I believe the seeds were planted for me to become a volunteer at the IRWF in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, where I was born and raised.

Both my parents were born in Puerto Rico. My mother is 87 years old just like Agnes Adachi. I grew up very poor and during the time my parents, my siblings, and I lived in Williamsburg there existed extreme violence, dangerous gangs, poverty, hardship, abuse, and endless atrocities. However, in the midst of all of this negativity, my parents made me aware of a much more powerful presence-the celebration of diversity. Not tolerance, but full celebration.

I lived in a low income housing project where predominantly Puerto Ricans and African-Americans resided. However, the Williamsburg community was also comprised of individuals from a multitude of cultures and religions including Italians, Gypsies, Germans, Poles, Dominicans, Jehova Witnesses, Catholics, and Orthodox Jews. My parents interacted with people no matter what their religious or cultural or ethnic backgrounds were. I remember listening to their conversations. I watched how my parents treated everyone. The Jewish person was not treated differently than the Puerto Rican person nor different than the African American person.

The Gypsies came during the warmer months and left during the colder months. They rented storefronts. The first summer I saw them I asked my parents who they were. My mother explained. When I did not see them in the winter, I asked my mother what happened. She explained that they would return again. And they did. I was happy every summer when I saw them. I wanted to know everything about them as I wanted to know everything about all of the people of various cultures in my neighborhood. It is no surprise that later in life I chose to pursue graduate studies in sociology.

My parents never ridiculed the spiritual, religious, or cultural beliefs of others. Instead they explained to me as much as possible. My parents grew up with great poverty and illness in Puerto Rico. As a result, they were unable to complete their educational studies. My mother completed 5th grade and my father was unable to complete high school. They both began working at very young ages, before adulthood. They were not able to teach me academics but they were able to give me a gift for which there is no college degree or high school diploma. From my parents, especially my mother, I learned to honor and celebrate diversity.

When we moved from Williamsburg to a section of Queens in NY, my mother met the previous tenant of the apartment. The woman was Jewish and told my mother that there was a mezuzah on the right side of the doorpost to the apartment. The woman asked my mother if she wanted it removed. My mother said no. That was in 1973. Today-33 years later-the mezuzah still stands there.

My mother was raised catholic. On her apartment door she has a picture of Jesus. When she leaves the apartment she touches both the photo of Jesus and the mezuzah, and prays. I have been accepted to study at a NYC based seminary to become an interfaith minister. My interest in pursuing interfaith ministry has strong roots in my observance of my mother’s spirituality and the influence that the Jewish community has and continues to have in my life.

Raoul Wallenberg risked his life to save others. Once saved by Wallenberg, Agnes Adachi could have chosen to focus on solely keeping herself and her family safe. Instead, she made the decision to help rescue others-not once but over and over again. No one forced Agnes Adachi to save anyone. Such acts of altruism restore my faith in humanity.

In the late 1980s I had the honor of studying at Humboldt Sate University in Arcata in northern California. My major was Sociology. The chairperson of my thesis committee was Professor Samuel Oliner. He is Jewish and lost his family in the Holocaust. He was saved by Christians. I was able to attend his class on genocide and as part of my studies worked in his Altrusitic Personality Project-”a broad-based study of the men and women (including Christians) who rescued Jews from the Nazi Holocaust, with particular emphasis on the familial and societal factors that led them to risk their lives for others.” I was responsible for coding data from interviews of rescuers and non-rescuers living in Poland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy during the Nazi occupation.

On a personal note, I am survivor of traumas which to this day haunt me. The housing projects I grew up in were filled with the sounds and sights of people being abused physically, emotionally, and sexually. To survive I had to flee perpetrators of all kinds, including ones with knives, guns, and those who used their bare hands to commit acts of violations.

I survived but not fully intact. I have many invisible scars of the abuse I suffered. I know I can remain frozen in the sadness and terror of those years. But meeting people such as Agnes Adachi, being a volunteer at the IRWF, and having studied with Professor Samuel Oliner helps me reach out and beyond the depths of despair.

