“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” reads Reagan from the holy scriptures. Not many are familiar with the story of Raoul Wallenberg, but those who are, know what an amazing man he was. President Ronald Reagan’s public files state the “Heedless of danger, he pulled people out of death marches boarded deportation trains,” (statement).
Wallenberg’s spy career began unlike any other, from a simple elevator conversation.
Kalman Lauer, owner of an export-import firm, and Iver Olsen, an OSS operative working in the finance department, were having a casual conversation, when it lead Olsen to the conclusion that Lauer was a Hungarian Jew. Olsen had been searching for someone …show more content…
The soviets spirited him out of Budapest, denying they knew anything of him, in January 1945. Declassified files show that America had shown interest in him, but claimed he worked for the (WRB) war refugee board; therefore he could not be classified as a spy. The soviet red army came for him, when they reached, him he demanded to be taken to headquarters. After spending the night, he decided to collect his papers, and meet with the soviet high command. The next day he drove into the international ghetto followed by three SS officers, what happened next is …show more content…
The public was very suspicicious, why they had waited ten years to release news of this importance? Many people believed that he was gone for good, but there had been many sightings of him after he was depicted to be dead. Most of the sightings were at Vladimir prison, a holding place for German prisoners of war, 120 miles northeast of Moscow, Russia (Fenyvesi). In 2000, “The absolute Truth” was the heading on the front page of newspapers all over the world. Aleksandr Yakolev, director of a government commission exonerating Stalin-era victims, says that the KGB “murdered Wallenberg in Lubyanka prison”, July 1947. Yet, Wallenberg’s longtime friend, per anger, Swedish ambassador, claims he has seen Wallenberg as late as 1989, so have other (Febyvesi) We cannot be sure of where Wallenberg was, but we know what he did for the Jews and America. “The world owes him a tremendous debt” says Regan in a reflection for Wallenberg, in 1987, after forty years of Wallenberg mysterious disappearance (statement). He was granted honorary United States citizenship after Winston Churchill (Britannica). Some of the people he saved are now prominent citizens our very own country, his memory will live on