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Wallenberg, Raoul   Cerca

Nota d'ambito

Use when survivors discuss their experiences with this individual. (en-US)

Definizione

Born near Stockholm, Sweden, Raoul Wallenberg (1912-?) was a Lutheran Swedish businessman and diplomat who became the most successful rescuer during the Holocaust, saving an estimated 20-35, 000 Hungarian Jews. Wallenberg earned a degree at the University of Michigan and upon returning to Sweden, was denied a job with the Wallenberg family business. He found employment at an export-import firm owned by Kalman Lauer, a Hungarian Jew. In 1944, after the German occupation of Hungary, Lauer recommended to Iver Olsen of the War Refugee Board (WRB) that Wallenberg should help the Hungarian Jews. Although he had no experience in diplomacy or clandestine work, Wallenberg accepted the assignment. From 9 July 1944 to 16 January 1945, Wallenberg worked ceaselessly to save as many Jews as possible in Budapest, funded by the WRB. He issued protection papers that were known as the "Wallenberg passport" (Schutz-Pass) and convinced Hungarian authorities that Jews with these passes qualified as Swedish citizens who would soon leave Hungary. The Jews with these papers lived in safe houses that Wallenberg had requisitioned and designated as Swedish property, including those in the international ghetto. He continued his activities after the Arrow Cross takeover of October 1944, often driving through the city to hand out documents to the Jews and persisted even when Adolf Eichmann warned him to stop. In January 1945, Wallenberg was taken into custody by the occupying Soviets and his fate after the war was unknown. Sweden and the US investigated his possible whereabouts. The USSR reported that Wallenberg had died in a Soviet prison in 1947 although no death certificate was ever issued. Yad Vashem designated him as Righteous Among the Nations. (en-US)

Fonte

Laqueur, Walter. The Holocaust Encyclopedia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. pp. 669-673

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