Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:48 pm Posts: 4320 Location: Philadelphia, PA
There are a thousand mysteries from WWII that people still puzzle over, this one is one of the most interesting.
Quote:
Raoul Wallenberg was a minor official of a neutral country, with an unimposing appearance and gentle manner. Recruited and financed by the U.S., he was sent into Hungary to save Jews. He bullied, bluffed and bribed powerful Nazis to prevent the deportation of 20,000 Hungarian Jews to concentration camps, and averted the massacre of 70,000 more people in Budapest's ghetto by threatening to have the Nazi commander hanged as a war criminal.
Then, on Jan. 17, 1945, days after the Soviets moved into Budapest, the 32-year-old Wallenberg and his Hungarian driver, Vilmos Langfelder, drove off under a Russian security escort, and vanished forever.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
i've heard of this guy before and read up on him on wikipedia. thanks for the story, i'll read through it. fascinating.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:48 pm Posts: 4320 Location: Philadelphia, PA
If you have any Jewish relatives, you'll know that he is one of the most revered heroes of the war.
But so many people disappeared during the war. There are many stories of the bravery of ordinary people. My in-laws are holocaust survivors. They were like many German Jews. They couldn't believe that it could happen to them. My husband's family is in the US today because American Jews sponsored them and took care of them. There are many cases of this.
My husband's great aunt and great uncle knew what was coming, so they sent their 17-year-old son to England with their two youngest children, who were seven and eight. The parents stayed behind to try to find a way to smuggle money out of the country to support the family. Viktor, the son, kept in contact with them, but eventually, communication became scarce as the situation became more and more difficult for Jews. Their last message was the they were on their way to England. Months passed with no word. Viktor told other relatives in England that he wouldn't wait anymore. He left to search for them. He disappeared, and no one knows what happened to him. Eventually, the parents showed up in England. Apparently, his mother was never the same again.
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