I saw this plaque tucked away in a little garden at the Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus..
Friday, January 27, many in the world mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day (although Israel's Yom HaShoah is in April).
This year, 2012, many countries and especially Hungary are having events to commemorate the 100th birthday of Raoul Wallenberg.
The young Swedish diplomat was posted in Budapest in July 1944, four months after the Nazis marched into Hungary
In the space of a few months he managed to save 20,000 Jews from deportation and from the Hungarian nationalist socialist Arrow Cross by issuing Swedish diplomatic papers and establishing “safe houses” throughout the city.
Raoul Wallenberg was taken into custody by the Soviets on January 17, 1945 and was never heard from again. He was 32.
His disappearance remains a mystery.
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How moving.
ReplyDeleteA post related to the 27th of January later during the day.
I am sorry. And hope that time and life might be able to continue.
I had not heard of Mr. Wallenberg's part in saving Jewish lives...and then to disappear so completely. A true humanitarian!
ReplyDeleteHello beautiful Dina
ReplyDeletestopping by to say a prayer.
shalom
May his memory always be a blessing.
ReplyDeleteAn important day to remember!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the story, Dina. There's a Raoul Wallenberg Square at the corner of Fairfax and Beverly Blvds. in Los Angeles. It's not really a square, just a corner. But it has a statue of Wallenberg. I never knew 'til now who he was.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why the Soviets wouldn't let him go. What good did it do to keep him prisoner?
ReplyDeleteRaoul Wallenberg was truly a moral man, a hero of blessed memory. The biggest Bnei Brith branch in Melbourne is called Wallenberg in his memory.
ReplyDeleteThanks for showing this plaque.
ReplyDeleteA worthy reminder. The question of what happened to Walleberg still pops up every now and again in our media (I'm Swedish).
Our Giorgio Perlasca, who also saved thousands of Jews in Budapest, worked with him.
ReplyDeleteFriends, thank you all for these comments. They and you are dear to me.
ReplyDeleteVP, thanks for telling us about Giorgio Perlasca. I just read his amazing story in Wikipedia!
He should never be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteThough she didn't find out for several decades, Raoul Wallenberg saved my father's cousin.
ReplyDeleteA wonderfully talented friend of ours wrote a beautiful song about Georgio Perlasca - I haven't been able to find a link to her singing it on Youtube but here are the lyrics and here is a link to listen to a sample and download the song from Amazon. Well worth the listen!
Robin, thank you!! This is amazing!
ReplyDeleteAh, the blessings of blogging.
Sad story.. hope he will never be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteBoth Hitler and Stalin had a lot to answer for. The Wallenberg case, may not be the largest, but its symbolic value is enormous. May he long be remembered for what he did, and may we one day know the truth about what happened to him.
ReplyDeleteDina, have you heard of Aristides de Sousa Mendes? He is THE Portuguese hero, in my opinion, a kind of Portuguese Schindler, who managed to save 30.000 Jews in WWII.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristides_de_Sousa_Mendes
JM, thank you for the link! I had never heard of de Sousa Mendes before and I'm glad to know about him now. He was indeed a hero.
ReplyDeleteJM, yes, thank you. I will go to read about him.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I did this post because now I am learning so much from you readers.