Tibor Baranski (June 11, 1922 – January 20, 2019)[3] was a Hungarian-American man credited with saving more than 3,000 Hungarian Jewish women, men and children[3] from the Nazis during the Holocaust.

As the Soviet army drew near Košice, Baránszki was forced to leave for Budapest, sometimes only a few miles from the front lines, and arrived there on October 20, 1944.

[3][7]: 74 Baranski's aunt Margit Sterneder had become very close friends over several years with the Jewish family of Dr. Hedvig Szekeres through her work at the Chinoin pharmaceutical factory, in Újpest, a Budapest suburb.

[8] Starting in 1938, Regent Miklós Horthy led the government to pass a series of anti-Jewish measures, emulating Germany's Nuremberg Laws.

[12] In early 1944, Hungarian prime minister Miklós Kállay was secretly attempting to negotiate a separate peace with the Allies.

To prevent Hungary from leaving the Axis, on March 19, 1944, launched Operation Margarethe, ordering German troops into the country.

[16] Sterneder became active in an underground movement that helped Jews find hiding places and obtain false emigration documents.

[17] In early July 1944, Regent Miklós Horthy replaced Döme Sztójay, an avid supporter of the National Socialists, with the anti-Fascist General Géza Lakatos.

As the summer progressed, and the Allied and Soviet armies closed in on central Europe, the ability of the Nazis to devote themselves to Hungary's "Jewish Solution" waned.

[18] In October 1944, Horthy attempted to secretly negotiate a cease-fire with the Soviets and ordered Hungarian troops to lay down their arms.

[19] Szálasi organised the International Ghetto and over the next few months Arrow Cross members conducted frequent raids during which groups of Jews were taken to the banks of the Danube and executed.

Baranski lived with his aunt,[15] who requested his help contacting Catholic church officials to ask them to intervene on behalf of the Szekeres family.

[8] Baranski found a long line of people waiting for passes at Papal Nuncio Monsignor Angelo Rotta's embassy residence, the Vatican's representative in Budapest.

[4][17] Encouraged by his success, Baranski returned to Rotta a few days later to ask for another set of letters, this time for another Jewish family.

[17] Two weeks later, Rotta appointed Baránszki as the executive secretary of the Vatican's Jewish Protection Movement in Hungary, serving as a direct emissary of the Papal Nuncio.

[21][17]: 87  As head of the Jewish Protection Movement, he soon met other neutral legations at Gresham Palace near the Chain Bridge.

The group included Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat later credited with saving tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi death camps.

[4][17][7]: 75  Baranski collaborated with Wallenberg and arranged private, unofficial meetings between the Swedish diplomat and Papal Nuncio Angelo Rotta.

Baranski personally escorted individuals and families to hiding places, sometimes in secret rooms hidden within factories, and in the homes of other Catholics.

[15] Rotta asked Baranski to go the next day to a factory where nearly 50 Jews who had been baptized as Catholic were being held captive before deportation to Germany and almost certain death.

And he brazenly insisted on borrowing Rotta's diplomatic automobile, a Rolls-Royce limousine flying the Vatican flag.

[7]: 74–76 [4] He boldly intercepted groups of Jews who were being deported to the death camps and using fake Vatican letters of protection, persuaded their guards to allow him to bring some prisoners back to Budapest.

[8] In October and November, Eichmann accelerated the program to annihilate the remaining Jews of Hungary before the Soviet Army captured Budapest.

[17] With the help of his aunt, who worked for a pharmaceutical company, he distributed medicine, extra food, and supplies to the hidden Jews.

He credited his deep Catholic faith for the strength to ignore demands by Nazi officers that he stop working on behalf of Jews.

"[21][24] Baranski helped those whose protection letters were no longer valid to hide in old houses and caves used as wine cellars.

He gave the Nazis and Arrow Cross officials meaningless but official-looking and lifesaving documents and used every other ploy he could imagine.

After Joseph Stalin died and Imre Nagy became chairman on 4 July 1953, Baranski was granted amnesty, after 57 months in prison.

"[24] Freed from prison in 1953 after five years, Baranski became a freedom fighter during the Hungarian revolution, helping to organize assistance.

Their son Tibor Baranski Jr. learned Chinese as a teenager and became an international lawyer in Beijing, and their daughter Kati is as of 2019[update] Director of Communications at the Diocese of Buffalo.