RAOUL WALLENBERG
TRIBUTE
Take part in honoring the Swedish diplomat who became a life-saving angel
Honor Raoul Wallenberg's memory and legacy!
This summer marks 80 years since the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg was sent from Sweden to Budapest to save Jews from the Holocaust.
By establishing the Raoul Wallenberg Park in Tzora, close to Jerusalem, the Raoul Wallenberg Tribute honors the heroic acts of this modern-day angel who appeared on the scene, saved tens thousands of Jews, only to disappear thereafter.
In the fall of 1944, the Swedish legation in Budapest worked hard to save Jews from the Holocaust. At the center of what would become the Second World War’s very best moment for official Swedish foreign policy, was the 31-year-old diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. Raoul Wallenberg’s arrival in July 1944 brought exceptional courage, ingenuity and organizational skills to the Swedish legation in Budapest. His energy and work capacity resulted in tens of thousands of Jews being saved. According to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Raoul Wallenberg is the Righteous Among Nations who, in numbers, saved most Jews during the Holocaust. Adolf Eichmann was well aware of his Swedish antagonist and said he wanted to shoot the “Jew dog” Raoul Wallenberg. When the feud between the two ended in early 1945, there were about 120,000 Jews left in Budapest. By completing the Raoul Wallenberg Park in the Tzora Forest, we pay tribute to Raoul Wallenberg and the heroic deed of this modern angel who appeared on the scene, saved tens of thousands of Jews, then disappeared.
Watch the three-minute video describing Budapest in 1944, Raoul Wallenberg’s Legacy, two witnesses and President Isaac Herzog’s appeal for donations to the Sweden Park in memory of Raoul Wallenberg.
A commemorative monument with shoes on the banks of the Danube serves as a reminder that many Jews did not get to experience the same positive outcome as Kate Wacz:
“Had it not been for Raoul Wallenberg, I would also have been one of them,” says Kate, who met U.S. President Barack Obama during his visit to Sweden in September 2013.
At the end of October 1944, Tomas Vogel was rescued, together with his mother and two sisters, in a dramatic rescue by Raoul Wallenberg. Less than a minute before they reached the Danube, where the crossbowmen would shoot them and shove them into the river, Raoul appeared with a bag filled with money. “I was four years old, but I remember everything. Later I also understood what actually happened. All the images that etched themselves into my heart were explained,” says Tomas. He goes on to describe the 30-second meeting with Raoul Wallenberg that for him was the difference between life and death. “I will never forget what happened on this day. These images never go away, even though I was only four years old. I also remember the hunger, the diseases and the soldiers. But I got my life as a gift,” says Tomas.
On July 6, 1944, the soon-to-be 32-year-old Wallenberg Raoul left Stockholm and arrived by train in Budapest three days later. On the journey to Hungary he finds himself on the same railway tracks as the train transports of Hungarian Jews on their way to the concentration camps. Between May 14 and July 8, upwards of 440,000 Jews were deported from the Hungarian countryside, mainly to Auschwitz.
Hours before Raoul Wallenberg arrives in Budapest, the deportations are temporarily stopped by head of state Miklós Horthy after protests from Pope Pius XII, U.S. President Franklin D Roosevelt and Sweden’s King Gustav V.
As an architect, now with the title Secretary of Legation, Raoul Wallenberg develops both the status of and use of the existing protective passports – together with his courage, his energy and his authority – to undertake the task of saving the Jews of Budapest.
When Raoul Wallenberg arrived in Budapest, Sweden – via the young diplomat Per Anger – Sweden had already started issuing protection passports. Through a combination of personal courage, creativity, audacity and an unusual authority, Raoul succeeds in saving tens of thousands of people from death.
Raoul Wallenberg hires many of his protégés and in this way he can also save their families. He buys houses – the “Swedish houses” – on which he hangs the Swedish flag and claims that the houses constitute diplomatic territory.
The Raoul Wallenberg Park
Sweden Park in memory of Raoul Wallenberg, or simply Raoul Wallenberg Park, is being built on a location close to Jerusalem. The Zora forest is located in a beautiful area in the foothills of Jerusalem close to the city Beit Shemesh. This is a biblical site mentioned in the Hebrew bible, In the book of Judges. Samson lived between Zora and neighboring Eshtaol, according to the bible. The park and recreation area is often visited by Israeli families during weekends and holidays. Our plan is to formally open the park in September 2024.
In this beautiful location in central Israel, 30 minutes from downton Jerusalem and 45 minutes from Tel Aviv, we are constructing an outdoor museum about Raoul Wallenberg and his heroism. There will also be a digital exhibition with the story of Raoul Wallenberg enabling all visitors with smartphones to learn more about what happened in Budapest in 1944-1945. We believe that it is important for future generations to learn about how an individual can make a difference and have an impact by his courage to challenge evil.
In the park there is a recognition site with plaques in different sizes that can be ordered by contributors to the Park. Individuals or companies supporting the commemoration of a great hero can order plaques and have bespoke text on the plaque, including logos of their respective company.
