Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat who demonstrated extraordinary courage and humanitarianism during World War II, saving tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi persecution. Born in 1912, Wallenberg studied architecture in the United States before pursuing a career in business and diplomacy. In March 1944, when the Nazis occupied Hungary and the situation turned dire for Hungarian Jews, the U.S. War Refugee Board and Swedish government selected Wallenberg, who was well regarded and fluent in multiple languages, to lead a diplomatic envoy, intended as a rescue mission, in Budapest. Assigned as first secretary to the Swedish legation in Hungary, Wallenberg arrived in Budapest in July 1944.
As the Germans were rapidly deporting over 400,000 Jews from Hungary to Auschwitz, where most of them were murdered upon arrival, Wallenberg, with authorization from the Swedish government, began issuing Schutz-Passes to Jews in Budapest. These certificates were protective documents that identified bearers as Swedish subjects under diplomatic protection. Determined to save as many lives as possible, Wallenberg distributed these documents widely, convincing the Hungarian Foreign Ministry to approve 4,500 of these protective passports but secretly issued three times as many.
Beyond issuing protective papers, Wallenberg rented buildings that he established as a network of safe houses under Swedish diplomatic protection, which deterred Nazi raids. Using a mix of diplomacy, bribery, and threats, even boldly confronting Nazi officers directly, he secured the release of Jews already bound for deportation and warned of postwar repercussions. In fact, as Soviet troops neared Budapest in late 1944, the Nazis devised a series of death marches and had planned to liquidate Budapest’s remaining Jewish ghetto. Wallenberg reportedly prevented the planned massacre by warning Nazi authorities of the future consequences of carrying out such attacks. When Soviet forces liberated Budapest in January 1945, Wallenberg was arrested upon suspicion of espionage. He was then taken to Moscow’s Lubyanka prison where it is believed that he died tragically, although the exact circumstances remain unknown.
Wallenberg once told a colleague, “I’ve taken on this assignment, and I will never be able to go back to Stockholm without knowing inside myself that I’d done all a man could do to save as many Jews as possible.” Upon the liberation of Budapest, more than 100,000 Jew remained, mostly because of Wallenberg’s valiant efforts. He was a fearless and skilled negotiator and organizer whose heroism has been widely recognized. In 1963, Yad Vashem in Israel honored Wallenberg as one of the Righteous Among the Nations. He has also been made an honorary citizen of multiple countries, including the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His legacy endures as a symbol of moral courage in the face of unimaginable evil.
