Our Hero Raoul Wallenberg

2006-02-23T11:48:00.000-08:00

For years, governments and organisations knew about the atrocities. It took individuals like Raoul Wallenbeg to act on the information. Action is what saved over100.000 lives. Information by itself has no value if not acted upon when needed.

• 60 years ago, the world could no longer ignore the truth about the atrocities of the Holocaust, as Auschwitz and the other death camps were liberated
• 60 years ago, the Russians abducted Raoul Wallenberg, who, like 20 million others, disappeared in the Soviet genocide.

Now when I think about how my uncle could save so many people within only 6 months, I see the amazing convergence of work by rescuers in different countries and even continents, who probably did not even know each other.
• There was this invisible bind between people like the two prisoners who escaped from Auschwitz to warn the Jews of Hungary.
• From Bratislava, Rabbi Weissmandel sent his version of the report on Auschwitz to Budapest.
• George Mantello in Switzerland got the report and acted on it by publishing it in the press in spite of the censorship.
• When Hillel Cook in the US heard about the massmurder, he decided to act by lobbying the Roosfelt administration to set up the War Refugee Board
• The War Refugee Board gathered the money and my uncle volunterd for the very dangerous mission to save the remaining Jews of Hungary
• For that, the Swedish King transfomed the young architect and businessman Raoul Wallenberg, to a diplomat overnight
• In Budapest, we have Karl Lutz at the Swiss Embassy, and Per Anger at the Swedish Embassy putting rescue in the air, by giving out protective letters.
• Finally there were the Jewish rescuers working for my uncle to save their own people.
All these courageous people may not have known each other at the time, but their independent actions reinforced each other and made my uncle’s mission possible.

➢ Raoul Wallenberg and a handful of other diplomats and priests saved around 120.000 Jews in Hungary. The people of Budapest saved an additional 50.000. It was the largest surviving Jewish population in Central Europe.

We now need a similar movement of people like Raoul Wallenberg, intelligent and creative doers and risktakers to find out what happened to him. And I call on relevant governments to open their archives for them.

• So why should we, after 60 years, care about what my uncle did and about what happened to him?
➢ First of all it is our moral duty to recognize, care and help rescuers like Raoul, who proved his unconditional love to other people by risking his life
➢ Secondly to assure that international laws are respected. It is illegal to arrest a foreign diplomat
➢ Thirdly because he is a honorary citizen of various countries, which have therefore an obligation toward him
➢ And at last because it is the right thing to do

• Also…

➢ Through Raoul Wallenberg's example, other heroic diplomats from all over the world have lately been identified. They too saved Jews in Europe, just like my uncle, by distributing visas, which often spelled the difference between life and death.
➢ Through his example, we know that there were many beacons in the darkness.
➢ Through his example, people found hope and faith back in humanity
➢ Through his example, other men and women, up to our time, know that sometimes it is necessary to break the rules in order to make the world a better place.
➢ Through his example we know that it is possible to act on one’s deep convictions and to create miracles.
➢ Through his example educators can and should shape the character of future generations, which must be put into practice

Raoul Wallenberg and people like him are timeless and universal figures. We need to be inspired by them today for making the world of tomorrow a better place.