Honorary First Secretary for El Salvador in Geneva, 1942-45
George Mandel was born into an orthodox Jewish family in Romania in 1903. Because of his business contacts, he was appointed honorary consul of El Salvador and Hungary in Geneva in 1939. As early as 1942, George Mandel-Mantello began issuing Salvadoran citizenship papers and documents to Jews in Nazi occupied Europe from his offices in Geneva. Mantello worked closely with Jewish organizations and neutral legations to develop an elaborate network to distribute these life-saving papers, especially in Hungary. Many of these were blank forms that could be filled out by the recipients. Mantello spent thousands of dollars of his own money covering the costs of issuing these life-saving documents. For these activities, Mantello was arrested twice by Swiss authorities. Mantello also was largely responsible for the widespread dissemination of the Auschwitz Protocols in Europe.
