How Wallenberg Left His Mark on the World
Wallenberg made many efforts to save Hungarian Jews during World War 2. He was able to distribute food and clothing to some Jewish prisoners. When he first heard about what was happening, he knew he must help. Wallenberg knew multiple languages and was able to move freely around Europe. He ended up meeting Lauer and they became partners. Lauer was a Jew himself and just so happened to own an import and export company specializing in food. They used this to their advantage to help the Jews that were suffering in the concentration camps. They went to a War Refugee Board (WRB) meeting and Lauer was able to convince everyone that Raoul would be able to lead a successful mission to help the Jews. Wallenberg was appointed first Secretary at the Swedish Legation in Budapest in June 1944 with the mission to start a rescue operation. He was able to come up with many ideas to help. He designed Swedish protective passes. Any Jews with the passes would be exempt from wearing the yellow star badge that Jews had to wear and they would be treated like a normal Swedish citizen. He was first only allowed to issue 1,500 of his passes but was able to negotiate and raise the quota to 4,500. Wallenberg was also able to build Swedish houses so Jews were able to seek refuge here. The population for the Swedish territory houses rose to about 15,000. Wallenberg was able to inspire other neutral territories to do the same. Many people were following his lead. He soon simplified the form of his pass which became a one copied page with his signature alone. Even in the existing chaos when his passes were no longer valid he made it work. He became friends with the wife of the foreign minister and thanks to her cooperation the passes became valid once again. Wallenberg became so committed to helping and went to extreme measures. He would jump into trains and wagons with the Jews being transported and handed them passes. The soldiers were ordered to fire but they were so impressed by Wallenberg's efforts they would consciously aim too high and let him escape. Then all the Jews that he were able to hand passes would leave with him. Szalay (an Arrow Cross Member) was bribed and willingly worked with Wallenberg. Raoul made him deliver a note to August Schmidhuber saying that General Eichmann was planning a massacre on a ghetto and that the general would be responsible and would be hung as a criminal after the war if the massacre proceeds. Thanks to Wallenberg's actions the massacre was stopped last minute. Later on Szalay was the only Arrow Cross member that wasn't executed because of his cooperation with Raoul. The Russians found 97,000 Jews in the ghettos. In total 120,000 Jews survived the Nazi extermination in Hungary and Wallenberg should be honored with saving at least 100,000 Jews. He also established a section in his department after the war that under his supervision there would be a financial support plan for the surviving Jews. Wallenberg was able to impact the world and inspire others. His only weapon was courage and managed to save Jews from the clutches of the Nazis with firm action. He became very popular in the 1980's and he received honor in many different countries. He was a true hero.