Motion to the Swedish Parliament
2006/07:K249
by Mikael Oscarsson (Christian Democrats)
Raoul Wallenbergs Day
Proposition for Parliamentary Decision
Justification
Raoul Wallenberg was born on August 4th 1912 in Stockholm. For future generations he will be remembered as the man who saved tens of thousands of Jews from dying in German Nazi concentration camps, while risking his own life. His actions ended when he was kidnapped in Hungary and taken to a prison in the Soviet Union, where he was probably tortured and maybe finally executed.
Because of his efforts, Raoul Wallenberg is a great hero abroad, especially in the United States where he was the second foreign person, after Winston Churchill, to become an honorary citizen. He is also an honorary citizen in Israel and Canada and there are monuments in his honor in New York, London and Stockholm.
It has to be pointed out though that the attention surrounding Raoul Wallenberg has been brief/scanty in Sweden. It is as if they are still ashamed of the inability to take action which in the years after his disappearance distinguished the Swedish Governments handling of the case. A resolute intervention would most likely have saved his life.
Today there are many ways – and many reasons – for the Swedish people to give notice to one of the most heroic citizens of our time. In Sweden we appoint certain days to give attention to children, women, family, the environment, the United Nations etc. This is good. Therefore the correct thing to do would be to appoint one day to honor Raoul Wallenberg. It could be a day when we bring to the forefront the fight against totalitarian ideologies that systematically violate human dignity – such as national socialism, anti Semitism and racism-, but also the fight for peace and human inviolable values. It would be a innative way to show late appreciation for one of the greatest Swedish heroes of the 20th century. Such a day could be an important meeting place for the democratic forces that protect the principle of human beings equally worth against the ideological forces that question this principle and now once again seem to be advancing in this country.
Stockholm, October 27, 2006Mikael Oscarsson (Christian Democrats)
Translated from Swedish by Elin Borg, IRWF volunteer.
