The Greatest Wolverine

Submitted by ZooWolverine on

"I stopped at a small hotel outside the city that was on a cliff, with the entire Atlantic Ocean below it. In the lobby there was a middle-aged European man. He took a look at my passport and then he said 'Wallenberg? Are you Swedish? Are you a relative of Raoul?'

"'Yes,' I said, 'his second cousin.' Then he beamed at me, this hotel receptionist and said, 'I will make sure that you receive our finest room with a view of the ocean. And whatever you need, Mr. Wallenberg, you have only to ask.'

Peter Wallenberg taps his pipe on the side of the ashtray. "This came a little unexpectedly and I didn't know much about Raoul. I must have looked quite puzzled. 'You understand,' the man went on, 'Raoul Wallenberg saved my life.'"

(From Ingrid Carlberg's "Raoul Wallenberg: The Heroic Life and Mysterious Disappearance of the Man Who Saved Thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust"--more info about this book at the end of the diary)

 

The hotel receptionist above was far from a rarity: Raoul Wallenberg, Michigan class of 1935, saved tens of thousands of lives while in Budapest during WWII. He grew up in a prominent Swedish family, and in 1944 traveled to Budapest, Hungary with the mission of saving Jewish lives. Secretly funded primarily by Americans, his official status as a diplomat of neutral Sweden gave him some protection and independence. He quickly realized that evacuating Jews from Budapest would be incredibly inefficient, and instead turned to protecting their lives in Budapest. He created a "Schutzpass" document--which appeared official and supposedly granted the holder the protection of Sweden, then risked his life to argue with Hungarian and German officials for it to be accepted. He rode a fine line between protecting as many as possible without undermining its legitimacy--but the most tenuous connection with Sweden was sometimes enough for his team (eventually consisting of hundreds of staff-members, many of them rescued Jews) to issue a Schutzpass, and as the Soviet Army approached, Wallenberg declared that any application must be approved.

Wallenberg developed a system of Swedish safe-houses, and eventually worked to create a separate international ghetto for Jews under protection from Sweden and other neutral powers. He created a rescue team that worked to protect those under Swedish protection--in some instances, they would impersonate Nazi officials in order to demand Jews from death marches, and then return them to Budapest. For his actions, Wallenberg was a target of multiple assassination attempts.

As the Soviet Red Army approached and others fled, the Swedish team stayed in Budapest in order to prevent a final catastrophic act by the Arrow Cross (essentially Hungarian Nazis). As the Soviets approached, Wallenberg went out to meet them and present his plan to rebuild Budapest. He was initially protected by the Soviets, but was soon arrested by direct order from Stalin himself, who believed Wallenberg to be a Nazi spy--not only was the Soviet system under Stalin incredibly paranoid, but it simply could not believe that Wallenberg would do what he did.

The Swedes, who could not believe that the Soviet Union would take a neutral diplomat prisoner, missed several signals from the USSR that they had done exactly that. The Soviets took the lack of Swedish response as confirmation of Wallenberg's status as a spy. For years, the USSR denied knowing anything about Wallenberg's whereabouts and intentionally muddied the waters, claiming he had been killed near Budapest. Eventually, in 1957, the Soviet Union would acknowledge that Wallenberg was taken prisoner, but said he died of a heart attack in 1947. Whether that story is true, or he was executed at that time, or survived hidden in the Soviet Gulag system for many years after, remains a mystery.

Wallenberg's Schutzpass alone is credited with saving the lives of 20,000 Hungarian Jews. Wallenberg's work in total is often credited with saving at least 30,000, and some say he deserves credit for every Hungarian Jew who survived the war--a total of approximately 100,000.

I learned of Raoul Wallenberg when I had some time to waste before a meeting near Rackham, and noticed the sculpture by the Southeast corner of the building, dedicated to his actions. There is also a sculpture in front of the Art and Architecture building on North Campus (he was an architecture graduate) which states simply "One person can make a difference."

For those interested in learning more, check out the university's page at http://wallenberg.umich.edu and reading the biographical sections.

If you're interested in a much more thorough understanding of the man, I recommend an excellently researched biography I just finished reading by Ingrid Carlberg, "Raoul Wallenberg: The Heroic Life and Mysterious Disappearance of the Man Who Saved Thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust" (Which is the source of the quote at the top.) It interestingly omits or limits many of the heroic stories of physical action in Budapest--perhaps some of the stories are more legend than truth, or perhaps they simply cannot be documented well-enough for the author--but she otherwise does an outstanding job telling the story of his upbringing including his time in at Michigan (although he doesn't enjoy it in the beginning, he quickly becomes a fan), his amazing work in Budapest to create a large burocracy aimed at protecting Jews, as well as his time in Soviet custody, and how efforts to learn more have faltered and failed. Interestingly, one of the primary reasons his story has been told was that the CIA pushed it, wanting to create problems between Sweden and the USSR.

