José Arturo Castellanos ( Spanish: José Arturo Castellanos , December 23, 1893 , San Vicente, El Salvador - June 18, 1977 , San Salvador , El Salvador ) - a military man and diplomat who, in collaboration with György Mandl, saved the lives of more than 25 thousand Jews during the Holocaust . Castellanos is called the Salvadoran Schindler . The documentary film Glass House was shot about his exploit in the United States .
| Jose Arturo Castellanos | |
|---|---|
| José arturo castellanos | |
 | |
| Date of Birth | December 23, 1893 |
| Place of Birth | San Vincente, El Salvador |
| Date of death | June 18, 1977 (83 years old) |
| Place of death | San salvador |
| Citizenship |  Salvador |
| Occupation | military and diplomat |
| Father | Abelino Castellanos |
| Mother | Isabelle Contreras |
| Spouse | Maria Shturman |
| Children | 3 daughters and 2 sons |
| Awards and prizes |
|
Biography
Jose Arturo Castellanos was born December 23, 1893 in San Vicente (El Salvador) in the family of General Abelino Castellanos and Isabelle Contreras.
He began his military career in 1910 as a cadet. He studied at a military college in Turin ( Italy ). By 1936, for success in the service, he received the rank of colonel and the post of chief of the General Staff of the Salvadoran Army [1] .
On October 25, 1937 he was appointed Consul General of El Salvador in Liverpool ( Great Britain ), and from May 9, 1938 in Hamburg ( Germany ).
Since November 4, 1941 - Consul General in Geneva [2] .
Castellanos worked in Geneva until 1945 . After the war, he lived in El Salvador.
He was married to a Swiss citizen Maria Shturman, had three daughters and two sons.
He died on June 18, 1977 in San Salvador [3] .
Salvation of the Jews
While working in Europe, Castellanos met with a Jewish businessman from Transylvania Gyorgy Mandl . In 1939, Mandl received Salvadoran citizenship and the post of Honorary Consul of El Salvador in Eastern Europe. In 1942 he managed to emigrate to Switzerland, where Castellanos appointed him to the fictitious post of first secretary of the embassy and "italized" his name as Mantello [4] .
After that, they began issuing false “certificates of nationality” and marriage documents for the Jews of Germany and the European countries occupied by the Nazis. To make the documents more similar to the real ones, they were stamped with other consulates of Geneva.
A large number of these documents, which provided protection against deportation to Nazi camps, were sent to Hungary by Swiss Vice-Consul Karl Lutz , who hid thousands of Jews in an abandoned glass factory, called the “Glass House” [4] .
Together, Castellanos and Mandl managed to convince officials of the authenticity of these documents and provide evidence that the huge Salvador diaspora is allegedly located in European countries. The Nazis did not know very well about El Salvador, and this helped Castellanos to deceive them.
In total, about 40 thousand documents were issued [3] , which allowed to save more than 25 thousand people [4] [5] .
One of the daughters of Castellanos, Frida Garcia recalled that his father did not believe that he had done something special [6] .
“He said that anyone in his place would do the same. For him, this act was not heroic. "
In 1972, American writer Leon Juris spoke with Castellanos, wanting to hear his vision of the history of the Holocaust . A year before his death, in 1976, Castellanos anonymously gave a short interview on the radio. Both of these testimonies passed unnoticed by the public [4] .
Recognition
In April 1999, the Jerusalem municipality invited the granddaughter of Jose Castellanos to celebrate the opening of El Salvador Street [1] .
The history of Castellanos gained international fame thanks to the film “Glass House”, filmed in 2006 in the United States by director and producer Brad Marlowe [7] .
In 2006, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, historian Moran Feracuti, the Jewish community of El Salvador and the authors of the film The Glass House sent a request to the Yad Vashem Institute for Catastrophe and Heroism to award Castellanos the title “ Righteous Among the Nations ” [2] [4] . Salvador’s Foreign Minister Francisco Lines , who was in Jerusalem for a three-day visit in 2007, presented an additional report on the investigation of Castellanos’s activities to Yad Vashem representatives [8] .
The honorary president of the Jewish community of El Salvador, Claudio Kahn, said [6] :
“The colonel has done a great job and we are proud of it. We consider it important that it gained international fame ”
Original text (Spanish)El caso del coronel es tan grande que lo vemos con mucho orgullo. Creemos que es importante que se conozca el caso internacionalmente
On June 15, 2008, an evening commemorating Colonel Castellanos [9] [10] was held at the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington .
In July 2010, the Yad Vashem Institute awarded Jose Arturo Castellanos the honorary title of the Righteous Among the Nations . The ceremony associated with the presentation of an honorary diploma was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador on July 27 [11] .
See also
- History of Jews in the Dominican Republic
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Diplomático Destacado Salvadoreño Coronel José Arturo Castellanos: Héroe del Holocausto
- ↑ 1 2 Kogan, Eli. In memory of the diplomat who saved thousands of Jews . Jewish News Agency (June 15, 2008). Date of treatment November 5, 2009. Archived March 19, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Castellanos List (link not available)
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Inspired by Wallenberg and Schindler Archived December 30, 2008 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ El Salvador, a rescuing country
- ↑ 1 2 Eric Lemus. El Schindler salvadoreño (Spanish) . BBC (June 18, 2008). - “Salvador Schindler.” Date of treatment September 30, 2008. Archived February 19, 2012.
- ↑ Glass House on the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Israel learned of another Righteous One in the world. Archived May 18, 2007 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Jewish columnist
- ↑ A conference in memory of the Salvadoran diplomat who saved Jews during the war took place in Washington. Archived March 4, 2016 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Galería
Links
- Diplomático Destacado Salvadoreño Coronel José Arturo Castellanos: Héroe del Holocausto , (Spanish)
- Eric Lemus. El Schindler salvadoreño (Spanish) . BBC (June 18, 2008). - “Salvador Schindler.” Date of treatment September 30, 2008. Archived February 19, 2012.
- Rory Carroll. Call to honor El Salvador's rescuer of Jews after war role rediscovered . Guardian (June 19, 2008). Date of treatment September 30, 2008. Archived March 19, 2012.
- Coronel José Arturo Castellanos (English) . Raoul Wallenberg Foundation . Date of treatment October 1, 2008. Archived March 19, 2012.
- Glass House on the Internet Movie Database
- Coronel José Arturo Castellanos: Héroe del Holocausto (Spanish) . Date of treatment April 19, 2012. Archived May 15, 2012.
- Montgomery, David . Unsung Savior, The Washington Post (July 15, 2008). Date of treatment October 1, 2008.