We Need More People Like Raoul Wallenberg

We Need More People Like Raoul" "Wallenberg TEL AVIV. The latest acts of terror in Paris show that people like Raoul Wallenberg are needed also today. That was the theme of many speakers at a conference in .Tel Aviv that celebrated the Swedish diplomat as a hero

Raoul was a light in the darkness, said Cecilia Åhlberg, grandchild of Wallenberg's - .sister, and lit a candle in memory of her relative

Hero, role model – Raoul Wallenberg, the disappeared diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust, was lionized with warm words at a meeting at Tel Aviv University on the eve of the 70th anniversary of his disappearance. January 17 1945 the Swede was arrested by Soviet military in Hungary's capital Budapest and .since then he's gone

Celebrated All over the World

Now he is celebrated all over the world as a role model, as a man who bravely stood up to evil and showed that one person can make a crucial difference. Cecilia Åhlberg, grandchild of Raoul Wallenberg's sister Nina Lagergren and active in the Raoul Wallenberg Academy, was .one of the speakers at the conference

We shall use Raoul as an example of what one person can do. As a role model who shows - that one human being can make a difference. Let us remember Raoul in light, she said and lit .a candle she brought with her that her children had made

We need more people like Raoul Wallenberg to stand up to evil today. The more of them -. we have, the more strength we'll have. We need him as a role model today, maybe more .than ever, she said

Cecilia Åhlberg related how touched she had been during her visit in Israel when she met survivors who had been saved by Wallenberg and who thanked her for the actions of her .famous relative

Several Ambassadors

Several ambassadors, among them from Hungary, where Wallenberg worked, as well as experts on international law and on the Holocaust were present at the conference "70 Years without Raoul Wallenberg" that was organized by the Swedish Embassy in Tel Aviv and the Kantor Center at Tel Aviv University. There were also students and other people who had .been touched by the Swedish diplomat's fate

A couple of images of Wallenberg were the only decorations in the Cymbalista Hall, that is .situated in the same building as a synagogue In the abscence of Foreign Minister Margot Wallströms – she had "delayed" her visit to Israel – Jens Orback, former Minsiter for Democracy (Labor) and today head of the Palme Center, .was the only political representative from Sweden

"Worked Unconventionally"

Raoul Wallenberg worked in an unusual and unconventional way. Unfortunately the - Swedish government acted weakly in trying to ascertain his fate, Jens Orback said at the .meeting

Antisemitism still exists in Europe. The latest attack in Paris is a reminder that antisemitism - and intolerance must be condemned. And that freedom of speech must be defended, he .said

Jens Orback also read an email from his friend the actor Stellan Skarsgård, who played the main character in a movie about Raoul Wallenberg. Skarsgård related in the email how he during the shooting of the film in 1989 in the former Jewish ghetto in Budapest had met .survivors who thanked him for keeping Wallenberg's memory alive through his film

Irwin Cotler, former minister of Justice in Canada and known for his work for political prisoners like Andrej Sacharov, Natan Sharansky and Nelson Mandela, praised Raoul .”Wallenberg as a ”hero of humanity

He demonstrated how a brave person can confront evil and change history. To the SS - officer Adolf Eichmann Wallenberg was a ”Jew dog”, to surviving Jews he was a ”guardian .angel", said Irwin Cotler

"Öppna arkiven"

It's a tragedy that the man who saved so many wasn't saved himself by so many who could - have done so. We have a moral duty to clarify Raoul Wallenberg's fate. We must demand .that the Russians open their archives, he said

Cotler enumerated a series of ”universal lessons” from the 70 years that have passed since Wallenberg disappeared. Among them the importance to remember in order to avoid new genocides, the importance to punish war criminals and the importance not to be indifferent, .”since ”indifference always plays into the hands of the aggressor, never the victim

Among other things, Cotler drew parallels to the genocide in Rwanda that could have been .avoided if the international community had acted

We live in the shadow of the horrible events in Paris. They demonstrate the need for - .heroes like Raoul Wallenberg, said professor Dina Porat, Israeli expert on the Holocaust

Delade ut Wallenbergpriset

She is the head of the Kantor Center and handed out the Wallenberg Prize to two young academics who do research on the Holocaust and human rights. It was the 28th time the prize was awarded. One of the recipients is the Swedish-born Mikael Shainkman who does .research on Jewish-Muslim relations in Europe today

The victims of the horrible acts of terror in Paris are in our thoughts, as is the Jewish aspect - of it all. It makes this conference in memory of Raoul Wallenbergs especially important. It gives acute relevance to the memory of his deeds, said Ambassador Carl Magnus Nesser at .the meeting

In connection to the memorial day, a recording of the opera "Wallenberg", performed by the .Estonian National Opera, was screened at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque

http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/vi-behover-flera-raoul-wallenberg

Arne Lapidus

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