Both in her IRWF interview and in her book, Child of the Winds, Agnes Adachi describes how she, Wallenberg, and others helped save the lives of women by creating and delivering Schutzpasses. Wallenberg created the Schutzpass which was a false document (special Swedish passport) that granted immunity to the Hungarian Jews from being deported to the death camps.

Agnes Adachi writes: ”The radio made a new announcement that all the young women between the ages of 15 and 25 had to be in the sports palace the next morning by 7 o”clock to work, cleaning up the rubble. But we knew better. This was a way to the trains and gas chambers. Raoul asked all of us to come and write Passes for all the young women we knew, while he was again on the road pulling people from the death marches. I delivered 500, including one each to Anita and Lydia, and to a couple of other friends.”

Agnes Adachi writes that it was past midnight and that all the Schutzpasses had to be delivered by 3AM: ”Clearly I can remember all I could hear was my lonely footsteps in the crisp snow, and the beating of my heart.”

I once heard a Native American man describe the sound of the drum as representing the heart beat of Mother Earth. My ears hear the beat of the Native American drum, the heartbeat of Mother Earth, the beat of Agnes Adachi’s heart. And at the IRWF I get to hear the heart beats of the victims and rescuers and all those who join together to promote peace and non-violence. All of these individual heart beats resound as one in my own heart.

During the IRWF interview, Agnes Adachi describes her experience of saving people who were sentenced to die in the Danube River. She also describes this experience in her book, Child of the Winds: ”One day in late December, just before Christmas, as Raoul returned from his usual running around, he heard that the Arrow Cross was killing people in the Danube.” The Arrow Cross was an anti-Semitic fascist party in Hungary that existed from 1935 to 1945.

Agnes Adachi writes: ”They did so in the night, since it was very dark. The snow, however, was bright enough. They would bind three people together with a rope, so that they only had to shoot one in the middle and all would fall into the frozen Danube. Raoul was outraged. He asked who of us could swim… I think we only saved about 50 or 60 people but without Raoul they would have died.”

One of my favorite books is The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi, a Jewish Italian chemist who survived Auschwitz. He is deceased now. However, he lives on through his written works. Primo Levi’s accounts of his experience in Auschwitz are profound. I have no words to describe the impact of his work on my own personal journey of healing from trauma.

I volunteered to interview Agnes Adachi because I passionately believe that it is vital for the stories of both the victims and rescuers to be known, told, and preserved so that both present and future generations can reap the benefits of such knowledge, wisdom, and human experience. Each story honored heals the heart of the world, one person and one heart at a time.

To close the year’s intense cycle of activities, the team of volunteers working for the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation met on December 28th at the premises of the institution to make a toast. Silvia Stisman and Rodrigo Rendo, coordinators of the ”Wallenberg at School” Educational Program, expressed their gratitude to the team of volunteers, particularly to Mr. Thomas Kertesz, a survivor of the Holocaust whose life was saved by Raoul Wallenberg.

During the meeting, Silvia Stisman and Rodrigo Rendo presented diplomas to each of the members of the educational group and to the writers and translators working on the Foundation’s website. ”Volunteers are those who make initiatives grow”, stated both Rendo and Stisman.

The volunteers distinguished were Jorge Kearne, Dario Kogan, Guillermina Robles, Miriam Kesler, Katie Kertesz, Thomas Kertesz, Raquel Stisman, Alicia Bronstein, Susana Caramelo, Raquel Donato, Hugo Tonello, Alejandro Neufellner, Carola Listre, Cristina Mendez, Egon Strauss, Enrique Borst, Florencia Askenasy, Florencia Gersberg, Jorgelina Paula Mackey, Josefina Prytyka de Duschatzky, Julio Bepre, Karol Przybylowicz, Lara Schujovitzky, Marcela de Marino, Maria Lia Macchi, Maria Pensavalle, Maria Silvia Quagliotti, Maria Victoria Favia, Moises Almela Sánchez, Pablo Freinkel, Maria Pia Riccombeni, Soledad Castro Virasoro, Victoria Bembibre, Gabriela Gomez del Rio Martin, and Patricio Cavalli.

