Wallenberg led a mission in 1944 to rescue 100,000 Jews after the Nazi invasion of Hungary, by issuing false passports and establishing ”safe houses” under the protection of his country’s neutral flag. The post-war Swedish government was seriously questioned for its responsibility in Wallenberg’s disappearance at the hands of Soviet troops in 1945, and for not strongly demanding his actual appearance of the Soviets.

The commemorative day would offer a way for people to respect, learn from, and emulate the moral values, including solidarity and civic courage, embodied by Wallenberg and nurtured by his Swedish heritage. The initiative follows a suggestion by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, which campaigns for commemorative days in order to promote peace among nations and to honor those who were heroes of the Holocaust.

Raoul Wallenberg Day is commemorated every year around the world, from Canada to Argentina to the State of New York. It was observed in the States of Nevada, Nebraska, Maryland and Connecticut in 2005. West Virginia, New Jersey, Michigan, Maine and Illinois joined in the 2006 commemorations.

The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, with the aim of rendering homage to, promoting the message of, and remembering the actions of all those Heroes of the Holocaust who, like Raoul Wallenberg, risked their lives to save persecuted people.

Motion to the Swedish Parliament

2006/07:K249

by Mikael Oscarsson (Christian Democrats)

Raoul Wallenbergs Day

Proposition for Parliamentary Decision

Justification

Raoul Wallenberg was born on August 4th 1912 in Stockholm. For future generations he will be remembered as the man who saved tens of thousands of Jews from dying in German Nazi concentration camps, while risking his own life. His actions ended when he was kidnapped in Hungary and taken to a prison in the Soviet Union, where he was probably tortured and maybe finally executed.

Because of his efforts, Raoul Wallenberg is a great hero abroad, especially in the United States where he was the second foreign person, after Winston Churchill, to become an honorary citizen. He is also an honorary citizen in Israel and Canada and there are monuments in his honor in New York, London and Stockholm.

It has to be pointed out though that the attention surrounding Raoul Wallenberg has been brief/scanty in Sweden. It is as if they are still ashamed of the inability to take action which in the years after his disappearance distinguished the Swedish Governments handling of the case. A resolute intervention would most likely have saved his life.

Today there are many ways – and many reasons – for the Swedish people to give notice to one of the most heroic citizens of our time. In Sweden we appoint certain days to give attention to children, women, family, the environment, the United Nations etc. This is good. Therefore the correct thing to do would be to appoint one day to honor Raoul Wallenberg. It could be a day when we bring to the forefront the fight against totalitarian ideologies that systematically violate human dignity – such as national socialism, anti Semitism and racism-, but also the fight for peace and human inviolable values. It would be a innative way to show late appreciation for one of the greatest Swedish heroes of the 20th century. Such a day could be an important meeting place for the democratic forces that protect the principle of human beings equally worth against the ideological forces that question this principle and now once again seem to be advancing in this country.
Stockholm, October 27, 2006

Mikael Oscarsson (Christian Democrats)

Translated from Swedish by Elin Borg, IRWF volunteer.