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NOT A ‘NOBODY’: CHOICE OF RAOUL WALLENBERG IN 1944 NOT ACCIDENTAL

    A major challenge for researchers  in the Raoul Wallenberg case has always been how little original documentation about the young Swedish diplomat survives from his adult life before 1944. Few personal letters or other documents have been preserved.

    In particular, such papers would fill in important information about Wallenberg’s personal and professional contacts before he was sent to Hungary in July 1944 on a humanitarian mission to aid its Jewish population. Hungary had been formally allied with Nazi Germany since 1940, but Germany had nevertheless moved to occupy the country on March 19, 1944. In a short few months, almost 500,000 Jews were deported to exterminations camps in Poland and Czechoslovakia.Read More »NOT A ‘NOBODY’: CHOICE OF RAOUL WALLENBERG IN 1944 NOT ACCIDENTAL

    RAOUL WALLENBERG WAS PRISONER NR 7 !!!

      Dear Mrs. von Dardel, dear Marie and Louise,

      We are writing to you to share the information enclosed below. As you know, over the last few years, we have continued an often slow but productive exchange with the archives of the Federal Security Services of the Russian Federation (FSB). The latest round of discussions, in November 2009, have yielded a resounding surprise. In a formal reply to several questions 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. The archivists added that “Prisoner No. 7” had been interrogated on July 23, 1947 which – if confirmed – would mean that the Soviet era claims of Wallenberg’s death on July 17, 1947 are no longer valid. Never before have Russian officials stated the possibility of Raoul Wallenberg’s survival past this date so explicitly.

      The Swedish Ambassador, Tomas Bertelman, and his staff responded quickly to the new information. In a letter addressed to Yuri Trambitsky, head of the FSB’s Central Archive, dated December 9, 2009, Bertelman asked Mr. Trambitsky for clarification, writing that “if this hypothesis is confirmed, it will be . . . almost sensational.”

      We have also sent a detailed follow-up request to FSB officials, asking for more precise information about “Prisoner No. 7,” including procedural details pertaining to the assignment of numbers to prisoners under investigation, as well as possible steps to be taken to verify “Prisoner No. 7’s” identity and his fate after July 23, 1947. So far, Russian officials have not presented any additional information for their claim that “Prisoner No. 7” could be identical with Raoul Wallenberg.

      We stress that an in-depth verification of the new information has to take place before any final conclusions can be drawn, but if indeed confirmed, the news is the most interesting to come out of Russian archives in over fifty years.Read More »RAOUL WALLENBERG WAS PRISONER NR 7 !!!

      In response to those who killed

        Google translation from russia. Rearranged by Maribeth Barber.

        Swedish businessman and diplomat Raoul Gustav Wallenberg was born on August 4, 1912 to one of the wealthiest families in Sweden. He studied at the University of Michigan (USA), where he received his diploma in architecture. In 1936 he went to work in Haifa (then part of Palestine).

        He returned to Sweden in 1939 and became a partner in Kalman Lauer’s Hungarian export-import firm. In the summer of 1944, as the first secretary of the Swedish Mission, Wallenberg went to Budapest. Hungary, in March 1944, had been invaded by German troops. Taking advantage of his diplomatic immunity, Wallenberg saved, according to various sources, from 20 to 100 thousand Jews by issuing them Swedish passports. He placed them in specially purchased houses that were proclaimed as Swedish property, and thus were protected by international law. He also bribed German and Hungarian officials, promising ample supplies in exchange for Jewish lives.

        On January 13, 1945, Wallenberg was arrested by the Soviet patrol in the International Red Cross building in Budapest. (In another version of the story, he came to the location of the 151st Infantry Division and asked for a meeting with the Soviet command. According to a third account, he was arrested at his apartment.) After being questioned, he was sent under guard to Debrecen for a meeting with the commander of the Second Ukrainian Front, Rodion Malinovsky, who wanted to speak with him. On the road he was again detained and arrested by military intelligence (in another account, he was sent to the headquarters of a group of Soviet troops after being arrested in his apartment).