If you live near Ann Arbor, consider attending the lectures of the university's Wallenberg Medal, awarded each year since 1990. I attended memorable lectures by Paul Rusesabagina (whose story was told in Hotel Rwanda) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Other receipients have included Aung San Suu Kyi, John Lewis, the Dalai Lama, and Elie Wiesel, as well as Per Anger who worked with Wallenberg in Budapest, and Wallenberg's half-sister Nina Lagergren.

Comments

rob f

June 21st, 2016 at 12:55 AM ^

Although I already knew something of Wallenberg, I now know much more after reading your diary and clicking on the link you provided.  Thank You!

JackPonting

March 22nd, 2017 at 6:13 AM ^

It is great that you have completed reading book named “Raoul Wallenberg: The Heroic Life and Mysterious Disappearance of the Man Who Saved Thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust” and the reviews of this book which I would love to read. And the information is good to know for students who are in search of Job and need professional CV writing services London from the CV experts at CV Folks to get a best job they dream. They will also get inspire to read such kind of book which can enhance their ability of understanding of biography.

PopeLando

June 21st, 2016 at 10:00 AM ^

There are a lot of brave men and women from that era who can be called Hero with no exaggeration or hesitation. I never knew about this guy, but it's possible that he saved some distant relatives of mine.

Fuck the Nazis.

ska4punkkid

June 21st, 2016 at 10:31 AM ^

Thank you, this was a great read. I had no idea about this man. Kind of sad how someone so heroic can never be heard of by some people. I assume there are thousands of stories about similar people who have lived and died without me knowing anything about their great deeds to humanity.

Blueinsingapore

June 21st, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^

Can you please tell me where the block quote at the beginning is from? (Peter's story)

I couldn't find it on the UM Wallenberg site and a google search for a subset of the quote only returns this page.

 

Are you Peter Wallenberg?

ZooWolverine

June 21st, 2016 at 3:23 PM ^

My citation got buried at the very end of the diary--I'll go back and cite it better. It's from "Raoul Wallenberg: The Heroic Life and Mysterious Disappearance of the Man Who Saved Thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust" by Ingrid Carlberg. Every few chapters, she'll insert a story from her own research, so this was from her interview with Peter Wallenberg in 2010.

stephenrjking

June 21st, 2016 at 3:48 PM ^

I had never heard about this, though the name rings a bell. I am honestly disappointed that this has not been better publicized in the community. It's nice to know of the local connections of people like Arthur Miller and Madonna, but this man quite literally sacrificed his life to save thousands. That is as great an accomplishment as any person who has attended the University.

This man should be memorialized by more than a medal and a webpage and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it statue.

Thank you for the diary.

1VaBlue1

June 22nd, 2016 at 9:28 AM ^

A fantastic read to stumble on while looking for something to do at work!  I was thinking I'd find a discussion of what football player was best ever, but no - it was much more thought provoking.  I love WWII history (like so many others), but had no idea about Raoul.  We all know about Schindler (thanks, Speilberg!) and have some tertiary knowledge that many others did similar things.  But putting a name, date, place, and other details in one place brings home the magnitude of what these people accomplished in such a horrific environment.  Stories like this are why Brokaw's book (The Greatest Generation) is aptly named...

Blueroller

June 23rd, 2016 at 4:44 PM ^

Great post. I somehow managed to know a lot about Wallenberg without knowing he went to Michigan. He was one of the greats from that terrible period of history. His fate at the hands of the Soviets is worse than tragic; he deserved so much better.

softshoes

June 25th, 2016 at 12:36 PM ^

The same for me. I knew many parts of his story and he was a hero of the first order. I did not know he was a Michigan grad. It puts an extra shine on a story that is as bright as can be already. A very scary time for the world. Had England fallen I don't see how Hitler could not have prevailed. All of Europe under his rule. Well until Stalin got his shit together and then he would have owned the countinent. The world is in bad shape but I couldn't imagine what it would be like had that senario played out. 

Other Andrew

June 30th, 2016 at 4:16 AM ^

Excellent diary, and thanks for reminding me of Wallenberg's story. I had no idea he was a Michigan grad!

Maybe this is a bit spammy, but for those intersted in a related story I thought I would share here. 

Just before my father passed away earlier this year, he published a book about the rescue of 100+ children who were hiding in southern France, of which he was one. It features similar aspects of bravery, luck, and tragedy. If interested, you can find more information about it here.

 

JJJ

July 1st, 2016 at 11:06 PM ^

It's a short street in DC that most people have never noticed but it is nice that it is close to the Holocaust Museum. They do dedicate some space to him in the museum as well. Great hero, great Swede, great Michigan man!

JackPonting

April 14th, 2017 at 2:13 AM ^

It is great that you have completed reading book named “Raoul Wallenberg: The Heroic Life and Mysterious Disappearance of the Man Who Saved Thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust” and the reviews of this book which I would love to read. And the information is good to know for students who are in search of help with assignments uk from the academic experts to get a high scores or grades in final exams with help of Quality Assignment - http://www.qualityassignment.co.uk. They will also get inspire to read such kind of book which can enhance their ability of understanding of biography.