To this group should be added other volunteers who work in the United States, Israel, Germany, Peru, Venezuela, Uruguay, Spain, China and England.
On their part, the volunteers expressed their gratitude to all members of the staff and the Board of Directors of the institution, particularly to Baruch Tenembaum, Natalio Wengrower, Nicholas Tozer and Jean Pierre Bendahan, for their support and the academic freedom granted in the setting up of the new educational guidelines.

”Wallenberg at School”

The ”Wallenberg at School” educational program started in the year 2002, amid the social and economic crises affecting Argentina in those times. Since then, dozens of volunteers specializing in educational sciences have cooperated in the design of pedagogical tools and audiovisual materials used to create a conscience as to the need to exercise values such as solidarity and civic courage, which are the behavioral bases of the Holocaust Saviors. Their objective is to establish a working link with students at high school level to build up an area devoted to the culture and the spreading of the fundamental values to help in the development of a pluralistic and democratic society.

In the year 2003, thanks to the auspices of the Education Department of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, the program was introduced among students attending medium level colleges in the City of Buenos Aires. Since 2002, the program has been carried out in 13 schools located in the Capital and the city’s surrounding areas, and was attended by over 2,300 students.
In 2003 the program was sponsored by the Buenos Aires City Government, whereas in 2004 the Association of Private Educational Entities of Argentina (ADEPRA) awarded the Wallenberg Foundation the ”2004 Prize for Excellence” for the services rendered to the community through this educational program.

The program is designed on the basis of didactic activities that comprise a lecture followed by a cycle of group work with the students coordinated and carried out by volunteers from the Foundation. The volunteers who work on this program are persons who specialize in the area of education.

This initiative is aimed at students enrolled in the upper courses of high schools, who will soon enter the labor market or else undertake university studies, which will in turn enable them to commit themselves to a wider range of responsibilities.

For this reason, the program stresses the importance of memory, civic responsibility and the defense of universal human rights, promoting among the young the value of these assets in order to achieve a peaceful and harmonic development of relationships among persons as well as among institutions and nations, which leads to a clearer understanding of modern and recent history.

Each presentation is centered on the need to spread information on the life and activities of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved in Hungary dozens of thousands of Jews and other persons threatened by the Nazi regime during the Second World War. This serves to introduce an example to be followed in order to develop the subject of the human rights and the role it plays nowadays, establishing at the same time similarities with the contents of the curricula pertaining to the last years of secondary schools. All this with reference to the features of the current situation in Argentina and as a complement to the contents of other subjects taught at elementary and high school levels. This is particularly applicable to subjects such as ”Technologies of Information and Communications”, ”History”, ”Contemporary and Esthetic Cultures” which are incorporated into the various curricula of high schools , and ”Sociology” and ”Economics” in those schools oriented towards specialization in Human and Social Sciences. This topic becomes more adequate for this school level, as it is intended to foster research and reflection on the students’ side.

Thus, the heroic deeds of people whose motivating strength was and is solidarity, generosity and respect for man’s dignity, is used as the example and guidelines that must be maintained not only under dictatorships and authoritarian governments but also as symbols of democratic virtues it is desirable to show as example.

Over 50 volunteers have taken part in the presentation of this program, among them renowned intellectuals Marcos Aguinis, Jose Ignacio Garcia Hamilton and Nicholas Tozer, as well as other personalities. Furthermore, two of the persons saved in 1944 by Raoul Wallenberg participate in these activities, namely Laszlo Ladanyi and Thomas Kertesz.

Educational Raoul Wallenberg Centers

The Raoul Wallenberg Foundation permanently co-operates with a variety of resources and media towards the setting up and maintenance of educational centers, in an endless endeavor to improve the quality of life within the community. This activity enables a series of Educational Centers to operate in Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Venezuela and Brazil.

In Argentina:

• Community and Educational Raoul Wallenberg Center in the La Juanita in the quarter of Gregorio de Laferrere, province of Buenos Aires. This school belongs to the organization of unemployed workers of the La Matanza district.
  Two kindergarten rooms and productive undertakings such as a bakery, a serigraphy workshop, an editorial house, a dressmaker shop and an arts and crafts school operate within this educational complex.
• Kindergarten ”Raoul Wallenberg” room at School Nr. 943, located in the city of La Plata, province of Buenos Aires.

