Raoul Wallenberg

The last known picture of Raoul Wallenberg (http://raoulwallenberg.us/right/newsroom/Raoul_Wallenberg_214082a.jpg)

Raoul Wallenberg (1912-1947?) is a Swedish diplomat who saved the lives of many Jewish people during the Second World War. He is a hero because he is a defender of human rights for the Jewish people saving the lives of about 100 000 Jewish people in 1944-1945, risking his own life in the process.

In 1943, after the Nazis lost the battle at Stalingrad, Hungary wanted to be like Italy and have a separate peace with the Nazis, so that when the Allies defeated their opponents, they would not be charged with the same war crimes (Nazi Leaders had committed the vast majority of Second World War crimes). Hungary, like Italy, did not want to be charged with war crimes.

However, Hitler demanded various obligations in order to allow the Hungarians to have a separate peace of their own. When the Hungarians refused, Hitler invaded Hungary in 1944. Previously, the Jewish people were not in danger because the Hungarians and the Nazis had a pact. However, in 1944 the pact was broken and there were about 700 000 Jewish people in Hungary.

When the Nazis started to deport the Jewish people living in the countryside to Auschwitz, the Jewish people in Budapest knew that they were in mortal danger. They sought protection from the Nazis in the embassies of other, neutral countries. There, the embassies issued provisional passes. Sweden issued protective passes that identified the bearer of the pass to be Swedish citizens. Raoul Wallenberg and his colleagues started handing them out to the Jewish people, saving them from the Nazi persecutors.

Eventually, the Nazis started deporting the Jewish people by train to Auschwitz. Even that did not stop Wallenberg from trying to save the lives of the Jewish people inside. He would climb up to the roof of the cabin, and slip bunches of protective passes to the people inside through the roof. The Nazi troops were ordered to open fire, but they were so impressed by Raoul Wallenberg’s courage and bravery that they deliberately aimed too high. Wallenberg could get off the roof of the train unharmed, stop the train, and demand that the people with Swedish passes (which was everyone) leave the train with him.

On January 13, 1945, advancing Soviet troops saw Wallenberg, who stated that he was the Swedish chargé d'affaires for Soviet-liberated parts of Hungary. Wallenberg wanted, and was given permission to visit the Soviet military headquarters in Debrecen. He left for Russia on January 17, 1945. He was expected to be back in 8 days, but has been missing since then. Up to today, it is still not clear what happened to Raoul Wallenberg.

What impressed me most about Wallenberg is his bravery in saving the Jewish people. I mean, it was almost certain that he would have gotten shot when he climbed the roof of the train, but his “enemy” respected him and they didn't shoot him, once again, out of respect. Another thing that is inspirational about him was that he was determined not to give up. In other words, he was brave enough to try to save those people even though he knew that the soldiers could almost certainly kill him. He demonstrated a lot of bravery in his quest to save the Jewish people.

When time was running out, Raoul Wallenberg created a simplified version of the pass, only one page with nothing but his signature alone. With the chaos even that worked. This is an excellent example of how heroes are people who don’t just risk their lives to save people. Wallenberg’s action of changing the pass is just as effective, objectively speaking, as his actions on the train.

The last heroic aspect of Raoul Wallenberg I would like to mention is his compassion for others. No one ever told him that he “had to” or “should” save Jews that were persecuted by the Nazis. He listened to their stories and he told himself that he should try to help them. The American War Refugee Board asking Wallenberg for help has no real relevance to Wallenberg’s actions, it was simply letting his past emotions control him and do what was right. Why else would he run along the roof of a train, practically waiting to get shot?

In conclusion, Raoul Wallenberg should be admired not only for his bravery, but also his compassion, and his intelligence. They were all key factors in preventing the Nazis from fully eliminating the Jewish population of Hungary. Without Wallenberg, the Nazis would have massacred a larger sector of the Jewish population. However, I think that it is really disappointing how Raoul Wallenberg is credited with saving around 100 000 Jews, but in the end it is believed that he died in a prison cell.