The Hero Who Saved Thousands From the Holocaust
Defying his superiors, Paul Gruninger is an unknown war hero.
Between the war years of 1938 and 1939, Swiss border control falsified 3600 Jewish passports to offer safe passage to refugees fleeing the Holocaust. More precisely, the operation was carried out by one incredible man named Paul Gruninger.
Gruninger was never celebrated as a hero in his home country; he was labelled a criminal, and from the war's end, he struggled to find work. He died in poverty in 1972, unknown to all but the 3600 Jews he saved.
Who was Paul Gruninger
Gruninger was born in St Gallen, Switzerland, in 1891. He played football for his local football team, BC Bruhl, winning the 1914–1915 season. During this time, he married and fathered two daughters.
During World War I, he enlisted in the Swiss army, where he served as a Lieutenant protecting the borders of neutral Switzerland. Once the war finished, he returned to his hometown to join the police force. In 1925 he was promoted to Captain and became the President of the Swiss police association. It was clear to everyone who knew him that he was well-respected.
German Invasion
In 1938, Nazi Germany announced its decision to annex neighbouring Austria. Switzerland watched nervously on the other side of the border to see what would happen. The Nazi troops marched in to claim their land, and the Austrians welcomed Hitler; half of Austria’s 192,000 Jewish people fled for the Swiss border to escape the persecution.
The Swiss government decided not to take the Jewish refugees; at the request of the government, Switzerland asked the Germans to mark all Jewish passports with a J so they would be recognised whilst trying to emigrate. The refugees would take one route south of Lake Constance through the Swiss border to St Margarethen, where they would find Gruninger commanding the Swiss police.
Gruninger Heroic Deed
Gruninger refused to send the refugee Jews back to Austria and instead designed a plan to help them survive. For eight months between August 1938 and April 1939, he allowed Jewish people to go through the border whilst falsifying their documents to state they arrived in Switzerland before the order had been made to deny them passage.
If I could not do anything for them, then these people who had just escaped would have to be separated from their relatives, sent back, and they would be lost — Paul Gruninger
This was not his only heroic act; he often would feed and clothe these people, fleeing with nothing. He would buy them thick winter coats and set them up with shoes and medical treatment. He did everything he could to hinder the chance of others tracking them, even establishing a makeshift camp at Diepoldsau. He ordered those under his control to be lenient with the refugees and allow them to pass.
Working with an informal network of socialist youth, innkeepers, farmers, and Jewish community members, he saved thousands of Jews from death.
Gruninger Arrested
Ironically, the Gestapo were alerted to Gruninger's activities by a Jewish woman. The woman had left her jewellery behind in a hotel in Bergen. Having reached Switzerland, she asked Gruninger to help retrieve it for her. He contacted Ernest Prodolliet, the Swiss consulate, who he believed trustworthy. The woman then wrote about the kindness this officer had shown her; the letter was seized by the Nazis, who imprisoned the hotel owner and stole the jewellery for themselves. The secret police were told to keep an eye on Gruninger.
On 3rd April 1939, Gruninger arrived at work as usual, where he was blocked by a cadet, Anton Schneider. He was told he was being denied permission to enter as he was dismissed from his position. Two years later, he was found guilty at trial and ordered to pay a substantial fine and trial costs; his retirement benefits were also seized.
Branded a criminal for the rest of his life, Gruninger found it hard to obtain work; his daughters were also branded criminals and struggled with employment. Despite this, Gruninger stated he never regretted his actions.
It was a question of saving human lives threatened with death. How could I then seriously consider bureaucratic schemes and calculations. — Gruninger
One year before he died, Gruninger was honoured by the European Jewish Victims of the Holocaust. Following this in 1970, after pressure from the public, the Swiss Government sent him an apology letter. He died in 1972, still branded a criminal.
Recognition After Death
Much of the recognition Gruninger received came after his death. In 1995, twenty-three years after his death, he was pardoned fifty years after the end of the war. His heirs were awarded 1.3 million Francs in reparation for moral compensation in 1998.
In 2006, SC Bruhl named their new football stadium after the outstanding player who saved thousands of Jewish people from the horrors of the Holocaust.
Behold: the subject of Hollywood's next Holocaust-themed movie.