Editing Giorgio Perlasca (section)

==In World War II==
During the initial phase of [[World War II]], he worked at procuring supplies for the [[Italian Army]] in the [[Balkans]]. He was later appointed as an official delegate of the Italian government with diplomatic status and sent to Eastern Europe with the mission of buying meat for the Italian army fighting on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Russian front]]. On 8 September 1943, [[Badoglio Proclamation|Italy surrendered to the Allies]]. Italians had to choose whether to join Mussolini's newly formed [[Italian Social Republic]], which was [[fascist]], or stay loyal to the King and join the Allied side. Perlasca chose the latter.

In Budapest, he was arrested and confined to a castle reserved for diplomats. After a few months, he used a medical pass that allowed him to travel within Hungary and requested political asylum at the Spanish Embassy. He took advantage of his status as a veteran of the Spanish war, adopted the first name of "Jorge" and, since Spain was neutral in the war, he became a free man.<ref>{{cite web |title=Perlasca, the great pretender |author=Baruch Tenembaum|url=http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/?en/saviors/others/perlasca-great-pretender.5011015.htm|publisher=The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation |access-date=25 August 2014}}</ref>

Perlasca worked with the Spanish Chargé d'Affaires, [[Ángel Sanz Briz]], and other diplomats of [[Neutral country|neutral states]] to smuggle Jews out of Hungary. The system he devised consisted of furnishing "protection cards" which placed Jews under the guardianship of various neutral states. He helped Jews find refuge in protected houses under the control of various embassies, which had extraterritorial conventions that gave them an equivalent to sovereignty. They could provide asylum for Jews.<ref name="Yad Vashem">[http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.html?language=en&itemId=4016851 "Giorgio Perlasca"]. [[Yad Vashem]].</ref><ref name="Mixer Italia" />

When Sanz Briz left Hungary at night in November 1944, he did not tell Perlasca that he was going to leave,<ref name="ushm">[https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn504674 "Oral history interview with Giorgio Perlasca"]. [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]]. 5 September 1990.</ref> and Perlasca chose to remain in Hungary. The Hungarian government ordered the Spanish Embassy building and the extraterritorial houses where the Jews took refuge to be cleared out. Perlasca immediately made the false announcement that Sanz Briz was due to return from a short leave, and that he had been appointed as [[chargé d'affaires]] for the meantime.<ref name="Yad Vashem" /> Throughout the winter, Perlasca was active in hiding, shielding and feeding thousands of Jews in Budapest. He continued issuing safe conduct passes as initiated by Spanish government, on the basis of a Spanish decree passed 20 December 1924 that granted citizenship to Jews of [[Sephardic]] origin (descendants of Iberian Jews expelled from Spain in the late 15th century), but it had been canceled in 1930, a fact the Hungarian authorities were not aware of.<ref name="Mixer Italia" />[[File:Giorgio Perlasca szobra.jpg|thumb|Perlasca bust in Budapest|left]]

In December 1944, Perlasca rescued two boys from being herded onto a freight train in defiance of a German lieutenant colonel on the scene. The Swedish diplomat-rescuer [[Raoul Wallenberg]], also present there, later told Perlasca that the officer who had challenged him was [[Adolf Eichmann]]. Over 45 days, from 1 December 1944 to 16 January 1945, Perlasca helped save more than 5,000 Jews.<ref name="Times of Israel" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Green |first=David B. |date=15 August  2013 |title=This Day in Jewish History {{!}} 1992: A Fake Diplomat Who Saved 5,200 Jews Dies |url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2013-08-15/ty-article/.premium/1992-fake-diplomat-who-saved-5-200-jews-dies/0000017f-df2e-d856-a37f-ffee7b890000 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814005842/https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2013-08-15/ty-article/.premium/1992-fake-diplomat-who-saved-5-200-jews-dies/0000017f-df2e-d856-a37f-ffee7b890000 |archive-date=14 August 2022 |access-date=16 February 2024 |work=[[Haaretz]]}}</ref>

According to Perlasca, he also prevented the execution of a plan to raze the [[Budapest Ghetto]] with around 60,000 people in it, as the Nazis had done in Warsaw.<ref name="Varese News 2010-05-22">[http://www.varesenews.it/2010/05/gli-uomini-giusti-muoiono-di-sabato/147029/ "Gli uomini giusti muoiono di sabato"]. ''VareseNews''. 22 May 2010.</ref><ref name="Mixer israeliano">Interview by Enrico Deaglio to Giorgio Perlasca, from: Fondazione Giorgio Perlasca, ''Giorgio Perlasca - il mixer israeliano in ebraico'', 1990</ref><ref name="Mixer Italia">Interview by Enrico Deaglio to Giorgio Perlasca. from Mixer. ''Giorgio Perlasca''. [[Giovanni Minoli]]. Rai. 1990.</ref><ref name="ushm" /> While Perlasca was posing as the Spanish consul-general, he learned of the intentions of the [[SS]] and the far-right Hungarian [[Arrow Cross Party|Arrow Cross]] to destroy the ghetto. He asked for a direct hearing with the Hungarian interior minister, [[Gábor Vajna]], and threatened him with legal and economic measures against the "3,000 Hungarian citizens" (in fact, a much smaller number) declared by Perlasca as residents of Spain, unless Vajna withdrew the plan. After this episode, the plan to raze the Budapest Ghetto was cancelled.<ref name="ushm" />