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,