Raoul
Wallenberg
Hero
of Humanity
Chapter I
Chapter I introduces Raoul Wallenberg to the
students and demonstrates how his character, personality and courage make him a
worthy role model for today’s youth.
Raoul Wallenberg was not the most likely
candidate for his leadership role in the war, but his determination,
selflessness and heroism propelled him into this position. Students will be inspired by Wallenberg’s
example and, when facing intolerance, contemplate different ways of taking
action. They will come to the conclusion
that every person has the ability and the obligation to fight intolerance.
On January 17 of each year,
Canadians honour Raoul Wallenberg, saluted as a hero around the world. He is remembered and admired for his
extraordinary courage and determination, saving thousands of innocent victims
from the most atrocious genocide in modern history. His achievements, his
tactics, and his bravery make him an example of the best of human capability.
The words of Pastor Martin Niemöller, victim of the
Nazis:
“They
came for the communists, and I did not speak up because I wasn't a communist;
They came for the socialists, and I did not speak up because I was not a
socialist;
They came for the union leaders, and I did not speak up because I wasn't a
union leader;
They came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up for me ....”
Learning
Objectives:
·
To learn how Raoul Wallenberg
became convinced that he could find a way to assist Jews in
·
To acquire basic factual
knowledge about the final stages of the Holocaust in
·
To learn about the creation of
the War Refugee Board and the early stages of Raoul Wallenberg’s involvement
·
To read the personal accounts
of people who experienced the horrors of the Nazi era in
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE TEACHER:
Chapter I provides basic information for the book. Section I.1 provides ormation about
Wallenberg’s life. Section I.2 is a
quick overview of Wallenberg’s actions during the Holocaust. It should be
taught to give students background information on the subject of the Holocaust.
Chapters I.3, I.4, and I.5 are all primary source documents
attesting to Wallenberg’s character and bravery, and the three sections are
interesting and revealing. It is
suggested that the students be divided into three groups to study these
sections and to present their findings to the remainder of the class.
I.1: A Hero in Training
A young Swede, Raoul Wallenberg, is known all over the world for
his great deeds.
During WWII he rescued from the Nazis persecution 100 000 Jewish
people showing an amazing leadership and courage.
Where did he find the strength and the ability to accomplish these
extraordinary performances?
Raoul Wallenberg
Raoul Wallenberg did not plan
to become a hero. Yet something in his
life and his character enabled him to persevere and succeed where experienced
diplomats, skilled spies, and strategic analysts had all failed.
Raoul Wallenberg was from a
very prominent Swedish family, whose business interests extend all over
Maj encouraged Raoul’s
inquisitiveness. He was good at drawing , he liked hiking and swimming, he was
very interested in ships and airplanes. He was very capable in learning
languages. He liked to read and memorized even rather serious textsd., as for
example, pages from the Nordic
Encyclopedia.
Raoul was 6 years old when May
married Frederick von Dardel, who treated Raoul as his own son. Soon his half
brother Guy was born, then half sister Nina.
..
In his youth, Raoul was
greatly influenced by the imposing figure of his grandfather Gustav Wallenberg, a prominent Swedish diplomat and a
man with bold economic and social ideas. Gustav was convinced that his grandson
had great potential for achievement and leadership. With his guidance, Raoul
received an excellent education that emphasized travel and foreign
languages. By his high school graduation
in 1929, Raoul was proficient in English, French, German, and Russian, in
addition to being an excellent writer in Swedish. Gustav also encouraged Raoul’s interest in
politics and economics.
Raoul decided to study
architecture in the
His teachers and follow
students left many interesting comments and observations about him in their reports
and letters
These are several
of them:
“Born into the
distinguished Wallenberg family, the “ Rockfellers
of
bankers, bishops,
shipping and industrial magnates, Raoul
Wallenberg was
expected to succeed and make a name for
himself – family
tradition demanded this of him.”, wrote Lilian
E. Stafford “ We
did not know he came from such an important,
wealthy family; he
never talked about that. While he was here
he had to budget
his money. It had to cover tuition, books,
room, and meals. That
was part of the training his family had
in mind for him,.”
mentioned his teacher Julia Senstius.
