The Long Overdue Recognition of Spanish Diplomat and Humanitarian – Eduardo Propper de Callejón
In the early hours of June 8th, 1940, Parisians were awoken by the first distant sound of German artillery.
Just 48-hours later, the French Government fled Paris for Bordeaux and, following swiftly on its heels, were the panicked legations of several foreign states.
Whereas most consuls and diplomats returned home to their respective nations, Eduardo Propper de Callejón of the Spanish embassy was one of the very few who chose to stay.
As the son of a Czechoslovakian Jewish father – and as the husband of a Franco-Austrian Jewish wife – Eduardo was deeply disturbed by the violent persecution of Jews in Hitler’s Reich.
Further troubled by the knowledge that so many who attempted to leave had been denied refuge in safe countries, the first thing he did when he arrived in Bordeaux, was to formulate a plan that would enable him to evacuate as many Jews as he could to his own.
To that end, he knew that if he was to succeed in his humanitarian endeavor, he would have no choice but to work in defiance of his own foreign minister – Ramón Serrano Suñer – who, as a well-known Nazi apologist, with strong anti-Semitic views, unofficially forbade assistance being afforded to fleeing Jews.
Personal repercussions and consequences didn’t matter to Eduardo, though.
The only thing that did, as he said later, was “doing what one’s conscience tells one to do.”
It was thus that he opened the doors to his consulate where – despite the obvious risk to himself – he not only welcomed Jewish families desperately searching for somewhere to escape to but, from where he also started issuing “special” passports and visas that allowed them to cross perilous borders into Spain unhindered.
Toiling day and night, for weeks and months on end, he drafted no less than 1,500 of his lifesaving documents – pausing only to ease the swelling of his hands with cold compresses.
Then, at the beginning of 1941, Serrano Suñer somehow came to learn of Eduardo’s operation, and, when he did so, promptly gave the order for him to be suspended from his position, and transferred to Spanish Morocco for his supposed “insubordination”.
There, he was allowed to resume his diplomatic duties – albeit, as a “persona non grata” for everything he did to help Jewish refugees.
Although never honored in his lifetime, Eduardo was declared Righteous Among the Nations in 2007, and, on this day in 2008, finally received his official recognition when his beloved son and daughter – Felipe and Elena – were presented with his Medal of the Righteous by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
Describing the award ceremony as “a magnificent tribute” to his “Papá”, Felipe also expressed that his father “never expected thanks” for his quiet heroism.
“What I always felt he needed”, Felipe continued, “was some kind of closure.”
“Now that his legacy is being celebrated, I do believe he’s got the closure he deserved.”