In Uruguay:

• Lyceum Nr. 53 ”Raoul Wallenberg”, located at Gaviyú Street and Regiment Nr. 9 (eastern branch).

In Ecuador:

• Bilingual Garden School Raoul Wallenberg, located at 5 de Junio corner of Sucre streets, Babahoyo – Los Rios, Ecuador.

In Venezuela:

• Pre-school Educational Raoul Wallenberg Unit, located in Catia, Caracas.
  This Center was inaugurated in 2002 sponsored by the IRWF, with the aim of assisting in the full development of children coming from impoverished homes of this area of Caracas, and offers the services of pediatricians and dentists, as well as lessons in the field of informatics and the practice of sports.

In Brazil:

• Raoul Wallenberg Center for Integral Education, located in Curitiba, Brazil.

Planning of program to be undertaken by the education committee of the ”Wallenberg at School” educational project.

• Updating and production of working material pertaining to the Foundation.
• Updating and search for new pedagogic material that may be useful for students who attend the lectures.
• Research and classification of pedagogic and didactic material with a view to editing it so it may be used as additional bibliographic material to be distributed during lectures and delivered to volunteers who cooperate in the execution of the program, as well as teaching staff.
• Production of new material with articles related to concepts such as civic courage, solidarity, and so on.
• Spread of information concerning the life of Raoul Wallenberg among the community and volunteers.

Work with Volunteers

• Biweekly meetings to discuss updates and reforms to be introduced into the educational project, and plan the activities to be undertaken in schools during the school term.
• Institutional relations with educational centers where the educational program is to be implemented.
• Meeting with the executive boards of the educational area who oversee secondary schools, Heads of school districts and school directors, to set up dates, schools and courses related to the programmed activities.
• Follow-up work among students of Technical School number 12 to supply them with material so that they are in a position to teach children from a slump quarter (Villa 31) in the neighborhood of Retiro.

Translation: Josefina Prytyka

if you are interested in Educational Projects, contact:

In United States, Canada and Europe: Daniela Bajar, irwf@irwf.org
In Argentina and Latin America: Silvia Stisman, voluntarios@irwf.org.ar
In Israel, Middle East and Asia: Evelyn Noama, irwf@irwf.org.il

Events may include conferences, homages, receptions, protocol ceremonies, movie screenings etc. We welcome people interested in this field to collaborate with us in these initiatives. This may include participating in the planning, writing, media contacts, technical assistance, assistance during the event, etc.

if you are interested in event planning, contact:

In United States, Canada and Europe: Daniela Bajar, irwf@irwf.org
In Argentina and Latin America: Victoria, voluntarios@irwf.org.ar
In Israel, Middle East and Asia: Evelyn Noama, irwf@irwf.org.il

if you are interested in Administration, contact:

In United States, Canada and Europe: Daniela Bajar, irwf@irwf.org
In Argentina and Latin America: Victoria, voluntarios@irwf.org.ar
In Israel, Middle East and Asia: Evelyn Noama, irwf@irwf.org.il

voluntary translators of the irwf

Moisés Almela
Florencia Askenasy
Enrique Borst
Edith Brenner
Soledad Castro Virasoro
Victoria Favia
Pablo Freinkel
Florencia Gersberg
Carola Listre
María Lía Macchi
Jorgelina Mackey
Marcela de Marino
Cristina Méndez
Maria Gabriella Mercaldo
Alejandro Neufellner
María Pensavalle
Josefina Prytyka
María Silvia Quagliotti
Rafaela Luján Santoro
Egon Strauss

if you are interested in translation, contact:

In United States, Canada and Europe: Daniela Bajar, irwf@irwf.org
In Argentina and Latin America: Victoria, victoria@irwf.org.ar
In Israel, Middle East and Asia: Evelyn Noama, irwf@irwf.org.il

In United States, Canada and Europe: Daniela Bajar, irwf@irwf.org
In Argentina and Latin America: Victoria, voluntarios@irwf.org.ar
In Israel, Middle East and Asia: Evelyne Noama, irwf@irwf.org.il