“ Wallenberg
seemed as American as could be – in his dress,
his manners, and
the slang expressions he quickly picked up.
Everyone called
him ‘Rudy’ “(Clarence Rosa, classmate )
“… a very talented
person, with a lot of ideas, who learned
very easily. Once,
when Wallenberg had his arm in a sling
, he made all his
projects with his left arm, and his
presentations were
excellent. “ ( Richard Robinson, classmate )
During his studies Raoul travelled across the
continent, seeing much of the
In 1936, he moved to
He wrote to Gustav in April
1936:
“One day, one of my German
Jewish neighbours told me in passing that her brother had been murdered by the
Nazis”.
Soon enough, he discovered
that banking and bookkeeping were not
for him:
“The director of a bank should
be judgelike and calm and cold and cynical besides. My temperament is better
suited to some positive line of work than to sitting around saying no.”
Having completed his
internship, Raoul Wallenberg returned to
As the company’s director for
foreign trade, Wallenberg traveled around
But he was eager to do more.
Raoul’s
sister Nina remembered seeing together with him
the
film , in which a very boring professor
pretended to be spoiled and silly, but
secretly saved Jewish people from the Nazis. The professor, tall and
elegant, looked very much like her brother. It made her smile She asked Raoul,
weather he liked the movie. To her astonishment Raoul answered “I want to do
exactly what the professor did”.
Soon
after Raoul Wallenberg’s life changed completely.
I.2 Raoul
Wallenberg’s Heroic Mission in Budapest
In the spring of 1944, the
final phase of the Holocaust was unfolding in
The Germans began their hunt
for the last surviving Jewish community in
Adolf Eichmann: Architect of
the “final solution”
v
Final
Solution: Nazi euphemism for the intention to
brutally kill every Jew in
v
Adolf
Eichmann: The Nazi official responsible for
organizing the transport of European Jews to hard labour and death in the
Concentration Camps of Nazi-occupied
With terrifying and ruthless
efficiency, hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were rounded up, deprived
of basic civil rights and all valuable possession, and forced against their
will to live in ghettos. From there they
were moved to horrifying conditions in camps, where they were worked to death
or murdered in gas chambers.
Over all these years, the
international community did not try to stop the Nazis as they went about
murdering innocent people. Only at a very late stage in the war, some courageous
organizations and individuals decided to intervene. It took much time and
energy
Only in January 1944 President Roosevelt
established the War Refugee Board to assist in saving persecuted people.
President Roosevelt
On establishing the War Refugee
Board
v War Refugee Board:
US President Roosevelt established the Board in January, 1944,
in order to assist in saving persecuted people by working with Jewish
organizations, diplomats from neutral countries, and resistance groups in
The War Refugee Board was looking for a person from one of neutral
countries to be sent to
By chance, going to the meeting, he met in the
elevator a Hungarian Jew and invited him to the meeting. It was Dr. Koloman Lauer, director of the company,
where Raoul Wallenberg worked that time Meeting almost ended without positive
results when Olson addressed Lauer with
the same question about a probable candidate not having any hope to receive a
positive answer. “. My assistant Raoul
Wallenberg would be the best for this purpose”, said Lauer
Being asked, Wallenberg immediately agreed,
but put a number of conditions, which he consider important for fulfilling a
rescue mission. It seemed that he was prepared for it.
Olson was very impressed, when
Raoul told them during the conversation that he was ready to go to save as many
Hungarian Jews as possible.
Raoul Wallenberg
1944
At first the authorities were
concerned that he was too young, and his requests and even his enthusiasm caused
some doubts. But then the Swedish government
confirmed his candidature and granted him diplomatic status and fulfilling all
the conditions, which he requested.
