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Raoul Wallenberg’s family, the von Dardel

    Actions done by Raoul Wallenberg’s nearest family.

    Maj Wallenberg’s husband Raoul died when she was pregnant and gave her new born baby the same name as his father, Raoul. Maj Wallenberg married Fredrik von Dardel some years later.

    When Raoul Wallenberg diseapared in the URSS Maj together with her husband’s, Fredrik von Dardel, fought daily to get her son Raoul back home.

    Fredrik and Maj von Dardel
    Fredrik and Maj von Dardel, 1975, Expressen

    Fredrik von Dardel considered him as his son and was of a very precious help to his wife’s fight. He wrote a diary, with detailed historical facts about their fight.

    Fredrik and Maj got two children Guy  and Nina, married to Gunnar Lagergren.

    Nina Lagergren has been much engaged at the Raoul Wallenberg association in Stockholm and has been very active with education at school with the Raoul Wallenberg Acadamy for young leaders.

    Guy von Dardel, Raoul Wallenberg’s half brother, elementary partical physicist at CERN, fought since his abduction to get his brother home. It was due to his efforts that the first International Commission on the Fate and Whereabouts of Raoul Wallenberg was established and that this group did groundbreaking work in Russian prison archives.

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    Fredrik von Dardel’s diary

    Fredrik von Dardel wrote a diary about their fight to bring their son home in 1952 up to 1978, the year before he passed away.

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    Guy von Dardel
    Prof. Guy von Dardel, a well known figure at CERN and in the international particle-physics community Image credit: Len Sirman Press

    Guy von Dardel passed away in August 28 2009, after having hoped up to the last day to get the truth about his brother’s Fate. Guy von Dardel often said “The truth can and will be found and it will be, as the Romans said long ago, « a monument more durable than marble. »”. He left 85 archive boxes after a life long research for his brother. Writing letters to Swedish, American, Russian, Israelis Prime Ministers, Ministers, Presidents (his first was to President Truman) and other personalities.

    Guy von Dardel as a private person, sues URSS in 1984. Five years late, in 1989 Guy von Dardel and his sister Nina Lagergren receives Raoul Wallenberg’s belongings at the time of his arrest (diplomatic passport; an ID, a diary; a golden cigarette case and money in old dollars and Hungarian pengos).

    In 1990 the Joint Soviet-International Commission to Establish the Fate and Whereabouts of Raoul Wallenberg that was formed and headed by Dr. Guy von Dardel, arrived to study the registration cards of the prisoner in the Vladimir prison. It confirmed the presence of  witnesses who had given their testimony about the presence of Raoul Wallenberg at the prison. After consultation of the register cards there were many questions about a prisoner nr 7.

    He also requested for Raoul Wallenberg being rehabilitated, which was approved by the Russian Government in 2000.

    Since 2001,  in spite of Prime Minister Persson’s apology, the family has not seen any change of attitude by the Swedish Foreign Office  regarding the Raoul Wallenberg case. The same year Guy von Dardel made a report summarizing the research that has been done.

    Guy von Dardel’s last letter was the Open letter to Dr. Vasily S. Khristoforov Director, FSB Archives Directorate Federal Security written together with the Independents Working Group, followed by the answer about the prisoner nr 7 who might have been Raoul Wallenberg.In november 2009 in a formal reply to several questions from the Independent researchers regarding Russian prison interrogation registers from 1947, FSB archivists stated that « with great likelihood » Raoul Wallenberg became « Prisoner No. 7″ in Moscow’s Lubyanka prison some time that year. 

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    6 thoughts on “Raoul Wallenberg’s family, the von Dardel”

    1. We have just finished ( Myself and my wife )reading the book ” To save a people ” by Alex Kershaw. It is impossible to put into words the impact on us of Raoul Wallenberg’s life. He is not dead for he lives on in our hearts.

      Yours Sincerely

      Michael and Barbara Eckstein

    2. Hej Nina we have for many years tried in vain to get his remains back to Sverige but have always hit a brick wall we know how just cant get a dna any ideas halsar david brown Renfrew Ontario canada

    3. Kabryn Burns & Peyton Running

      Hello! This is Kabryn and Peyton, and we are doing our National History Day project on your brother, Raoul Wallenberg! We are eighth grade students that go to Holmen Middle School, and we were wanting to know more about your brother on a personal level. We are hoping that you can help us and maybe tell us some of your favorite stories about him.

    4. It’s unbelievable and awful not to know what happened to this human angel !
      Everybody must know who were Raoul Wallenberg, still alive in our heart and on streets’ name but we want to know were he really is.
      It’s the minimum for such a mensch so rare in the 20th century !

      (signed : a French woman)

    5. This incredible man is responsible for saving so many people which have been able to survive. I would love to see a documentary of these people giving the due credit to Mr. Raoul Wallenburg. We need to remember those willing to sacrifice their own lives to save others, this bravery is so rare. An Angel amongst us at a time of the worst evil the world has ever known. So grateful for his intelligence and heroic sacrifice!
      Let us remember…

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