Voluntary editors of the IRWF

Victoria Bembibre
Margie Burns
Patricia Ferreira
María Mercedes Romagnoli
Viviana Romero

if you are interested in communications-journalism, contact:

In United States, Canada and Europe: Daniela Bajar, irwf@irwf.org
In Argentina and Latin America: Victoria, voluntarios@irwf.org.ar
In Israel, Middle East and Asia: Evelyn Noama, irwf@irwf.org.il

Volunteer Opportunities:

• The Documenting Wallenberg project allows opportunities for volunteers to:
• Conduct research and find survivors who were saved the Raoul Wallenberg.
• Handle camera during interviews.
• Conduct the interviews.
• Transcribe material recorded by video to a written form.
• Be creative! Help us in any way that would document the legacy of Raoul Wallenberg.

How to Conduct Research and Find Survivors Saved by Wallenberg:

Research on survivors saved by Wallenberg can of course be done the old fashioned way, by looking in books, databases and libraries. It is highly unlikely, however, that the location of survivors will be included in these sources. Volunteers looking for survivors in their own local communities should consider doing the following:

• Use appeals for survivors saved by Wallenberg in different forms including a flyer, letter and press release. See attached documents, which should serve as a guide and can be edited to your liking or local situation.
• Distribute press release to local media and local newsgroups. Focusing on Jewish media will of course increase the chance of finding a survivor.
• Send letter to local institutions that may have relations with Holocaust survivors. These may include synagogues, Jewish community centers, Senior centers or Jewish Studies departments at local universities. You may want to try getting in touch with any Hungarian community centers or churches as well.
• If these centers agree, then distribute a flyer and/or ask them to promote the initiative through their community board, newsletters and mailings.

How to Conduct Interviews:

The most important objective of these interviews is to capture a testimony of Wallenberg. The film need not be of Hollywood caliber. When conducting the interviews, however, it is important to consider the following:

• Lights: Locate the camera near a window or use artificial light if necessary. Obviously we will not be using professional lighting so do your best to take advantage of the location’s light.
• Sound: Locate the camera relatively close to the interviewee to provide an optimal sound recording. Also, try to conduct the interview in an area with minimal external noise as to provide a clean sound recording.
• Frame: The interviewee should appear facing the interviewer, not the camera. The interviewer should not appear in the frame. At the end of the interview you may film the interviewee as they walk around their house, showing photos, documents, etc. This can be done with a handheld camera. If the interviewee does show you documents or photos, then be sure to film them for a minimum of 10 seconds each.
• Camera: The most ideal is to use a tripod to keep the camera steady and to ensure that the interviewer’s attention is on the interview. If a tri-pod is not available, look for a steady surface such as a table of shelf to position the camera.
• Tapes / DVDs: Interviews will normally last an hour. So when using 2 hour tapes, feel free to videotape 2 interviews on the same tape. If using Mini DVDs (usually of 30 minutes each) you will need several for each interview. Label the tapes with the name of the interviwee and its number. For example, Gabor Fishl 1/2 (tape number/total of tapes).
• Questionnaire: The questions attached are a guide. The interview should be fluid like a conversation. In the case that new topics come to light, the interviewer should feel free to add questions, ask more details and dig into answers that are not left clear after the first response. That said, the interviewer should not press the interviewee if it becomes obvious that the interviewee does not know the answer to a question. The interviewer should move on to the following question.
• Responses: While this may be difficult for the interviewer and interviewee alike, it is important to ask the interviewee to please repeat the question in the response. For example, if the question is ”What is your name?” then the response should be, ”My name is…” This is so that we may edit the video without having to include the question. It is equally important to ask the interviewee to refer to Raoul Wallenberg as his full name and not as ”he.” Again, this will make the film easier for editing.

How to Transcribe Interviews:

Interviews can be transcribed by the very volunteers who shot the interview or by individuals who want to or have to volunteer from home. The DVD copies of the interviews will be made available via US postal mail or for lending from our New York office at 34 East 67th Street, between the avenues Park and Madison. Once the transcript is done it can be sent to our office via e-mail. Please edit transcribed interviews to the best of your ability before sending back.

Please visit /?en/wallenberg/testimonie/ for edited transcript examples.