It could not be a better choice.
Raoul Wallenberg, a young Swedish
businessman from a famous family in
By then 430,000 Jews from
the Hungarian countryside had already been forcibly deported.
Just a few days prior to his arrival, private requests and threats from
the Allies cowed the Hungarian ruler Miklos
Horthy into postponing the deadly deportations. However, this relief was only temporary. The remaining Jews were forced into the
v Miklos
Horthy: The leader of
v Ghetto: An area where people from a specific ethnic
background, culture or religion live as a group. In World War II, Jews were forced to live in
ghettos.
Raoul Wallenberg began acting
not losing a minute..
In
Even his knowledge of
architecture was useful, when he had to fit 35,000 people into Swedish
protective houses designed for only 5,000 occupants. Wallenberg also found time
to design an ambitious plan for postwar relief for
With determination and enormous energy,
Raoul Wallenberg immediately set to work, using the resources and expertise of
the Swedish Legation in
Raoul Wallenberg conceived of a variation
of Per Anger’s protective
passports idea. Wallenberg was aware of
how flashy, official-looking papers could impress the Germans. He created a document printed in yellow and
blue with the Tre Kronor - three crowns, a Swedish state symbol, and the
signature of the Minister. These Schutzpasses
had no legal status, but the Germans and Hungarians respected them, and they
would help approximately 30,000 people.
Triple Crown of
v Per Anger: He was the second secretary at the Swedish legation
in
v Schutzpass: It was an official-looking passport,
designed to look authoritative to the Nazis and to grant quasi-citizenship to
its holders.
One
Schutzpass could be used to save mother and child. ,or mother and two children
Wallenberg issued more than three times as many
protective passes as the quota allowed.
Wallenberg established personal contacts
with the highest-ranking officials in the Hungarian government, so that he
could negotiate and pressure them. In the following months, Raoul Wallenberg
and his colleagues set up large-scale humanitarian relief-and-rescue systems. Foreign legations from different countries
shielded some victims from deportation and provided necessities for persecuted
Jews.
Victory over Nazi Germany and
By October 1944, Wallenberg believed his
mission would soon be accomplished. He knew that the Hungarian ruler Miklos
Horthy was negotiating to surrender to the Allies. Wallenberg was convinced that the war would
be over soon and that he would be able to join his family in
But his
real mission had just begun.
On October 15, the Hungarian Nazi party,
the Arrow Cross, overthrew
Horthy and his government.
v Arrow Cross: The Hungarian Fascist political party, with an ideological and
political agenda closely resembling that of the Nazis.
The new leaders of
Members of the Arrow Cross Party arrest
Jews in
The Arrow
Cross cancelled all Protective Passports. Wallenberg had to start again.
It was in these days of utter chaos and
desperation that Raoul Wallenberg proved his incredible courage and heroism. He
was constantly on the move, negotiating with new authorities or threatening and
bribing lower subordinates to release victims who were to be executed or
deported. He followed the deportees and visited concentration camps, distributing basic supplies and Schutzpasses. He faced Nazi
and Arrow Cross guns. The situation deteriorated each day with bomb
raids and armed gangs looting and killing in the streets - and yet, amidst this
chaos, Wallenberg carried on his rescue mission.
v Concentration Camps: Nazi victims
were forced to work with little or no food and space. They were tormented by
their guards. Often they were worked to
death or simply murdered. The camp system in World War II included labour
camps, transit camps, prisoner of war camps, and extermination camps.
German forces, joined by Arrow Cross
militia, prepared to exterminate everyone living in the
In January, when the Russian army entered
the city, Raoul Wallenberg disappeared.
Years later it became clear that Wallenberg was arrested by the Soviet
secret service and incarcerated in
.I.3 Raoul Wallenberg Reporting: A Dispatch and a Personal Letter
The
following is Raoul Wallenberg’s personal account of his activities:
Dear
Mother,
I am keeping quite well and am very
busy. Until a week ago we had lots of air raids, often forcing us to sit in the
air-raid shelter for three or four hours on end. This past week we have been
spared that kind of unpleasantness.
