Raoul Wallenberg: a Historical Account of One Man’S Altruism

Raoul Wallenberg: A Historical Account of One Man’s Altruism Tyen Redmond BA Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation Monash University 5th June 2009 Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Monash University 1 Summary: In July 1944 Raoul Wallenberg arrived in Budapest on a mission to assist the Jewish population of Hungary. Departing from Sweden, he arrived at the Hungarian capital with the support of the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm and the United States War Refugee Board. Through the final stages of the war, until the liberation of Budapest by the Soviet forces in January 1945, Wallenberg implemented measures to protect this remaining pocket of European Jewry. Wallenberg’s past prior to his involvement in the rescue activities in Hungary will be reviewed, to determine why this young man left the safety of neutral Sweden to assist Hungarian Jews with whom he had no direct relationship and with nothing to personally gain from putting himself at risk in a war zone. Considering the theories surrounding rescuers during the Holocaust, the unusual and altruistic nature of Wallenberg’s actions will highlight his unique position amongst other rescuers. Utilising testimonies of Australian-based survivors from the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation Institute Video History Archive, Wallenberg’s rescue efforts will be discussed in the context of individual survivors’ personal experiences. These unique perspectives from individuals who were saved or had direct contact with Wallenberg will expand upon the existing body of knowledge surrounding his rescue efforts. Raoul Wallenberg: A Historical Account of One Man’s Altruism Contents: Introduction - 1 Chapter 1: The Holocaust in Hungary - 3 Chapter 2: Raoul Wallenberg and the - 13 mission to rescue Hungarian Jews Chapter 3: The Shutzpass - 35 Chapter 4: An International Ghetto - 51 Chapter 5: Deportation and Death Marches - 60 Chapter 6: Liberation, Disappearance and - 67 Legacy Conclusion - 75 Bibliography - 77 Statement of Originality: I declare that this thesis contains no material which has previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, this thesis contains no material which has previously been published or written by another person, except when due reference is made in the text of the thesis. Acknowledgements: Thank-you to Mark Baker and Deborah Staines for their guidance and time, to the University of Southern California and Monash University for providing the invaluable Shoah Foundation Institute Video Archive, to my darling fiancée Tegan who has provided constant support, and to Raoul for his inspirational efforts to assist those in need. Introduction: In the community of Holocaust survivors the name Raoul Wallenberg is synonymous with heroism and courage. Wallenberg, a Swedish citizen with no direct link to Hungarian Jews, left the relative safety of neutral Sweden to undertake a phenomenal rescue mission. Wallenberg was born from one of the most influential and wealthy families in the world, but this privileged upbringing did not deter his social consciousness or his willingness to assist those in need or facing persecution. With the support of the King of Sweden, the Swedish foreign office, and the United State’s War Refugee Board, Wallenberg travelled to Budapest in July 1944. He undertook the task of saving and protecting as many of the remaining members of the Jewish population as possible. This mission was a success due to the extraordinary efforts of Wallenberg and his supporting staff, and the lives of tens of thousands of Jews were saved from the clutches of the Nazi’s machinery of destruction. The story of Raoul Wallenberg’s interventions in Hungary during the final months of Nazi occupation is familiar in the Jewish communities of survivors, because of his courage, heroism, righteousness and, ultimately, sacrifice, and the countless lives he saved because of his efforts. Wallenberg risked his life to save people in immense danger with no gain to be made for himself besides the reward of helping others in need. Wallenberg acted selflessly as he stood up to the German and Hungarian Nazi’s that were attempting to destroy one of the remaining pockets of European Jewry. Wallenberg’s story shows how one individual can take action that can positively change the lives of so many. His individual actions, often at the risk to his own safety, saved an incomprehensible number of lives in one of the darkest hours of human history. Wallenberg provided the Jewish community of Hungary a glimmer of hope, a reminder that there were people out who cared about their existence and were looking to help, and that there was a possible chance of survival. There have been numerous books, articles and documentaries on Wallenberg’s rescue mission that have detailed his life prior to the rescue mission in Budapest, his achievements, as well as his subsequent disappearance allegedly at the hands 1 of the Soviet Union at the end