The "1939" Club in cooperation with The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust and The Consulate General of Switzerland celebrated the Club's 47th Anniversary on October 30, 1999.  The featured speaker was Professor Saul Freidlander, holder of The "1939" Club Chair on Holocaust Studies at UCLA.  Dr.Friedlander spoke about the courage and righteousness of Carl Lutz. Between 1942 and 1945, Charles "Carl" Lutz was the Swiss Consul in charge of visas at the Swiss Embassy in Budapest, Hungary.  During that period, he issued more than 50,000 letters of protection to Hungarian Jews.  The Nazi officials recognized these documents, which enabled Jews to escape deportation and murder at the Nazi concentration camps. Lutz often acted independently and with great courage.  He was so effective in defying the Nazis' murderous policy toward the Jews that the Nazis sought to have him assassinated.  Consul Lutz's technique of issuing letters of protection was adopted by representatives of other foreign governments in Budapest, such as Raoul Wallenberg of Sweden.  By war's end, 124,000 Hungarian Jews survived, nearly half because of the actions of Carl Lutz. The "1939" Club Humanitarian Award was presented, in memory of her father Carl Lutz, to Agnes Hirschi, who flew in from Switzerland.  A musical tribute was presented by Hershey Felder and Tyia Wilson. Guests included Hans-Peter Egger, Consul General; Hans Durig, Deputy Consul General; Osias Goren, Chairman and Marcia Reines Josephy, Director/Curator, Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.