Eduardo Propper de Callejón

Eduardo Propper de Callejón (9 April 1895 – 11 January 1972) was a Spanish diplomat who is remembered mainly for having facilitated the escape of thousands of Jews from Occupied France during World War II between 1940 and 1944.

He was the father-in-law of the British banker Raymond Bonham Carter and the maternal grandfather of the British actress Helena Bonham Carter, as well as a great-grandfather of American screenwriter and movie director Katherine Propper.

Career Propper de Callejón joined the Spanish diplomatic service in June 1918. His initial stations were at embassies in Brussels (1918-1920), Lisbon (1924-1926), Vienna (1926-1930, where he met his wife), and Cairo (1930).

After the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931 when King Alfonso XIII fled Spain, Eduardo Propper de Callejón resigned from the Spanish Foreign Service.

In June 1940, Propper de Callejón issued from the Spanish Consulate in Bordeaux, thousands of transit visas to Jews and others escaping Europe, which allowed these refugees to enter Spain legally to reach Portugal. Propper disobeyed direct orders (needing prior authorization from Madrid) to sign special transit visas, saving thousands of Jewish lives and the lives of many others during WWII. When Spanish Foreign Minister Ramón Serrano Suñer learnt that Propper de Callejón was issuing visas without prior authorization, he had him demoted and transferred to the Consulate of Larache in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco.

Afterwards, Propper de Callejón would be posted to Tangier (1941), Rabat (1941-1945), Zurich (1945-1949), Washington, D.C. (1949-1955), Ottawa (1955-1958), and Oslo (1958-1963), where he served as a member of the Spanish Foreign Service. With his former colleague Ambassador Lequerica, Propper was instrumental in establishing diplomatic relations between the United States and Franco's Spain, resulting in the Pact of Madrid. He had two children. His eldest son Felipe Propper de Callejón (1930-2024) made New York City his lifelong residence, becoming an American citizen in 1994. His daughter Elena Bonham Carter (née Propper de Callejón) married British banker Raymond Bonham Carter, making Golders Green in north London her residence.

Between 1936 and 1939, Propper de Callejón worked in Paris and divided his time between a flat in Paris on Rue de Surène and the Fould-Springer estate, the Chateau Royaumont (acquired in 1923 by Eugène Fould-Springer and his wife) located near Chantilly north of Paris.

Legacy

He never gained public recognition for his heroic acts before his death in 1972 in London after an operation. It is unknown exactly how many lives he saved due to the consulate's registries being burned after the war, but it is estimated to be in the thousands. That was accomplished by the testimony of Austrian Archduke Otto von Habsburg, who had disclosed his knowledge of Propper de Callejón's actions at the Nazi occupation of France during an interview with Felix Pfeifle for the film Felix Austria (2012). Propper de Callejón personally signed the transit visas for Archduke Otto von Hapsburg and his mother, Empress Zita to escape Europe.

Propper de Callejón is the only foreign representative to have encountered the Jewish refugee crisis in Vichy who had considerable Jewish heritage despite identifying as a Spanish Loyalist and Catholic.

Notable people issued visas by Propper de Callejón Ludwik Rajchman and family, founder of UNICEF Archduke Otto von Hapsburg Empress Zita

Filmography My Grandparents' War, Season 1, Episode 1 on (PBS, U.S.) and (Channel 4, U.K.).