Wallenberg and Rustin: Two Extraordinary and Widely Unknown Figures

This year marks the 100th year since the birth of two extraordinary men.  The first time I heard and learned about both Raoul Wallenberg and Bayard Rustin was just this year, and I have come to understand that there are a great deal of people who are unaware of these amazing men, who truly represent the best of humanity.

Raoul Wallenberg (August 4, 1912 – July 17, 1947?)

In the spring of 1944, Adolf Eichmann had gone to Hungary to complete Hitler’s “Final Solution” before the war ended.  He was rapidly sending 10,000 to 12,000 Jews to the gas chambers every day.  That spring, the American government was trying to stop him, and so President Roosevelt sent Iver Olsen to Stockholm as an official representative of the American War Refugee Board.  Olsen was looking for a man willing to walk into the jaws of the Nazi death machine, someone who spoke both Hungarian and German, someone with an independent spirit who would not need much oversight or direction.  Raoul Wallenberg, who was a Christian Swede, architect, businessman, diplomat, and humanitarian, was highly recommended.

Raoul Wallenberg quickly established an office and “hired” 400 Jewish volunteers to run his “rescue campaign.” His mission was to save what remained of the Hungarian Jewish population.  Wallenberg invented a special Swedish passport for Jews, the Schutzpass, which granted Swedish citizenship and immunity from deportation to the death camps.  The Schutzpass alone is credited with saving 20,000 Jewish lives.  Using his American funds, Wallenberg found thirty-two buildings to rent.  Wallenberg’s “safe houses,” which were protected by Swedish diplomatic immunity, saved around 15,000 Jewish lives.

“>Yad Vashem—Jerusalem's memorial to Holocaust victims—as the most outstanding of the “Righteous Gentiles.”

“For me there is no choice.  I’ve taken on this assignment and I’d never be able to go back to Stockholm without knowing inside myself I’d done all a man could do to save as many Jews as possible.”  – Raoul Wallenberg

To see video of Wallenberg, please click “>The Story of Raoul Wallenberg, By Penny Schreiber.  Article found on the “>{Here}

Source: Washington Post article