2008 Woodie Awards
ONE MAN, OUR LEGACY
Raoul Wallenberg After 60 Years
Michael Wernstedt
Issue date: 3/8/05 Section: Opinion
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Raoul Wallenberg was a Swede, not a Jew. Born there in 1912, he was a member of the distinguished Wallenberg family, giving him privileges and honour. So during the beginning of the Second World War, Raoul lived a highly privileged life in Stockholm, a city that had been spared from the terrors of war.
Most people in that situation would have stayed home in safety, but Raoul could not. He could not stand the thought of what was happening with the rest of the world and doing nothing. He could not stand knowing what Hitler's terror regime was doing especially to the Jews. He could not stand idly by, indifferent and aloof to suffering and pain. So in 1944, when Germany invaded Hungary, the United States War Refugee Board gave Raoul the opportunity he was looking for. He went to Budapest as a Swedish diplomat to save thousands of Jewish lives by issuing false, protective Swedish passports.
With the passports, Raoul placed many of those Jews under Swedish protection by housing them in buildings he rented with his money. He took people off the trains that were going to the Nazi working camps, and he rescued people the Nazis had tried to drown in the River Donahue. Many times his own life was threatened, but but nothing stopped him on his brave mission. In the end, his entire enterprise managed to save tens thousands of Jews from deportation and death.
When the Soviet Army was finally approaching Budapest to liberate it from the Nazis, all the Swedish diplomats evacuated the area, but Raoul ignored the danger. He stayed, to make sure the people he rescued would also be safe.
60 years ago last month, on the January 17, 1945, Raoul went to negotiate with the Russian liberators, to arrange security for imprisoned Jews and to provide them with medicine. The Russians arrested him, and he has not been seen since. Despite the numerous pleas of my family and high level government officials, we have never found out what truly happened to Raoul Wallenberg on that fateful day. But no matter what have happened to him, he lived, and is more alive today, than any of us ever will be. His spirit lives, his legacy flourishes. As a true hero of mine, his memory will never die.
What was so striking about Raoul Wallenberg was how he so boldly stood up against evil and fought for what was right in spite of the little common he had with the people he rescued. His enormous ability to look beyond the petty and contrite, and embrace the humanness of each individual made him a giant among men. We must all work mimic his virtues, not only for our own people, but also for others, in whatever lands they may live and whatever their race or religion may be.
It is important for us not just to remember the Holocaust, but to realize that genocide and other atrocious human rights violations happened even after the Holocaust and still in our present day. The world now desperately needs more people like Raoul. He proves the phrase "one man can make a difference." "
Growing up in a family where Raoul Wallenberg has been the familiar foundation stone has been an ennobling experience. Though I never met him, I feel like we share a deeply personal relationship. His fate has dictated a course for my family, and we continue to honour him through our own actions and perpetuation of his great name.
Naturally, I always wanted to be like Raoul, to have the courage to stand up for humanity even when others did not. I, however, soon realized it is not always easy to be unaffected by your surroundings, and how difficult it is to follow your own moral compass in all situations. The truisms of relativity are scary, and made me the kind of person one must be to amount to Raoul's great stature. Today I am happily convinced that I will stand up for the ideals of Raoul Wallenberg.
It has also been enormously gratifying to me, as a member of Raouls' family, to meet others that have been inspired and affected by him. One of the finest examples of these people is United States Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA). Saved and inspired by Raoul during the Second World War, Lantos has devoted his life to humanity. 25 year ago, he founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and has done tremendous work for the world, alerting the members of Congress to the plight of humanity through human rights education. Another exciting person is the British Member of Parliament, Lord Janner. He has devoted his life to fight racism and anti-Semitism, and to build bridges of friendship between the Jewish and the Muslim communities.
In the same way that these people have been inspired by Raoul, I believe others can gain from him. Now that racism and anti-Semitism once again are growing in too many parts of the world, it is vital that we revive his memory. While the older generation may know of him, most of the younger does not. We must all focus on combating racism, wherever it exists and in whatever form it destroys. Because that would be what Raoul had wanted, the legacy he left us and the world he wanted us to share.
Michael Wernstedt is presently studying Law and Economics at Lund University. Before matriculating at Lund University in 2003, Mr. Wernstedt absolved his military service in Sweden, rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant, and serving as the elected representative for the soldiers of his regiment. Prior to his military service, Mr. Wernstedt taught history and the social sciences at a Swedish Middle School. He has served as a congressional intern to Tom Lantos and as a parliamentary clerk to Lord Greville Janner in the British House of Lords.