August 2008

Baruch Tenembaum to Receive the ”Order of the Croatian Danica”

The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and Casa Argentina en Israel – Tierra Santa are pleased to announce the ceremony of presentation of the ”Order of the Croatian Danica bearing the likeness of Katarina Zrinski” to our Founder, Mr. Baruch Tenembaum. The distinction was made public by the President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Stjepan Mesic, and it is awarded to Mr. Baruch Tenembaum based on the Article 97 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia and the articles Number 2 and 3 of the Law of Honouring and Acknowledgment of the Republic of Croatia, in recognition of his outstanding contributions in promoting moral values and the development of the relations between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Argentina.

The distinction ceremony will take place on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008, at 12 pm, at the Presidency of the Republic of Croatia (241 Pantovcak Street), Zagreb.

Wallenberg Remembered

August 4th marked a new birthday anniversary of Raoul Wallenberg (1912 – ?). A packed attendance witnessed the warm ceremony that took place in Buenos Aires next to the Wallenberg statue, a fine piece of art by British sculptor Philip Jackson. Auschwitz survivor Jack Fuchs and Secretary of the Swedish Embassy Alexander Peyre-Dutrey delivered brief and heartfelt words. After the speeches, several Holocaust survivors and their relatives placed garlands of flowers. One attendant pointed out a singular coincidence: August 4th is also the date of Barack Obama’s birthday. A fact not always remembered is that Wallenberg is one of the only six people to whom the Congress of the United States granted the US Honorary Citizenship.

New Nobel Laureate Joins the Wallenberg Foundation

Professor Mario Capecchi, the Italian-born molecular geneticist and a co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine joined the Wallenberg Foundation. During WWII, his mother was sent to the Dachau concentration camp. He lived with a peasant family for a year, but was left to fend for himself on the streets for the next four years. Following her release by U.S. troops and a yearlong search, his mother found him in a hospital bed in Reggio Emilia.