As we mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, #WeRemember the millions who perished & the brave individuals who risked their own lives to rescue Jewish lives., among them 36 diplomats who couldn't turn a blind eye to the most horific injustices.
Sweden: Raoul Wallenberg
“I’ve taken on this assignment, and I will never be able to return to Stockholm without knowing that I’d done all a man could do to save as many Jews as possible.” Raoul Wallenberg
On March 19, 1944, Germany occupied Hungary. Within 56 days – from May to July – the German and Hungarian regimes had deported 437,000 Jews from the Hungarian provinces to Auschwitz. By the end of July 1944, the only Jewish community left in Hungary was that of its capital city, Budapest.
Soon the Swedish legation in Budapest reported that they were under enormous pressure by Jews seeking protection, and requested a special envoy whose principal task would be to deal with passports and visas. The Swedish government decided to work with the newly created American War Refugee Board, and appointed Raoul Wallenberg as secretary in the Swedish Embassy in Budapest with full diplomatic privileges.
Wallenberg arrived in Budapest on July 9, 1944 with a list of Jews whom he was to help, and 650 protective passports for Jews who had some connection with Sweden. However, he soon widened the scope of his work and began to issue thousands of protective letters and to place buildings housing Jews under the Swedish flag. Jewish youngsters joined these rescue efforts and distributed the protective papers.
When the fascist Arrow Cross movement seized power in October 1944 and instilled a reign of terror in Budapest, Wallenberg and some of his colleagues abandoned all diplomatic routine and set out to save Jews from executions and death marches. They followed the columns of Jews who were marched to the Austrian border, and freed them by claiming they were under Swedish protection.
When the Soviets entered the city, Wallenberg was taken away by Russian soldiers, never to be seen again. His fate in Soviet captivity is still shrouded in mystery.
Raoul Wallenberg was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1963.
