On the 60th anniversary of Raoul Wallenberg’s disappearance, a series of film screenings about the Holocaust Hero followed by the testimony of survivors is being organized by The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation (IRWF), as part of its Educational Program.
City College students had the opportunity to listen to Judith Saly’s story of survival during a touching evening on April 13, 2005, while Columbia students gladly received Agnes Adachi on April 20th, 2005.
As a young Hungarian Jew, Judith Saly was not allowed to marry John, her non-Jewish boyfriend, but decided to follow him anyhow. When he heard about Raoul Wallenberg’s presence in Budapest, John offered him his help and Judith moved to one of the Safe Houses were she was protected from Nazi persecutions.
Agnes Adachi’s vast knowledge of foreign languages was a great help to Raoul Wallenberg and the Swedish delegation in Budapest. She became one of Wallenberg’s helpers typing protective passports Schult-pazz and even saving people thrown into the Danube alive.
The film ”Raoul Wallenberg: Buried Alive”, a documentary about the Swedish diplomat who saved 100,000 in Hungary during the Holocaust, contains a wealth of archival material that graphically shows the rise of the ruthless ”Arrow Cross Nazis” in Hungary. Astounding footage of ghetto pogroms and the enforced death marches are interwoven with interviews with survivors who owe their lives to Wallenberg, and those who have reported seeing him alive. The film won the Genie Award (Canadian Academy Award) for Best Theatrical Documentary in 1985.
Raoul Wallenberg disappeared in 1945, after being taken by the Soviets. ”In the year of the 60th anniversary of Raoul Wallenberg’s disappearance, it is important that Raoul Wallenberg’s example should be taught to a new generation of students.” said Baruch Tenembaum, founder of the IRWF.
The Foundation with branches in New York, Buenos Aires, Jerusalem and Caracas, is a non-profit organization, with the aim of promoting peace among nations and people, as well as developing educational projects based on concepts of solidarity, dialogue and understanding with the aim of rendering homage, promoting the message and remembering the actions of all those Heroes of the Holocaust who, like Raoul Wallenberg, risked their lives to save persecuted people during World War II.
For information about how to organize a screening in your educational or cultural institution, please contact the IRWF at 1 212 737 3275 or irwf@irwf.org.
