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  • Reflections of life to escape the Nazi horror

    The Nazi attack on the roots of civilization was a defining element of the twentieth century. Hitler was the epicenter of that attack and its main exponent, not its main cause. “(From” Hitler, the definitive biography “, a monumental work of 1,300 pages by historian Ian Kershaw). The “miracle of life” rising on the Nazi […]

  • Survivors and brave opponents to Nazi horror

    New anniversary of the disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg Regarding the touching column of Mr. Francisco Wichter, Holocaust survivor, saved by Oskar Schindler (January 6. “I was part of the Schindler list and I fulfilled my mother’s legacy: survive.”), we allowed ourselves to write these brief lines a few days before a new anniversary which has […]

  • “Our mission is to preserve and spread the courageous legacy of Raoul Wallenberg”

    Dear Mr. President, We respectfully address you on behalf of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation (IRWF), in light of the recent publication of General Ivan Serov’s diaries, may we respectfully ask you to consider the possibility of allowing free and unfettered access to the KGB archives in order to try and locate the remains of […]

  • A homage to Marcel Marceau

    The death of the great mime Marcel Marceau marks a sad moment not only to the theatre and arts world but is also a great loss of a WW II hero. When the Nazis uprooted the Jewish residents of Alsace-Lorraine after marching into the region in 1939, Marceau and his family were given two hours […]

  • The story of the bootblack who once escaped Nazism and now returns to his country

    Alike all Jews, his German citizenship was taken away by a law Bernardo Jerochim fought 68 years to gain back his nationality. In the end he achieved his goal and traveled to Berlin. Upon his return, he will continue to polish shoes. Streetcars, balconies, fears. Memories of a short childhood travel fast through Bernardo’s Jerochim […]

  • Petition to Moscow seeking the opening of the files connected to the Wallenberg case

    A ceremony will take place today on the 94th anniversary of the Swedish diplomat’s birth. Wallenberg helped over 100 thousand Jews to escape the nazis. The soviet army captured him and from then on no one knew anything else about him. A ceremony in commemoration of Raoul Wallenberg will take place this afternoon in the […]

  • With strict ”moral” restraints,Poland is getting ready to receive the Pope

    The ultraconservative and catholic government bans sex, jokes and nudes in TV. On television screens no sex, no nudes, no daring necklines, no dirty jokes and no bold publicity are allowed. No ”spots” on condoms or anticonceptives. The same happens in the streets, where all unsuitable posters are being covered up, including those that recommend […]

  • The opening of the greatest Holocaust file containing 50 millon documents

    It was created in 1943 and the Red Cross managed it. The documents were elaborated by the Nazi burocracy. Eighteen millon victims are mentioned there. By the end of the year, investigators and historians will have access to them. Records of dental treatments and medical experiments of concentration camps prisoners. The causes of the arrest […]

  • Claim to Vladimir Putin

    The Wallenberg Foundation tries to meet Russian Prime Minister Mijail Fradkov who will visit Argentina tomorrow. The Foundation asks President Vladimir Putin to unveil the final destiny of former diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who dissapeared in Russia in 1947.

  • Religions: from the dialogue of the deaf to understanding

    THOUGHT The Argentine, Baruch Tenembaum, a pioneer in the communication among different creeds, teaches us that ignorance is the engine of hates and of present wars. How can it be understood that religions professing love, charity and compassion, are excuses for present wars? The use of the word ”excuse” seems perfect to me since it […]

  • Jerochim, the Jewish German shoecleaner from Buenos Aires downtown is given back his homeland.

    A character from downtown Buenos Aires Bernardo Jerochim He has lived in Argentina since 1938. The Nazis declared him stateless in 1941. After several unfruitful attempts, Bernardo Jerochim will get his German passport back, sixty four years after losing it. The Germans of Jewish origin lost their citizenship even if they resided abroad by a […]

  • Looking for Wallenberg

    Claim to Moscow Argentine Baruch Tenembaum, head of the Wallenberg Foundation, will shortly start a worldwide tour, with a defiant stopover. He will seek an interview with Russian president, Vladimir Putin, whom he will ask for the solution of the case of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat that disappeared by the Soviet army in 1945, […]

  • The great encyclical that united Jewish and Catholic people

    It is the 40th anniversary of a valuable text inspired by John XXIII which is the milestone of the interreligious dialogue later developed by John Paul II. Under the sign of interreligious dialogue, a new era was inaugurated by John Paul II according to the principles of the Second Vatican Council, an extraordinary landmark born […]

  • Controversy over the diplomatic role during Nazism

    Last 16 May Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa ordered the removal of a plaque that was placed inside the Argentine Chancellery in homage to twelve Argentine diplomats that allegedly have worked in favor of persecuted Jews while fulfilling their duty in different capitals of Europe. The plaque had been unveiled in 2001 by former Foreign Minister, […]

  • Controversial secret law discriminatory of jews repealed

    It was already not in use. It denied entry to this country of citizens of that origin. Even though he kept silent during the entire ceremony, President Néstor Kirchner yesterday decided to be present at the ceremony in which Minister of Foreign Affairs Rafael Bielsa repealed a controversial secret circular issued by his Ministry. Currently […]

  • Controversial plaque removed from Argentina’s Foreign Office

    NAZISM CONDEMNATION The Foreign office decided to remove a controversial plaque from its premises. The plaque paid tribute to 12 Argentine diplomats for their actions ”for the Jews” during the Second World War. One of these diplomats is accused by community organizations to have done exactly the opposite. Decree 999 signed by Foreign Minister Rafael […]