of the war. The University of Southern California Shoah Foundation Institute Visual History Archive provides historians a unique opportunity to gain an understanding of individual experiences during the Holocaust. Using this archive of video testimonies, the individual stories of survivors that had been directly saved or influenced by Wallenberg will expand on this existing body of knowledge and provide a unique and personal impression of Wallenberg’s efforts. Drawing on the testimonies of Jewish survivors in the Australian community from the USC Shoah Archive, Wallenberg’s rescue work will be outlined in unique detail and from various individual perspectives. In addition, reviewing Wallenberg’s past prior to this involvement with the Swedish Legation in Hungary, the reasons as to why he took such a personal risk to help those in need will be questioned. Considering the theories surrounding acts of altruism by rescuers in the Holocaust, it will become clear how Wallenberg’s acts were of an unusual nature and an altruistic form. 2 Chapter 1: The Holocaust in Hungary It is necessary to understand the implementation of anti-Semitic legislation and the context of the Holocaust in Hungary to appreciate what Wallenberg achieved. Wallenberg arrived in Budapest during the volatile final months of the war in Hungary. For the Hungarian leaders, the Jewish question was encompassed as a part of the greater war, and was a contentious area between the Hungarians and their German allies. It is critical to understand how Hungary’s relationship with Germany, internal leadership changes, involvement in the war and anti-Jewish policy in order to grasp the context of the work completed by Raoul Wallenberg. Each nation allied or conquered by the Nazi regime imposed different measures along unique timelines against Jews. As a result, the Holocaust in Hungary unfolded along a different trajectory to Germany, Poland, Italy and so on, even though the intentions were similar. Understanding these unique circumstances helps demonstrate the specifics of Jewish suffering in this nation and the work that Wallenberg and his helpers successfully implemented. The Hungarian government was the first parliamentary body to enact anti- Semitic legislation after the end of the First World War. Introduced on 22 September 1920, the Numerus Clausus Act is described as “the first significant piece of anti-Jewish legislation introduced in postwar Europe.”1 Introduced by the newly formed government of Count Pal Teleki, the law restricted the admission of Jews to institutions of higher learning.2 This threshold was set at six percent, equivalent to the Jewish proportion of the Hungarian populace.3 In the years preceding the outbreak of the First World War, the Jewish population in Hungary were experiencing a golden age.4 The Hapsburgs’ emancipated Hungarian Jews in 1867 in order to have them assist in the generation of national 1 T.D. Kramer, From Emancipation to Catastrophe: The Rise and Holocaust of Hungarian Jewry, Lanham, 2000, p. 53. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Istvan Deak, ‘Could the Hungarian Jews Have Survived?’, in Michael R. Marrus (ed.), The Nazi Holocaust: Historical Articles on the Destruction of European Jews, Westport, 1989, Vol. 4 (2), pp. 643-650, p. 643. 3 growth and development.5 Alongside the assistance the Jewish population could provide to the re-organisation of Hungary, the government passed a Bill that removed almost all anti-Jewish legislation and placed Jews in “a position of civil and political equality with individual Christians.”6 As historian Istvan Deak explains, “in exchange for embracing the political ideas of the ruling nobility, the Jews were allowed to flourish.”7 Consequently, the Jewish population of Hungary became assimilated into Hungarian culture, on a comparative level of their German counterparts in German culture.8 After the First World War, anti-Semitic feeling grew alongside a resurgent of right-wing political movements. The post-war counterrevolutionary regime led by Admiral Miklos Horthy took power in November 1919, and in the process of consolidating power, massacred several hundred Jews and introduced the aforementioned anti-Jewish legislation.9 The restrictions placed on Jewish admissions to institutes of higher learning were considered, according to Deak, as “a harsh measure, since Jewish students were a majority in some faculties.”10 Yet, after the appointment of Prime Minister Istvan Bethlen by Regent Horthy in April 1921, the Jewish population of Hungary returned to the position they held before the war.11 Bethlen critiqued the Numerus Clausus Act openly in Parliament in November 1925, promising Jews a return of the emancipation they had previously experienced between 1867 and 1920.12 The great depression struck Hungary in 1930-31, having a devastating effect of the national economy.13 Like many European nations, the economic turmoil presented an opportunity for right-wing political groups to acquire popularity and power.

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