Judge Baltasar Garzon Presents the Raoul Wallenberg Award
The IRWF bestowed the Raoul Wallenberg Award to Spanish journalist Eduardo Martín de Pozuelo for his praiseworthy journalistic career and his exceptional articles in the series ”The Holocaust Revelations” published in the newspaper ”La Vanguardia.” The ceremony was organized with the collaboration of Casa-Sefarad Israel and was held at the Headquarters of the European Commission in Madrid on May 29, 2009.
”This award transcends the journalistic work. I believe that the young generations of Spain should be educated on the Holocaust in the way the Wallenberg Foundation is doing in other parts of the world,” said de Pozuelo.
Judge Baltasar Garzon and 2002 Raoul Wallenberg Prize honoree Gustavo de Aristegui presented the award. Diego de Ojeda, General Director of Casa Sefarad – Israel; Miguel Puente Pattison, Chief Press officer of the European Commission; and Danny Rainer, Vice-President of the IRWF also took part in the Ceremony.
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New Wallenberg Day Proclamations
Governor Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey and Governor Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming proclaimed October 5th, 2009 Raoul Wallenberg Day in their states.
This is the second time that the State of New Jersey is supporting our campaign to obtain commemorative days to honor the Swedish diplomat nationwide. We are proud that the State of Wyoming is joining our cause and thankful to the Jackson Hole Jewish Community for their in-state support.
On October 5th 1981, Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who disappeared in January 1945 after saving the lives of tens of thousands persecuted people during World War II, became the second person in history to be awarded Honorary U.S. Citizenship.
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Pioneer in Intereligious Dialogue Expects Headway From Papal Trip
Says Pilgrimage Is Historic Chance to Strengthen Bonds
JERUSALEM, MAY 11, 2009 (Zenit.org) – The founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation says he is expecting the visit Benedict XVI began today in Israel to deepen dialogue between Catholics and Jews.
Baruch Tenembaum, a pioneer in interreligious dialogue since the times of Pope Paul VI, told ZENIT that Benedict XVI’s weeklong Holy Land pilgrimage is a historic opportunity to take up ”a profound dialogue with those elements that genuinely concern themselves with consolidating the bond of brotherhood that unites these two great religions.”
To mark the papal visit, the Wallenberg Foundation began a worldwide campaign to collect testimonies of Catholics who saved Jews during the Nazi persecution.
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The IRWF’s Research Team Found the Family of a Rescuer from Poland
On May 7th the IRWF started a campaign to find family members of Polish rescuer Josef Borzecki, from the village of Piaski Szlacheckie, who sheltered a Jewish family – a mother and three young daughters – at his home for one month in 1942. Borzecki also provided the family with false identity papers bearing his own surname, allowing them to flee to Warsaw and live there as gentiles.
Thanks to the effort of our research team and help from the Polish media and government, we were able to locate the family members of Mr. Borzecki, only a week later. Additional investigations are currently in the process.
Another case of a rescuer from Poland, that of Stanislawa Slawinska, that the IRWF investigated and developed, resulted in her recognition as Righteous Gentile by the Yad Vashem Institute.
Sir Nicholas Winton, a Man who Made Difference, Celebrates his 100th Birthday
In 1939, Sir Nicholas Winton saved the lives of 669 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and brought them across Hitler’s Germany to his native Britain.
Unlike Schindler and Wallenberg, Winton is today still alive and well. On May 19th he celebrated his 100th birthday at the Czech Embassy in London, sournded by the children he rescued and their family members.
Sir Nicholas Winton said it best in a letter he wrote in 1939,”…There is a difference between passive goodness and active goodness. The latter is, in my opinion, the giving of one’s time and energy in the alleviation of pain and suffering. It entails going out, finding and helping those who are suffering and in danger and not merely in leading an exemplary life, in a purely passive way of doing no wrong.”
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Search for Rescuer
Mr. Istvan Nagy was a Catholic Hungarian Policeman who, back in 1944, gave shelter at his own home to Ms. Elisabeth Weiss and her young daughter Anita.
While Mr. Nagy was at that time married and had a young son (named Ivan), he took up Ms. Weiss and her daughter and pretended they were his ”second wife and daughter,” thus saving them from an almost certain death in the hands of the Nazis and their Hungarian collaborators.
This situation created a sort of scandal. Mr. Nagy was accused of bigamy and his case was even exposed by the local press at that time. Ms. Weiss and her daughter Anita were able to survive thanks to Mr. Nagy’s bold actions.
The IRWF is making a public call to gather testimonies about Mr. Nagy’s actions.
Anyone who knows the whereabouts of his son (Ivan) or any other living descendents of Mr. Nagy’s, is kindly requested to contact Mr. Danny Rainer at: dannyrainer@irwf.org or 34 East 67 Street, New York, NY 10065; Tel: + 1-212-7373275; Fax: + 1-212-5356262
A Lecture on Raoul Wallenberg in London
Tanja Schult, researcher at Stockholm University, will give a lecture on Raoul Wallenberg at The Wiener Library in London on Jun 25th.
Raoul Wallenberg is today widely remembered for his humanitarian activities on behalf of the Jews in Budapest at the end of World War II. In her lecture, ”The Universal Hero: Raoul Wallenberg” Tanja Schult shows that his story incorporates both a classical hero narrative which has survived the ‘un-heroic’ 20th century, and that Wallenberg indeed succeeds to represent a new hero-type, the non-patriotic or universal hero.
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Turkish Diplomat Rescuers Research
The IRWF has established a research team in order to compile and evaluate all the existing evidences on the role played by the Turkish diplomats in France and Vichy during the WWII, vis-a-vis the victims of the Nazi persecution.
The IRWF is renewing its public appeal to gather additional testimonies on the action of the aforementioned diplomats, led by Ambassador Behic Erkin. We are particularly interested in obtaining evidences on the issuance of the Certificates of the Protective Citizenship (Vatandasalik Ilmuhaberi) to the people that were known as ”Irregular Turks” (gayri muntazem vatandas), Jews of Turkish descent, who had lost their citizenship rights at that time.
In addition, the IRWF is still gathering testimonies related to the actions of the Consul Necdet Kent, who testified that he and his interpreter, Mr. Sidi Iscan, back in 1943, refused to get off a Nazi train from Marseille, until the Nazi commanders accepted to let off
the train some 70 Turkish Jews who were on that train. Eventually, as per the above mentioned testimony, Mr. Kent and the people onboard got off on Arles or Nimes train station.
If you, or your family members have any information on these historic events, please contact the IRWF by email at dannyrainer@irwf.org or by phone at + 1-212-737-3275. Thank you.
E-books of the IRWF
In German:
- Der Gerechte gedeiht wie eine Palme
- Die Geschichte eines Verbrechens
In Spanish:
- Exhibiciones de la Fundación Internacional Raoul Wallenberg
- Bialik en Castellano
- Revelaciones sobre el Holocausto
- Diálogo Interreligioso. Volumen I
- Poesía Profetica
- Poesía Combativa
- Tierra Santa y el Nuevo Mundo durante el Imperio Otomano
- Homenaje al Padre Alfonso Durán
In English:
- Interfaith Heroes 2 – Baruch Tenembaum
To see the IRWF e-books collection click here
