Giorgio Perlasca is one of the candidates for the Malala Prize for Freedom and Human Rights.

1. Malala Prize
2015
For Freedom and Human Rights
Giorgio Perlasca
“A righteous among the nations”

2. His Life
Giorgio Perlasca worked for an Italian importing firm
in Budapest. When Mussolini fell in July 1943, all
Italians in Hungary were requested to return home.
Perlasca refused to go to a German-ruled Italian
puppet state. As Perlasca said: "I was neither a fascist
nor an anti-fascist, but I was anti-Nazi." Perlasca was
interned; however, on October 13, 1944, he was able to
talk his way out of the hotel where he was being held.
He made his way to Angel Sanz-Briz, the Spanish
envoy in Budapest, and applied for a job. Sanz-Briz,
along with other members of the diplomatic community,
had been issuing protective passes to Budapest Jews
since the spring of 1944. Sanz-Briz put Perlasca in
charge of the "safe houses" sheltering Jews from
deportation and from the Arrow Cross militia.
On November 30, 1944, Perlasca learned that Sanz-
Briz had gone, leaving him a note saying that he could
obtain a visa to Switzerland through the Spanish
embassy in Vienna. Although Perlasca did not have an
official letter appointing him the charge d'affaires of
Spain, he made himself the charge d'affaires and
continued to issue protective passes. He changed his first
name from the Italian "Giorgio" to the Spanish "Jorge."
He died in Padua, Italy in 1992

3. His commitment for
Human rights.
“the heroic impostor”
d
During the Nazi-occupation of Budapest in 1944-45 he
saved at least 5,500 Jews from the gas chambers,
constantly risking his life in doing so. Evidence is now
emerging that he may have played a leading role in
saving a further 60,000 people from a massacre
planned by the Hungarian Nazis in the Budapest ghetto
just before the Russians took over the city.
.
Giorgio working to rescue Jews.

4. Quotations
“I couldn’t stand the sight of people being branded like
animals . . . I couldn’t stand seeing children being killed.
I did what I had to do.” - Giorgio Perlasca
I would like young people to take interest in this story of
mine, purely to think not only about what happened , but
also about what might happen and to be able to oppose
violence of this kind, if necessary - Giorgio Perlasca
On April 5, 1945 - "On this occasion we want to express
the affection and gratitude of the several thousand Jews
who survived, thanks to your protection. There are not
enough words to praise the tenderness with which you fed
us and with which you cared for the old and the sick
among us. You encouraged us when we were close to
despair, and your name will never be omitted from our
prayers. May the Almighty grant you your reward." -
Dr. Hugo Dukesz (one of the Jews saved by Giorgio
Perlasca)

5. Why this candidate is a
good candidate?
Giorgio Perlasca is a good candidate because who
would expect that an escaped political prisoner
would pose as a Spanish diplomat during WWII
to save the lives of people in a country not his own?
He had the option to sneak away and pursue his
personal safety, yet he chose to remain in order to
give hope and heroic aid to over five thousand Jews.
The memorial of the righteous among the nations in
Budapest
The bust devoted to Giorgio Perlasca in Budapest