Raoul Wallenberg Is Posthumously Honored
Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat and businessman who played a crucial role in rescuing Hungarian Jews during the Nazi occupation in World War II. Born on August 4, 1912, in Stockholm, Wallenberg used his position as the First Secretary of the Swedish legation in Budapest to issue protective passports and establish safe houses, saving tens of thousands from deportation to concentration camps. His bold actions included negotiating with German authorities to expand the number of passports he could issue and personally intervening to protect Jews from being transported to their deaths. Wallenberg's efforts came to an abrupt end when he was arrested by Soviet forces in January 1945, and his fate remains a mystery, with conflicting accounts of his life after captivity. In recognition of his extraordinary humanitarian work, Wallenberg was posthumously awarded honorary citizenship by the United States on October 5, 1981, an honor shared only with Winston Churchill. His legacy continues to be celebrated as a symbol of courage and moral responsibility in the face of oppression.
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Raoul Wallenberg Is Posthumously Honored
Raoul Wallenberg Is Posthumously Honored
Raoul Wallenberg was posthumously honored, on October 5, 1981, for saving Jews during World War II. A Swedish businessman and diplomat, he helped rescue Hungarian Jews during the Nazi occupation. He disappeared after being imprisoned in the Soviet Union, and his fate has been disputed ever since.
As discussed elsewhere in this book, after the Nazis took power in Germany in the early 1930s, they enacted the infamous Nuremberg Laws which were part of the Nazi solution to what they labeled the “Jewish Problem.” Jews were given a lower class of citizenship than other Germans, Jewish businesses and professionals were boycotted, Jews were expelled from universities and civil service, and much of their property was confiscated. The most infamous solution that the Nazis utilized was the establishment of concentration camps to contain and exterminate the Jews under their power. As Germany expanded in territory during the early years of World War II, the Nazis took their solution to the “Jewish Problem” with them, forcing countries they conquered to establish similar policies.
Wallenberg, who would work to undermine the Nazis' attempts to eradicate the Jews, was born on August 4, 1912, in Stockholm, Sweden. While he was growing up, his grandfather oversaw his education, which included studies in architecture at the University of Michigan in 1931. Following his graduation in 1935, with the help of his grandfather, Wallenberg secured a position in Cape Town, South Africa, with a Swedish firm that sold building materials. After six months there, Wallenberg traveled to Haifa, Palestine, where he worked with a Dutch bank. Here he first met Jews who had escaped persecution in Germany.
Eventually, Wallenberg became a business partner with Koloman Lauer, a Hungarian Jew. Together they owned and operated the Mid-European Trading Company. Wallenberg's language skills and ability to travel freely throughout Europe made him an asset to his partner. During this time Wallenberg traveled to Nazi-controlled Germany and France, where he learned how the German bureaucracy functioned. He also made some trips to Hungary and visited Lauer's family.
At this time, Hungary was a relatively safe place for Jews, despite its being a German ally. This changed following Hungary's refusal to continue to side with Germany after the disastrous Battle of Stalingrad in 1943. Hitler invaded Hungary on March 19, 1944, and shortly thereafter Hungarian Jews began to be deported to Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Jews in the Hungarian capital of Budapest pleaded with the embassies of neutral countries such as Sweden for help. In a stroke of good fortune, the Swedish legation in Budapest was able to persuade the Germans that Jews with provisional passports issued by the Swedes should be considered Swedish citizens and not treated like their fellow Jews.
The American War Refugee Board decided to recruit someone to assist in a rescue effort, and Wallenberg agreed to head the operation. In July 1944 he went to Budapest as the First Secretary of the Swedish legation. Between July 1944 and January 1945, Wallenberg and his staff managed to rescue tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis. He set up “protected houses,” which flew the Swedish flag or the flag of another neutral country. While Wallenberg was initially given permission to issue only 1,500 Swedish passports, he negotiated with the authorities and succeeded in having the quota raised to 4,500. He managed to unofficially issue more than three times the permitted number. In addition to the passports, Wallenberg worked to provide food and medical care for the Jews living in the protected houses.
As Jews continued to be deported, Wallenberg grew bolder in his assistance. He would follow trains transporting Jews, sometimes climbing on top of them to distribute protective passports to those inside, and then he would demand that those with the passports be released to him. These actions were discovered but, despite threats from the Germans, Wallenberg did not relent in his efforts to save as many Jews as possible.
The Soviets captured Budapest in January 1945. On January 17 Wallenberg and his driver went to the new Soviet military headquarters and were never heard from again. Wallenberg's fate remains a mystery. The Soviet Union initially denied knowing anything about him, but then in 1957 they claimed that he was arrested in 1945 because they suspected that he was a spy. The Soviets stated that he died of a heart attack in prison on July 17, 1947. However, some former prisoners of the Soviet Union insist that they had contact with Wallenberg as recently as 1990. Although the Soviet state collapsed in 1991, little additional information has been forthcoming.
On October 5, 1981, the United States granted honorary citizenship to Wallenberg in tribute to his wartime efforts to save the Jews. He and Winston Churchill are the only two individuals ever to receive this honor.