Despite this, everything is moving
along very well. I gave some nice dinner parties for various officials who are
important to my work. […]
Our operation has been very effective
so far. I have a staff of about 115 people, all of whom are working very hard.
My own day consists mainly of seeing people who work here and who need to be
given various instructions. Also people who bring me news, and finally a small
stream of particularly unpleasant people, mostly of high social status, who
elbow their way into my office.
I also travel around in my DKW and
visit various officials. I enjoy these negotiations very much. They are often
extremely dramatic. About a week ago, I took my official car, a rented
Studebaker, and went to a detainment camp on the Austrian border. The
commandant refused to receive me at first, then he allotted me five minutes,
and finally, after negotiating for four hours, I managed to have eighty people
released the very same day and sent to
I had hoped to come home right after
closing down the section, as they said. Unfortunately, my trip home seems to
have been quite delayed, since the closing of the section is also taking a long
time.
Dearest Mother,
[…] The situation is risky and
tense, and my workload almost superhuman. Thugs are roaming around the
city, beating, torturing, and shooting people. Among my staff alone there have
been forty cases of kidnapping and beatings. On the whole we are in good
spirits, however, and enjoying the fight.
[…] We can hear the gunfire of the approaching Russians here day
and night. Since Szalasi came to power, diplomatic activity has become very
lively. I myself am almost the sole
representative of our embassy in all government departments. So far,
I’ve been to see the foreign minister about ten times, the deputy premier
twice, the minister for the interior twice, the minister of supply once, the
minister of finance once, etc.
[…] Food is very scarce in
It is simply not possible to make plans for the moment. I really
thought I would be with you for Christmas. Now I must send you my best wishes
for Christmas by this means, along with my wishes for the New Year. I hope the
peace so longed for is no longer so far away. [..]
Topics for Discussion:
· What kind of person was
Wallenberg, according to these letters? Taking into consideration that he was
writing to his mother, what information did he choose to omit and why?
I.4 Saved
by Raoul Wallenberg: Susan Vadnay Remembers
[3]
Susan Vadnay is a survivor of World War II.
She remembers the moment when Raoul Wallenberg saved her and her family,
along with others, from the deadly Hungarian Arrow Cross.
An imminent death march or death by being
shot into the depth of the
Susan was not
at all prepared for the horrifying ordeal of the Holocaust. Raised in the
beautiful Hungarian capital, she was an only child of doting parents. Her
father, an accountant, was a published poet and a passionate lover of the arts.
Susan had a privileged childhood: a German governess, piano, English, and
ballet lessons, season tickets to the Opera and the theatres.
She attended a
Jewish school and spent many hours in an artists’ cafe with her father and his
literary friends, who were among
Her family,
like many other Hungarian Jews, always considered themselves a part of the
Hungarian community and truly Hungarian. Now, as a fifteen year old, she
realized that this was false. As of April, Jewish children were not allowed to
attend school and all Jews were forced to wear the yellow star. She was forced
to feel different from other Hungarians, when she never had before, even though
according to her family lore, her great grandfather had been a decorated horseman
during the Hungarian revolution of 1848.
During the dark days that ensued, Susan's mother worked for
the Jewish community and took minutes at a meeting attended by Eichmann. In October 1944 the family obtained a Swedish Schutzpass and moved to a “safe house”. But even the “safe houses” were not safe from
the terror of the Hungarians Arrow Cross. One day it was raided and the whole
family was ordered outside. Susan and her parents were assembled with many
other Jews and pushed towards the bank of the
“What is in your mind?” her mother asked. “I want
to survive and see the
And
then, just like in a dream, a black limousine stopped near the crowd. A young
man stepped out, wearing a beige trench coat. His name was
Raoul Wallenberg. He looked at the long
line slowly meandering in the dusk. With
the help of an interpreter, he demanded that those under Swedish
protection follow him. The Arrow Cross men complied and released their
prisoners. About fifty people, among them Susan and her parents, were placed in
a Swedish “safe house”.
