ecuadorian government claimed that Muñoz Borrero issued the passports for money; survivors and functionaries of Jewish institutions, such as the Vaad Hahatzala in Stockholm, among others, denied that claim. In 2011, Muñoz Borrero was posthumously recognized by Yad Vashem as “Righteous among the Nations”.
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