THE IRWF’S ANNUAL REPORT OF ACTIVITIES
To read the 2009 Report of Activities please click here.
THE IRWF NEW YORK COMMEMORATED THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF WALLENBERG’S DISAPPEARANCE
Holocaust Survivors, art connoisseurs, members of the Jewish community, and press representatives gathered on January 17, 2010, at the recently inaugurated cultural space of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation for the opening of ”The Wallenberg Series” exhibit.
Showcased in its totality for the first time in the U.S., ”The Wallenberg Series” by Austro-Canadian artist Armand Frederic Vallée was organized to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg at the hands of the Soviet troops on January 17th, 1945.
IRWF’s Daniela Bajar and Dr. Mordecai Paldiel took part in the official program that also included the participation of Rebbetzin Judith Friedlander who gave an account of her meeting with Wallenberg as a little girl in war torn Budapest.
The exhibit is open to visitors weekdays, by appointment at 212-737-3275.
To read more click here.
WALLENBERG REMEMBERED AROUND THE WORLD
Each year the day of Wallenberg disappearance is commemorated around the world. These are just some of the events of that took place in 2010:
In 2001, Canada declared January 17 as Raoul Wallenberg Day in honor of the great rescuer and first Canadian Honorary Citizen.
Raoul Wallenberg Day in Vancouver was celebrated with an event organized by the Swedish Consulate and the Jewish ”Second Generation Group.” A speech by the Honorable Irwin Cotler, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and one of the Honorary Members of the IRWF, was a central part of the program held at the Jewish Community Center.
Montreal’s commemoration took place in front of the Wallenberg Memorial in the Christ Church Cathedral. Swedish Consul Elin Miller and Dr. Vera Parnes, one of the Wallenberg survivor and founder of the International Wallenberg Movement for Humanity, participated in the official program.
Survivors in Melbourne, Australia, gathered on January 17 at a ceremony held at St Kilda Town Hall. The annual event was held with the support of B’nai B’rith’s Raoul Wallenberg Unit and the City of Port Phillip.
A film about the Swedish hero ”Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg,” was shown on January 17 in the Wallenberg Hall of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.
The Raoul Wallenberg Award was awarded for the very first time on January 17, 2010 in Budapest, Hungary. The ceremony took place in the Holocaust Memorial Center. The award was established by the Hungarian Raoul Wallenberg Association, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, the National Alliance of Self-governments and the Roma (Gipsy) Civil Right Foundation.
On January 17, in front of a 600 members of his Congregation in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, Rabbi Dario Bialer, Member of the Board of Directors of the IRWF, gave a speech on the anniversary of the disappearance of the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands lives during the Holocaust.
INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY
On November 1, 2005, the United Nations decreed an annual international observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. The UN selected that date because it was on January 27, 1945, that Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, where more than 1 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis.
The 2010 week-long observance at the UN Headquarters in New York included exhibits, concerts, panel discussions, briefings, and film screenings.
One of many events around the world this day was a memorial ceremony held at the Raoul Wallenberg Square in Stockholm, Sweden.
REMEMBERING WALLENBERG: THE ROLE OF DIPLOMACY IN ADDRESSING ANTISEMITISM
The IRWF participated in a morning session to remember Raoul Wallenberg, which was held in The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism, at Tel Aviv University.
The session was chaired by Professor Dina Porat, Head of the Stephen Roth Institute. Speakers included H.E. Henri Etoundi Essomba, Ambassador of Cameroon in Israel, Dr. Edward Rettig, Acting Director of the American Jewish Committee in Jerusalem, and Rabbi Andrew Baker, Personal Representative of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Chair-in-Office on combating antisemitism.
MIEP GIES, THE LAST OF THOSE WHO HID ANNE FRANK, DIES
Miep Gies, one of the Dutch citizens who hid and sustained the family of Anne Frank for more than two years in an Amsterdam attic, died on January 11, 2010, at age 100. It was Mrs. Gies who found Anne’s diary, its pages scattered over the floor, and kept it in hope of Anne’s return.
”Not a day goes by that I do not grieve for them,” declared Mrs. Gies in one of her last interviews.
”BORGES AND THE JEWS” – NEW E-BOOK BY ILAN STAVANS
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation presents its new e-book ”Borges and the Jews” by Ilan Stavans. Ilan Stavans is a Mexican-American, essayist, lexicographer, cultural commentator, translator, writer, short-story author, TV personality, and teacher known for his insights into American, Hispanic, and Jewish cultures.
To access the collection of e-books click here.
