Congratulations to The Epoch Times and to Joan Delaney, for publishing one of the most important and interesting journalistic articles (”What Happened to Raoul Wallenberg?”, May 27) ever written on the Swedish savior, Mr. Raoul Wallenberg.
Joan Delaney’s article gives the opportunity to witness the unbearable plight of this hero’s closest relatives.
I had the privilege of establishing the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, together with my friend, the late U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos (who survived the Holocaust thanks to Wallenberg).
Ever since, we have grown into a global-reach NGO with offices in New York, Jerusalem, Buenos Aires, and Berlin, and with hundreds of heads of state and Nobel Prize laureates as our honorary members.
Our main mission is to research, document and divulge the legacies of the rescuers of victims of the Holocaust, among whom, Raoul Wallenberg was the most prominent and tragic one.
We have also launched the ”100,000 names for 100,000 lives” worldwide campaign, calling upon people from all venues of life to support our request to the Russian authorities to get clear and credible answers about the fate and whereabouts of Raoul Wallenberg.
His disappearance is a poignant human tragedy which touches us all. Raoul was a great savior who could not be saved.
Moreover, we have written, along with several heads of state and Nobel laureates, letters to former President Putin asking for a clear resolution of this tragic case. However, in a response sent to our foundation by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, Ambassador Andrey Denisov wrote that, ”As all direct evidence was destroyed at the time, it is highly improbable that any documents revealing fundamentally new evidence for this case could ever be found. However, circumstantial evidence collected by the working group”—(Swedish-Russian Working Group)—”shows that Raoul Wallenberg lost his life in the USSR on July, 1947. The Russian Party of the working group made an unambiguous political conclusion: the responsibility for the death of Raoul Wallenberg rests with the USSR top governmental officials of that time.”
In a world still full of hatred and persecution, the voice of the thousands of women and men who, like Raoul Wallenberg, stood up against evil, is more relevant than ever. Our recognition and thanks should never expire.
Baruch Tenembaum
Founder
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
