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Carl Lutz: The Quiet Hero (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Alice Irrazari and.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: I'm Colin Lauda. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: It is easier for people to understand no matter where
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: in the world they lived.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: In nineteen forty four, a Jewish woman was brought to
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the banks of the Danube River and shot. There was
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: a shout as she fell into the water. A small
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: man in glasses raced past armed members of the Arrow Cross.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: These dangerous soldiers were members of the ruling Fascist Party.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: They were allies with the Nazis. They believed that Jewish
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  Speaker 1: people were less than human.
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  Speaker 2: But Carl Loo was not frightened of those soldiers. He
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: jumped into the river after the bleeding woman. The Arrow
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  Speaker 2: Cross members were too shocked to react as Lutz pulled
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: her from the water. Lutz lied to the officers. He
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  Speaker 2: told them that the woman was a Swiss citizen. He
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: said he was taking her to a hospital. The soldiers
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: were so surprised that they let the woman go. She
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  Speaker 2: was free and Karl Lutz had saved another life.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Lutz was an ambassador to Hungary during World War II.
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  Speaker 1: He was Swiss. Switzerland was neutral in this war. It
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  Speaker 1: did not choose a side, but Lutz found he could
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  Speaker 1: not stand by and watch while people died. He decided
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  Speaker 1: he needed to help. In doing so, he saved over
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  Speaker 1: sixty thousand lives. Today's spotlight is on Karl Lutz.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Karl Lutz was born in eighteen ninety five in Switzerland.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Lutz's family was very religious. They were Christians who believed
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Lutz's parents
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: also tried to help others as much as they could.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: They gave to the poor. They were also pacifists. Pacifists
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: believe any kind of violence is wrong. Leo Tolstoy was
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: a famous writer and pacifist. He once wrote, in all history,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: there is no war which was not planned by the governments.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: The governments alone. This is different from the interests of
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: the people. For the people, war is always harmful, even
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: when successful.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Lotts held many of the ideas he learned in his
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: childhood for the rest of his life. For many years,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: he even tried to become a Christian religious leader, but
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: he soon discovered he was better at diplomacy. He represented
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: his country in the United States, Palestine, and Hungary.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Lutz's time in Hungary was particularly challenging. The Second World
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: War had begun in nineteen thirty nine. Hungary was one
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: of the Axis Powers, like Nazi Germany, Italy and Imperial Japan.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Lutz was supposed to remain neutral, but the Axis Powers
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: were responsible for some of the worst crimes of the war.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Lutz arrived in Hungary in nineteen forty two. That same year,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: the Nazis started the Holocaust. They planned to kill every
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Jewish person in the world.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: The situation was different in Hungary. For several years, the
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Arrow Cross's ideas were like the Nazis, but they were
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: not part of the Holocaust. This changed in nineteen forty
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: four when the Nazis occupied the country. The Germans took
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: over the government and forced their ideas on the country.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: They shipped many Hungarian Jews to death camps like Auschwitz
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: and Birkanal. Lutz could not stand by and watch this violence.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Charlotte Schaliah is a Holocaust expert. She told the British
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  Speaker 1: Broadcasting Corporation.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: After the German occupation of Budapest, the Hungarian jury in
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  Speaker 3: the country was quickly taken to Auschwitz. Lutz understood he
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: needed to act very fast.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: As a diplomat. Lutz had worked with the Nazis before
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: he had their trust. He visited one of the Nazi
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: leaders named Adolph Eichmann. Eichmann was responsible for organizing the Holocaust.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Lutz asked the Nazi leader if he could print eight
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: thousand letters of protection for Jews living in Budapest. These
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: letters would ensure a person's safety. Eichmann made fun of
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  Speaker 2: his efforts, but Lutz got his permission thanks to his
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: earlier work with the Germans.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Lutz immediately went into action. He made it seem like
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: he had not correctly understood his agreement with Eichman. He
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: printed enough letters of protection for eight thousand families. He
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: gave them to anyone who needed protection. Once he ran out,
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  Speaker 1: he simply printed the letters again.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: After some time, the Nazis found that some of Lutze's
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: letters were copies. They brought Karl and his wife to
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: a work camp where the Nazis kept Jewish prisoners. They
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  Speaker 2: made them identify their false paperwork. They both tried to
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  Speaker 2: lie about as much as they could, but they had
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: to be careful as many were sent to the deaf camps.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: This only strengthened Lutz's resolve He knew he could not
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: save everyone with his letters. The Nazis might kill people
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: even if they had the right papers. So Lutz organized
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: seventy two places in the city where Jews could hide.
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  Speaker 1: He named these official Parts of Switzerland. Soldiers entering these
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  Speaker 1: buildings would face punishment. The most famous of these buildings
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  Speaker 1: is called the Glass House. At one point three thousand
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  Speaker 1: Jews hid there.
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  Speaker 2: Many Hungarian Jews died in the Holocaust. In fact, more
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  Speaker 2: Jewish Hungarians were killed than Jews from any other country,
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  Speaker 2: but Lutz's efforts had an amazing effect. They were responsible
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  Speaker 2: for half of Hungary's surviving Jews.
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  Speaker 1: When the war ended, his family went home. They expected
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Lutz would be a hero, but no one welcomed Lutz.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: On his return to Switzerland, the leaders criticized him. Switzerland
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: was supposed to be neutral. He had endangered that neutrality.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: This criticism came as a shock to Lutz. He had
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: watched people die in front of him. He was already
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: filled with guilt over the people he could not save.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: His health got worse. He spent some time in a
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: mental hospital. He and his wife got a divorce. He
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: continued to work for his country, but he felt rejected
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  Speaker 2: and alone.
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  Speaker 1: But time would honor Carl Lutz. He recovered and returned
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  Speaker 1: to work. In nineteen forty nine, he fell in love
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  Speaker 1: with and married a woman he had saved in Budapest,
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  Speaker 1: and in nineteen sixty one the Swiss government changed position.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: They decided that Luts's efforts had been justified. He was
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: considered for the Nobel Peace Prize several times.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Few people celebrated Karl Lutz's efforts in his own country.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Right before his death in nineteen seventy five, he still
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: felt a sense of failure, but for those he saved,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Lutz was one of the most important people they would
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: ever meet. Agnes he Or she was Lutz's daughter through
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: his second marriage. He saved her and her mother from death.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: She told the BBC.
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  Speaker 4: I think he was a hero. He was a very
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: quiet man. It was not really in his nature to
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: do what he did, but he saw the pain of
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  Speaker 4: the jew news he thought he had to help.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Why do you think Carl Lutz did what he did?
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  Speaker 1: Would you try to save the life of someone you
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: did not know. You can leave a comment on our
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: website at www dot spotlight English dot com. You can
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: also find us on YouTube Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and x
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: You can also get our programs delivered directly to your
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: The writer of this program was Dan Christman. The producer
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: for this program and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence was used in this program. Spotlight programs are written, voiced,
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  Speaker 2: and produced by real people for real people, no matter
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: where in the world they live. This program is called
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Carl Lutz The Quiet Hero.
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  Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Spatlight program. Goodbye,