RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS Souza Dantas and Raoul Wallenberg MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS Minister of State Aloysio Nunes Ferreira Secretary General Ambassador Marcos Bezerra Abbott Galvão ALEXANDRE DE GUSMÃO FOUNDATION President Ambassador Sérgio Eduardo Moreira Lima Institute of Research on International Relations Director Minister Paulo Roberto de Almeida Center for Diplomatic History and Documentation Director Ambassador Gelson Fonseca Junior Editorial Board of the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation President Ambassador Sérgio Eduardo Moreira Lima Members Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg Ambassador Jorio Dauster Magalhães e Silva Ambassador Gelson Fonseca Junior Ambassador José Estanislau do Amaral Souza Ambassador Eduardo Paes Saboia Minister Paulo Roberto de Almeida Minister Paulo Elias Martins de Moraes Professor Francisco Fernando Monteoliva Doratioto Professor José Flávio Sombra Saraiva Professor Eiiti Sato The Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation (FUNAG) was established in 1971 as a public foundation linked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a goal to provide civil society with information concerning global issues and the Brazilian diplomatic agenda. The mission of the Foundation is to foster awareness of domestic public opinion regarding international relations issues and Brazilian foreign policy. Fábio Koifman Jill Blonsky HISTÓRIA DIPLOMÁTICA | 1 RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS Souza Dantas and Raoul Wallenberg Brasília – 2017 Publishing rights reserved to the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation Ministry of Foreign Affairs Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco H Anexo II, Térreo 70170-900 Brasília–DF Phone: (61) 2030-6033/6034 Fax: (61) 2030-9125 Website: www.funag.gov.br E-mail: [email protected] Technical Staff: André Luiz Ventura Ferreira Eliane Miranda Paiva Fernanda Antunes Siqueira Gabriela Del Rio de Rezende Luiz Antônio Gusmão Graphic Design: Yanderson Rodrigues Visual Planning and Layout: Gráfica e Editora Ideal Printed in Brazil 2017 K78 Koifman, Fábio. Righteous among the nations - Souza Dantas and Raoul Wallenberg / Fábio Koifman, Jill Blonsky. – Brasília : FUNAG, 2017. 237 p. : il. – (Coleção memória diplomática) ISBN 978-85-7631-721-0 1. Diplomata - Brasil. 2. Direitos humanos. 3. Assistência humanitária. 4. Direito à vida. 5. Nações Unidas (ONU). 6. Imigração - Brasil. 7. Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (1912-1947?). 8. Holocausto. 9. Luiz Martins de Souza Dantas (1876 - 1954). 10. Direito humanitário. 11. Conflito internacional. I. Blonsky, Jill. II. Título. III. Série CDD 341.1 Depósito Legal na Fundação Biblioteca Nacional conforme Lei n° 10.994, de 14/12/2004. CONTENTS Foreword ...............................................................................7 Aloysio Nunes Ferreira Preface to 2nd edition ..................................................... 11 Fernando Henrique Cardoso Preface ................................................................................ 15 Leda Lucia Camargo Part 1 Souza Dantas Fábio Koifman Abbreviations ..................................................................... 25 Introduction ...................................................................... 27 1. Diplomatic Career and Brazil’s Immigration Policy ........................................................................28 2. Brazil and the Refugee Question .......................................30 3. Brazil’s immigration policy becomes even more restrictive: Circular no. 1, 498 and the interminable voyage of the Alsina ......................64 4. The Former Passengers of the Alsina: End of a Voyage ................................................................................91 5. The Administrative Inquiry .................................................127 6. Conclusion ..................................................................................140 Part 2 Raoul Wallenberg Jill Blonsky 1. The Lull before the Storm: Jewish Life in Hungary before 1944 ........................................................153 2. Raoul Wallenberg: The Development of a Hero .......162 3. Recruitment ..........................................................................172 4. The Mission ............................................................................174 5. The Terror ..............................................................................187 6. The Growth of Section C ...................................................201 7. Dinner with Eichmann .......................................................205 8. Arrest and imprisonment ..................................................207 9. Why was Wallenberg arrested? ......................................214 10. Alleged Sightings post 1947 ..........................................217 11. The Wallenberg Family sues the USSR ........................226 12. Who was Prisoner Nº 7? ...................................................231 13. Conclusion ...........................................................................235 14. Tributes .................................................................................236 15. References ............................................................................240 FOREWORD Legendary former United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld is believed to have said that “forgiving is forgetting in spite of remembering”. If the international community cannot afford to forget the wounds, scars, and tombs left behind in the trail of war, it is also its solemn duty to remember those who risked their own lives to restore our lost humanity. Such was the case of the two true heroes portrayed in this important and timely book: Luiz Martins de Souza Dantas and Raoul Wallenberg, the former a Brazilian career diplomat, the latter a Swedish humanitarian, both honorable standard-bearers of the finest traditions of their respective countries’ well-known, longstanding commitment to peace, diplomacy, and human rights. Souza Dantas and Wallenberg took “the pen is mightier than the sword” old adage into their own hands, even taking it one step further, as they actively rescued scores of Jewish men, women, and children from the lethal claws of fascism during World War II. For those who still believe in the false dilemma between flag and mankind, there could have been no better example than that set by these two “righteous men”. *** The “scourges of war” that had “twice brought untold sorrow to mankind” in the 20th century, to evoke the poetic images enshrined in the preamble to the UN Charter, were the supreme watershed 7 Aloysio Nunes Ferreira in the international community’s handling of war and peace. The international order shaped since 1945 – however imperfect it was and still is – has seen that war was for all practical purposes basically outlawed and that respect for human rights became universal law. In other words, the enormity of the tragedy suffered by mankind was such that reliance upon the heroism of individuals such as Souza Dantas and Wallenberg needed to be replaced by a global architecture of norms and institutions able to deal with large-scale atrocities and to prevent them from ever happening again. The examples of truly extraordinary individuals inspired the institution-building effort to uphold and protect the core values of human rights, fundamental freedoms and peace for all. Armed aggression, massive human rights violation, and genocide should have no place in an interconnected world, governed by internationally-recognized rules. But time and again it is proven that it is always too early to scrap their names off the dictionaries and pretend they were the dark face of a by-gone era. The reawakening of ultranationalist movements, partial to bigotry, xenophobia, and racism, even in modern democracies known for attaching a great premium to democracy and human rights, is a belated wake-up call. For the mother of all human rights violations and humanitarian catastrophes is disrespect, disregard, and disdain for the “other” – for what one perceives as “different”. Brazil is committed to an open, rules-based international order whereby human dignity is given pride of place. Brazil currently features one of the world’s most modern and liberal immigration legislations. I am proud to say that I introduced the bill that was eventually voted into law when I was serving in the Brazilian Senate. The new law grants immigrants the same rights enjoyed by Brazilian nationals. No one seeking a better life for oneself and one’s kinship should be treated as a lesser person. 8 Foreword The heroic deeds performed by otherwise normal men who facing extraordinary circumstances chose to behave extraordinarily, placing selflessness over self-interest – their careers and their own lives – and mankind over narrow interests outlast the crimes that they have managed to avert or at least mitigate. The actions of Souza Dantas and Wallenberg narrated in the following pages are nothing short of a moral beacon showing the way in turbulent times. *** In his foreword to this book, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso hints at the idea that war tends to bring out the best and the worst in the human race. It is well-documented throughout history – a tradition which this book competently follows – that even in the deadliest of war theaters, hatred, violence, and evil are often-times matched by equal amounts of solidarity, kindness, and nobility, which keep the human spirit human. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil commends the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation on publishing a new edition of “Righteous Among the Nations: Souza Dantas and