The statue will stand in front of Budapest's Lutheran church in Deak ter, near the primary school that Sztehlo attended.
At the unveiling ceremony, senior Lutheran Church official Gergely Prohle said Sztehlo had on several occasions used his "parson's cloak" to shelter the children of deported Jews and, after the war, the children of persecuted officers, or any of the needy.
Addressing the ceremony attended by some of the children whom Sztehlo had saved, Mayor of Budapest Gabor Demszky said it was possible to keep the spirit of Sztehlo today by rising up against fascism, anti-Semitism and hatred.
Sztehlo was born in Budapest in 1909 and was ordained in 1932. Based on the influence of a visit to Finland, he began to organise folk colleges in Nagytarcsa, just outside Budapest. He saved the lives of 1,500 children and 500 adults during the Holocaust, organising shelters at 32 homes with the support of the Swiss Red Cross.
He received Israel's "Righteous among the Nations" award in 1972. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize in 1973. He died in Switzerland in 1974 and his ashes, along with his wife's, were brought back to Budapest in 1984.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: MTI
