The search for Wallenberg
Most folks know the story of Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust before his arrest by advancing Soviet forces. He was never heard from again.
Now, in a series of articles in the Wall Street Journal, Joshua Prager documents the continuing struggle of his family for information. He also reports on the continuing dispute over Wallenberg's fate, including this nugget about the efforts of Russia's chief rabbi to press former President Vladimir Putin to disclose more information about Wallenberg.
In 2001, Moscow allowed that the Swede, likely arrested on suspicion of spying, had been innocent. More recently, Mr. Putin expressed a willingness to release more information when, on June 5, 2007, the president welcomed the chief rabbi of Russia to his private dacha.
"I said, 'There's this issue of Wallenberg,'" recalls Berl Lazar. "He said, 'Yes, when I was in the KGB, this issue came up.'"
The rabbi suggested that full disclosure would benefit not only Mr. Wallenberg's family and the Jewish community, but Russia, too. "He loved the idea," says Rabbi Lazar.
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According to the documentary on his life, I Have Never Forgotten You, in response to a plea for assistance from Mr. Wallenberg’s mother in 1977, Simon Weisenthal raised the issue, publically and privately, at every available opportunity. Mr. Wallenberg was made an honorary American citizen so that the American government could press his case with the Russians/Soviets. It would be an honor to Mr. Weisenthal’s memory, and simple justice, if President Obama were to press Mr. Putin on this issue. Whatever they did to him will have been no worse than what the world suspected was done, so it could be presented to Mr. Putin as a matter of honor.
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Izzy
03/03/09 08:49 PM
So this revalation happened on June 5, 2007? What’s keeping the truth from us. That was a long time ago Mr. Wallenberg is still missing.
Thank you, I’ll celebrate when they tell us the truth and return his remains to his family. I believe they took his driver as well.
One has to wonder what the is the point of the story, at all. It just stirs up a very dark bad memory of the fate of a very brave individual. No news, is not news.