        Read More »In response to those who killed

        Responses of the Central Archive of the Russian FSB on the questions of experts S. Berger and B. Birstein in the case of Raoul Wallenberg

          Google translation from russia:
          Embassy of Sweden
          Moscow
          Chief of the Central Archives of the Russian FSB
          Mr. A. Trambitskomu
          MoscowRegarding the responses of the Central Archive of the Russian FSB on the experts’ questions
          C. Berger and B. Birshtein in the case of Raoul Wallenberg
          Dear Trambitsky!
          I hereby wish to thank the Central Archive of the Russian Federal Security Service, through you for the informative material, including answers to questions by experts C. Berger and B. Birshtein and conclusions of the archive in the case of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish side of the transmitted № 581 from November 2, 2009. At present, our experts continue to analyze the material. Mrs. Berger is going to Moscow next spring.
          We read with great interest the responses of the FSB, especially with what is said about the use of the term “held” in connection with several key interrogation in July 1947, as well as very high probability that the prisoner number 7, which questioned 22 and 23 July , was Raoul Wallenberg.
          If this hypothesis is confirmed, it will be a new, almost sensational fact to determine the fate of Wallenberg, given the importance that is still attached to the day of 17 July 1947, which is dated as Abakumov letter to Molotov on Wallenberg, and report Smoltsova.
          The Russian side proceeds from the fact that July 17 is the date of death of Wallenberg, the Swedish side also believes that in this day there have been developments of decisive importance for the fate of Wallenberg.
          It is therefore imperative to find more information about what events might have occurred during the 17 to 23 July, and, above all, to get an opportunity to discuss what can be done on this issue.
          Mr Trambitsky, would be very grateful for your recommendations for further action.Sincerely,

          Thomas Bertelman,
          Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
          Ambassador of Sweden to the Russian FederationRead More »Responses of the Central Archive of the Russian FSB on the questions of experts S. Berger and B. Birstein in the case of Raoul Wallenberg

          The Fight of Their Lives

            By Susanne Berger Judisk Krönika, November 2009
            Independent consultant to the Swedish Russian Working Group on the fate of Raoul Wallenberg (1991-2001)

            When Raoul Wallenberg disappeared into the Soviet Union in January 1945, his parents, Maj and Fredrik von Dardel, began a desperate, three decade long struggle to save their son. A closer reading of Fredrik’s diary – a meticuluous chronicle of the couple’s efforts – shows the enormous obstacles they faced. Surprisingly many of these remain stubbornly in place today.Read More »The Fight of Their Lives

            Letter to 10 Presidents and Prime Ministers

              Your Excellencies, Some of you may be aware of our ongstanding correspojndance with the Europeen Parliament (copies enclosed) and your governments. For your information, with reference to the Russian government’s position on the Wallenberg case, the Russian government has officially rehabilitated Raoul Wallenberg… -> More

              Corpus delicti

                Google translation from russia:

                In the historical center of Budapest, on the street Dohoney is an unusual monument – a weeping willow. Her thin metal branches – leaves-plate engraved with the names of Hungarian Jews – Holocaust victims.  Near willow plaque of black granite with the names of people fleeing the Nazis were doomed to inevitable destruction of the Jews. The first name on the list – Raoul Wallenberg. Thanks to Swedish diplomat Wallenberg, who worked in the Nazis occupied Budapest in 1944, sent to death camps escaped several thousand people.  January 17, 1945 Raoul Wallenberg was arrested in Budapest by Soviet troops and disappeared.

                Determining the fate of Raoul Wallenberg for many years by specialists from different countries. Nearly a decade led the search for historical records joint Russian-Swedish Working Group, established by intergovernmental agreement.  We investigated many versions examined hundreds of volumes of archival documents, held meetings with dozens of people.  But the researchers did not find the answers to critical questions: why the Soviet secret services was needed Wallenberg, what are the details of his stay in Soviet prisons, finally, what is the real reason and the date of his death? Documents related to Raoul Wallenberg, access is limited. Materials stored in the Central Archives of the Federal Security Service, in conjunction with the report of the Russian-Swedish group, and other documentary sources, allow to some extent to recreate a historical retrospective.

                Read More »Corpus delicti