Disaster had
been averted. However, only a few days
later, the family was once again caught by the Arrow Cross. The agonizing march
towards the
Susan Vadnay
now lives in
I.5 Saved by Raoul Wallenberg: The Story of
Leslie M. Sela[4]
“My family lived in
At school, the Jewish children were ostracized -
often picked on by the school bullies.
In March of 1942, we received a letter ordering my
father to join the Hungarian Army. He was taken to the front line as a forced
labourer to dig trenches and clear the minefields for the soldiers.
Approximately ten months later, we received a notice from the Red Cross telling
us that our father was missing. Families all around us were getting similar
news about their family members and we almost expected it. We never heard
anything about him after that day.
In the spring of 1944 we were forced to move into an apartment building
that was designated for Jews. On the gate of the building there was
a big yellow star. There we lived with three other families, sharing the
kitchen and the bathroom. We became a community - helping each other through
this terrible time where more and more restrictions were being placed on us. We
had to wear a yellow star on our clothes and were only allowed out of our
houses from 11 in the morning until 5 in the evening. We missed school that
year because of this curfew.
On November 15 of that year, a group of Hungarian
fascists entered our building and ordered all the adults to come to the
courtyard. That day our mother was taken away and we did not see her again.
My sister and I were now alone. Luckily, a neighbour from the building took
us to an orphanage. The orphanage was located in
the building of a hotel and we were under the protection of the Swedish Embassy.
There were 500 Jewish children there - all orphaned from their family in one
way or another. We were confined to the building because it was getting far too
dangerous for Jews to be outside.
On
We were standing there, waiting and frightened -
knowing what was going to happen next.
It was at this fateful moment that Mr. Wallenberg came with a written
order for our release. The armed men
escorted us to the ghetto. We knew that
if we walked out of there alive, we had survived.
We were saved by this one man - minutes away from a
horrible fate that already had taken away so many people. I was 12 years old at this time and my sister
was 10. And there were 500 more children
just like us. “
Topics for Discussion:
·
Consider the survivors’ accounts of Raoul Wallenberg’s actions in
I.4 and I.5. What impressed them most at the time? According to these
testimonies, what were Wallenberg’s rescue methods?
·
In the story of Leslie M. Sela, she talks about Jewish children
being picked on in school. Does this
affect our understanding of prejudice?
PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
a)
Create a bulletin board about Raoul Wallenberg, thinking of
different ways to present the most important information about his life and
work.
b)
Write a poem about heroism.
c)
Several neutral diplomatic groups in
OUTCOME
From the material in this chapter, students will
find a role model in Raoul Wallenberg.
His example shows that anyone can step into a leadership role provided
he/ she is selfless, determined and believes in defending human rights and the
dignity of every individual.
Raoul
Wallenberg’s humanistic approach and his example will inspire students to make
the right decisions every time they face prejudice and hatred. They will know that they can stand up for justice against intolerance.
This chapter
teaches every individual to take responsibility for world events and to
determine a way to create positive change.
SOURCES
USED IN THIS CHAPTER
[1]Source: Raoul Wallenberg. Letters and Dispatches, pp. 274-2
[2] Source: Raoul Wallenberg. Letters and Dispatches,
pp. 276-27
[3]Source : Raoul Wallenberg. The Swedish diplomat who
saved 100,000 Jews from the Nazi Holocaust before mysteriously disappearing . Michael Nicholson and David Winner. /
People Who Have Helped the World./ Gareth Stevens Publishing.
[4] Source: The Raoul Wallenberg Bulletin, 12.1
(Summer 2004), p. 7. Author of the interview: Judith Princz
[5] Source: The Raoul Wallenberg Bulletin, 11.2
(Spring 2002).