that Wallenberg was directly responsible for saving 70,000 in the ghettos from being murdered at the very end of the Nazi occupation. He sounds rather like superman, dashing here and there in his car with the little blue and yellow crossed flags flying, hands full of passes and documents, a mind thoroughly occupied with saving human souls. So why isn’t his name engraved in every history book? I think it is because of how his story ends. On January 17th, after surviving death threats and assassination attempts from Nazis along with the bombings, Raoul Wallenberg went to meet with General Malinovsky of the Soviets and was abducted. In a moment of either great irony or insight, his final recorded words were “I'm going to Malinovsky’s —whether as a guest or prisoner I do not know yet.” That was the last time he was seen on the other side of the descending Iron Curtain. The Russians claimed he died in 1947 at the age of 35, though conflicting evidence from former gulag prisoners suggests he lived well into the 1980s. I remember finding out about his end and feeling dejected, for here truly was a Righteous among the Nations, yet his path ended in a dark prison cell and torture. It seemed the world ignored him because there was nothing more to say in his story. My dejection slowly turned to elation, as I realized that because of his actions and coaching, bullying,
and buying off of the corrupt evil in Hungary, several tens of thousands of souls were saved. He is not completely forgotten, either, as he has a memorial tree planted on the road to Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, several statues in various countries that honor his memory, including here in America, and at least one English speaking docu-drama
countries were involved that is important. It is a fact all modern people should be aware of: neutrality does not mean “doing nothing.” The war was fought on many fronts, some of them with guns and tanks and some with diplomatic relations aimed at saving the Jewish Nation. And what I want you to come away with is, if you think you can never do anything heroic, consider what Jesus Christ said in Matthew 25:40 NIV, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Raoul Wallenberg certainly did this and is an inspiration to us to protect and help our fellow man, no matter their origins. ♥
concerning his actions. Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story is a bit padded and for cost reasons couldn’t show the near complete destruction of Budapest, but the heart of the film is there and Richard Chamberlain does a fine job in the lead role. It is not so much about the money behind something anyway, but the sympathy for the plight of the Jewish nation and the direct and urgent way that the neutral