In July 1944, thirty-two-year-old Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg arrived in Budapest on a mission to rescue the last Jews of Europe. Over the next six months, Wallenberg rescued thousands of Jews by issuing diplomatic “safe passage” passes and establishing numerous “safe houses” throughout the city.
Defying mass murderer Adolf Eichmann and crazed Hungarian fascists while enduring one of the bloodiest sieges of World War II, Wallenberg risked his life repeatedly to save tens of thousands of lives. Tragically, when Budapest was finally liberated by the Soviets, the Holocaust’s greatest hero had disappeared into the Soviet gulag; to this day his exact fate is unknown.
March 2, 2012
