Carl Lutz, the Swiss diplomat in Budapest from 1942 to 1945, helped save over 60,000 people from the Nazis during the Holocaust. The group included about half of Budapest’s Jewish population.

Earlier this year, the Mid-Atlantic – Eurasia Business Council and the Jewish Genealogical and Archival Society of Greater Philadelphia teamed up to bring an exhibition on the efforts of Lutz and other diplomats — “Visas for Life: The Righteous and Honorable Diplomats” — to the Arch Street Meeting House in Old City.

Arch Street happens to be across the street from Congregation Mikveh Israel, the Synagogue of the American Revolution and a deep repository of Jewish history. The synagogue’s archivist — Jonathan Goldstein — noticed, and after some discussion with organizers, brought the exhibit over to Mikveh Israel once it was done with its run at the Meeting House.

The exhibition will stand at Mikveh Israel through the end of the year. In October, on the same weekend as the World Federation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors & Descendants’ 36th Annual Conference, which is taking place in Philadelphia, survivors from the conference will come to the synagogue to participate in a panel about Lutz and other diplomats who helped save Jews.

“All of these diplomats from various different countries put not only their own professions on the line but also their own lives on the line to save tens of thousands of Jews,” Goldstein said. “It really is the story of the world coming together for a righteous cause.”

Lutz helped people flee the Nazis by establishing safe houses in Budapest. The exhibition showcases his efforts and those of more than 300 diplomats from 40 countries. Goldstein said the civil servants involved hailed from Japan, China, Europe and other places.

They used their status and influence in various ways. In addition to establishing safe houses that Nazis couldn’t invade, Lutz negotiated safe passage for Jewish refugees to Palestine and provided documents to help Jews travel through Europe.

Lutz also spent time in Philadelphia as a Swiss diplomat in the 1920s and 1930s, arriving in the city in 1926. To mark the 100th anniversary of his arrival, Val Kogan, the president of the Mid-Atlantic – Eurasia Business Council, and the JGASGP brought the exhibition, which has been around since 1995, to Philadelphia.

Historian Eric Saul created the exhibition. Saul is the founder of the Visas for Life Project, through which historians work to honor civil servants like Lutz who helped save Jews during the Holocaust.

“The exhibition also addresses a particular form of forgetting — the erasure of non-Jewish and Jewish rescuers from Holocaust memory,” Kogan told Philadelphia Jewish Exponent in January for an article about the exhibition’s run at the Arch Street Meeting House. “These diplomat-heroes prove that ‘ordinary’ people embedded in systems can choose conscience over complicity.”

The Mid-Atlantic – Eurasia Business Council works to foster commercial ties between Eurasia and the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region. It’s not a Jewish organization.

Yet, on July 24, 2019, the council held a networking event with more than 400 attendees that happened to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Lutz’s establishment of the Glass House in Budapest — a former glass factory that sheltered thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.

Thinking about the anniversary, Kogan asked the room: “Does anyone know the name Carl Lutz?” Only one person raised their hand.

Even though it wasn’t a Jewish event, the lack of response surprised Kogan.

“It’s the most successful rescue story,” he said.

Five years later, in August 2024, the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies held its annual meeting in Philadelphia. As part of the event, it featured the “Visas for Life” exhibit and put on a panel about Lutz and other diplomats. (The Jewish Genealogical and Archival Society of Greater Philadelphia is a member of the IAJGS.) Kogan, who frequently collaborates with the JGASGP, attended the meeting and spoke on one of the panels.

“There was enormous interest and a lot of questions. It’s actually when I got a feeling that one important piece in 2026 would be to have this exhibition in Philadelphia,” he said.

In January, Kogan told Philadelphia Jewish Exponent he hoped the Lutz exhibition would find another home after the Arch Street Meeting House run ended two months later.

Fortunately, Mikveh Israel was not only across the street but in the process of digging through its own archives for its America 250 exhibitions.

Goldstein had been hired last fall to work through the artifacts and come up with ideas for exhibits. His goal with the one that opened around July 4, America 250, was to show that Mikveh Israel had not only been around for centuries but had made a major impact in that time.

Gratz College was founded in 1895 as the first independent Jewish teachers’ college in North America, and it was housed at Mikveh Israel until 1909. The Female Hebrew Benevolent Society of Philadelphia was launched to provide aid to women facing financial hardship, and it was started through the congregation. The Association for Jewish Immigrants, now HIAS Pennsylvania, was founded in 1882 by Mikveh Israel members.

All of this is on display in the synagogue’s exhibition. Goldstein thought the Lutz exhibit could complement it. It expresses a similar theme.

“Showing people basically that putting the effort in leads to results long down the road,” the archivist said.

Kogan hopes that the exhibition will find another local home after Mikveh Israel.

“It would make a difference to have his name and story be presented for the following years,” he said.

jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com