  • On nazis and bronze plaques

    The Argentine media have reported that President Néstor Kirchner and his wife were moved to tears during a recent visit to Dachau concentration camp in Germany. ”In 1933, the world remained silent,” said the President in reference to Hitler’s rise to power and to the atrocities committed by the Nazis. We are sorry to say […]

  • The Pope of Fraternity

    During the course of his long papacy, John Paul II turned out to be the worthy heir to pontiff John XXIII, as the driving force of revolutionary changes within the Church in its relation with the Jews. Many are the different initiatives of Peter’s successor that allowed him to establish the conditions for the construction […]

  • A Mural that Makes History

    The Cathedral of Buenos Aires became in 1997 -through the initiative of the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Antonio Quarracino-the first Catholic temple in the world to have a Mural that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust and those who were murdered in the attacks to the Embassy of […]

  • Catholics and Jews could overcome prejudices and distrust

    The relationship between Catholicism and Judaism has been marked for centuries by prejudices and distrust. On the Catholics’ side the prejudices were based on a misinterpretation of the Gospels about the role played by the Jews. On the Jews’ side the distrust was a consequence of centuries of persecutions which reached their peak in the […]

  • About the attack in Istanbul

    The news of the heinous attacks perpetrated last Saturday in Istanbul came as a terrific shock. The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, an educational NGO that preserves the memory of all the heroes of the Holocaust, expresses its condolences, to you and to the Turkish people, in this sad hour. This murderous crime affects not only […]

  • The US Congress will give an award to an Argentinian

    The Argentinian Baruch Tenembaum will be rendered tribute by the US congress next October 16 for his work and particularly for having devoted himself ”to create a framework of understanding between Jews and Catholics in the whole world”, said Congressman (D) Tom Lantos, who proposed this tribute. During his long trayectory, Tenenbaum launched the installation […]

  • Statue damaged

    The monument in Buenos Aires that pays tribute to Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat that saved one hundred thousand persons from Nazi extermination, was defaced with red paint. The statue, the work of British sculptor Philip Jackson inaugurated in 1998 on the corner of Figueroa Alcorta Ave and Austria street, was intentionally vandalized. The International […]

  • The shoeshine is a German citizen again.

    He lived 65 years without citizenship for being a Jewish ”I am happy and moved because a dream comes true” said Bernardo Jerochim dressed in an impeccable blue suit and wearing a tie that was a gift from one of his clients to whom, everyday and for the last 50 years, he shines his shoes […]

  • Courage and respect are values that never die

    Once I heard a well-known diplomat utter the following phrase: ”If we had had half a Wallenberg in Argentina during the years of the military dictatorship, there would not have been disappeared people”. The metaphor is controversial, but does not it express the truth? The most moderate calculations estimate that Wallenberg saved between 40 to […]

  • The diplomat who saved 100,000 Jews from the Nazis

    He was sent to Budapest in 1944. He issued Swedish passports that he distributed among the Hungarian Jews. It is not clear whether he is dead or alive. Two survivors remember him in Buenos Aires. Ladislao Ladanyi eyes fill with tears when points to the portrait of an aristocratic looking young man with his hair […]

  • Homages at the UN and in Argentina

    The 90th anniversary of Raoul Wallenberg’s birthday will be remembered at many places around the world. Today in New York, the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation will present a commemorative medal to the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and his wife Nane, niece of the Swedish diplomat. A mass in his memory will be celebrated today […]

  • Tomas Kertesz: Thanks to Wallenberg I’m Alive!

    ”I was among the people that they were going to put on the trains, and he himself took care of saving those of us who had Swedish passports”, remembers the Hungarian architect Tomás Keretesz, at his Belgrano apartment. It was the year 1944 and Tomás was 16 years old. His sight blurs when he tells […]

  • A triangle entering the water

    During the Second World War, 15,670 non-Jewish people sacrificed their lives to save those of Hebrews persecuted by Nazis: they were the righteous gentiles, who will have their own monument-homage in the Buenos Aires coast. The architects Claudio Veckstein and Nora Vitorgan Maltz, on request by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, created a monumental triangle: […]

  • The gratitude of Pope John Paul II

    John Paul II looked her directly into her eyes and said: ”I know very well who you are and I thank you for everything you did. In my country, Poland, specially in the region of Cracovia, thanks to you and your husband many Polish Jewish were saved, but your actions also saved the lives of […]

  • The Consul who helped 30 thousand people to escape from Nazism

    They are only papers. Visas signed in September 1940 by Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Consul of Portugal to Bordeaux, France, which allowed the rescue of 30,000 people. Photographs of refugees in Lisbon, showing the loss in their eyes. The order of dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, who expelled him from the diplomatic service because he […]

  • Other humanitarian heroes

    Steven Spielberg’s film made famous Oskar Schindler’s story, the German businessman who saved 1,200 Jews from the gas chambers by contracting them in his enameled-goods factory in Crakow. Nevertheless, most people ignore the names of many other non-jewish people who, during the Second World War, risked their lives for refugees of all beliefs. In the […]

  • When John XXIII baptized Jews

    A group of Jewish personalities vindicates the commitment made by monsignor Guiseppe Roncalli, later John XXIII, during the Second World War. His stratagem saved the lives of thousands of Hungarian-Jews. The chubby monsignor put his chair near that of his visitor’s and in a mid tone of voice asked him: ¿Do you think that Jews […]

  • The argentine paradox

    The founder of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation recently wrote an article for Clarín Newspaper on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Eichmann’s detention in Argentina, noting the paradox between the vastly different legacies left by Raoul Wallenberg and Adolf Eichmann. For every, shameful, tragic tale that questions our morality, there are tiny yet […]