The Auschwitz Protocol

In April 1944, two Slovakian Jews, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, escaped from Auschwitz and wrote a report providing some of the first reliable eyewitness accounts of the camp. Romanian diplomat Florian Manoliu, who was assisting George Mandel-Mantello in his rescue efforts, received a copy of the Protocol and immediately gave it to Mandel-Mantello in June. Mandel-Mantello received the copy of the Protocol on the same day he learned of the deportation of his own parents.

Recognizing the Protocol’s importance, Mandel-Mantello recopied it, translated it (he immediately hired students to translate the report into various languages), and organized a campaign to distribute the report to Swiss clergy, newspapers, and foreign diplomats

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