Photo by Gary Raynaldo /  ‘ R.W. Briefcase’ — The Raoul Wallenberg monument honoring the Swedish humanitarian and diplomat across from the headquarters of the United Nations on First Avenue at East 47th Street.  Wallenberg is celebrated for saving tens of thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust from German Nazis and Hungarian Fascists during the later stages of World War II. R.W.’s abandoned briefcase is a sober reminder of how courageous the man was rescuing fellow human beings while the rest of the world looked the other way.

By Gary Raynaldo   DIPLOMATIC TIMES

NEW YORK- UNITED NATIONS –   Raoul Wallenberg,  a swedish architect, businessman, diplomat and humanitarian, saved some 100,000 Jews in  Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust from German Nazis and Hungarian Fascists during later stages of World War II. Wallenberg is widely credited with leading  one of the most extensive and successful rescue efforts during the Nazi era.  Wallenberg was born in 1912 to a prominent aristocratic banking family. He studied architecture in the United States before joining his family’s business. In the early 1940’s he made several business trips to Nazi occupied countries, including Hungary.  After the occupation of Hungary on March 19, 1944, the Swedish legation launched a rescue operation to save Jews from being deported to the death camps. The newly created American War Refugee Board decided to work with the Swedish government in order to help Hungary’s Jews. Soon the Swedish legation in Budapest reported that they were under enormous pressure of Jews seeking protection in the form of passports or visas. They asked to send a special envoy whose principal task would be to deal with passports. It was decided to appoint Raoul Wallenberg as secretary in the Swedish Embassy in Budapest with full diplomatic privileges. Before leaving, Wallenberg asked to be given a free hand and authorization to meet with Hungary’s leaders: Source – Yad Vashem. The World Holocaust Remembrance Center.    Wallenberg first designed a Swedish protective passport which was suitable for certifying before the Hungarian and German authorities that its holder stood under the protection of the Swedish Legation. Initially, he was allowed to issue 1,500 such ‘Schutzpassen’, then managed to raise that number to 4,500. Source: wallenberg.hu. 

Credit: Jewish Virtual  Library /  A copy of Wallenberg’s  fake protective pass.

The Young Swedish Hero Of The Holocaust Saved Some 100,000 Hungarian Jews From The Nazis 

Credit: Wikipedia / Wallenberg’s passport picture from 1944.

Wallenberg’s Arrest & Disappearance

On January 17, 1945, on his way out of Hungary’s capital Budapest with Russian escort, Wallenberg and his driver stopped at the “Swedish houses” to say good-bye to his friends. To one of his colleagues, Dr. Ernö Petö, Wallenberg said that he wasn’t sure if he was going to be the Russian’s guest or their prisoner, though he expressed hope that he’d be back within eight days. 

 Wallenberg was detained by SMERSH (Russia counter-intelligence agencies) on suspicion of espionage and subsequently disappeared.   Raoul Wallenberg was never seen again. Whether Wallenberg is alive or not is uncertain. The Russians claim that he died in Russian captivity on July 17, 1947. A number of testimonies , however, indicate that he was alive after that date and that he could have still been   alive into and through the 1980’s, according to Jewish Virtual Library.   

 On January 12, 2001, a joint Russian-Swedish panel released a report that did not reach any conclusion as to Wallenberg’s fate. The Russians reverted to the claim that he died of a heart attack in prison in 1947, while the Swede’s said they were not sure if Wallenberg was dead or alive. The report did unearth evidence that the reason the Soviets arrested Wallenberg was the suspicion that he was a spy for the United States (Washington Post, January 12, 2001).

 Monument Dedicated To Memory Of Wallenberg In Manhattan Across From The  United Nations Honors The Brave Diplomat 

Photo Credit: By Gary Raynaldo /  The Swedish consulate commissioned the sculpture named  HOPE and is the work of Swedish artist Gustav Kraitz.  There is a bronze replica of Wallenberg’s diplomatic briefcase, The monument consists of five columns, one of which is 7 meters high (23 feet) and has a pottery sphere on top. The sides have engraved writings that telling aspects of Wallenberg’s life and mission. The paving stones (setts) were formerly used on the streets of the Budapest ghetto.

Wallenberg monument inscription reads: “I Could Never Return To Stockholm, Knowing That I Had Failed To Do Everything Within Human Power To Save As Many Jews As Possible.” 

Wallenberg Even Saved Former U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos From The Nazis In Hungary 

Credit: Wikipedia / The late U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos (D-California).  Lantos was the only Holocaust survivor to have served in the U.S. Congress. 

Lantos, who was part of a middle-class Jewish family, was forced into a labor camp at 16 in 1944. He escaped to a safe house set up by the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved tens of thousands of Jews from Nazi-occupied Hungary. Lantos joined Wallenberg’s network and delivered supplies to Jews in other safe houses. He immigrated to the United States and eventually earned a doctorate in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1953. After serving as an adviser to various senators, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1980. He died in 2008 at 80.

(Editor’s Note:  While I was a young 21-year-old journalism student at San Francisco State University in 1982 covering the town of South San Francisco gathering information in the Town Hall, Congressman Lantos walked in during his campaign for re-election. He walked up to me and introduced himself and shook my hand. I remember his soft, warm blue eyes, and kind demeanor. )

“Raoul Wallenberg Is An Inspiration For All Diplomats And Human Beings”.

Olaf Skoog,  Swedish Ambassador To The United Nations,  Jan. 17, 2016

 

Wallenberg was nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1948.

The US Congress made Wallenberg an Honorary Citizen of the United States in 1981, the second person to be so honored, after Winston Churchill. In 1985, the portion of 15th Street, SW in Washington, D.C. on which the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is located, was renamed Raoul Wallenberg Place by Act of Congress .   Other monuments and statues of Wallenberg stand in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Peru, Russia, Sweden, and England. Streets named in his honor can be found in Austria, Canada, Georgia, Germany and Israel.

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