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Wallenberg, who saved more than 100,000 Hungarian Jews during World War II, disappeared right after the Soviet army took over Budapest in 1945. What could Russia be hiding for 72 years about this case?

Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg was born 4 August 1912 in Sweden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Wallenberg

“A court in Moscow will hear a lawsuit on August 17 filed by relatives of Raoul Wallenberg against Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to provide uncensored documentation that could help determine the fate of the former Swedish diplomat and war hero, a lawyer for the family says.” Read the rest here: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-court-wallenburg-case-family-looks-for-answers/28670077.html

Thirty years ago, in July 1987, the following was written:
“THE FATE OF RAOUL WALLENBERG, “THE LOST HERO OF THE HOLOCAUST.” IF STILL ALIVE, WALLENBERG IS NOW 75 AND HAS SPENT WELL OVER HALF OF HIS LIFE IN PRISON–GUILTY OF NO CRIME.

A LANKY 32-YEAR-OLD FROM A PROMINENT SWEDISH FAMILY, WALLENBERG VOLUNTEERED TO GO TO NAZI-OCCUPIED HUNGARY IN 1944 TO SAVE THE JEWS OF BUDAPEST FROM DEPORTATION AND CERTAIN DEATH IN HITLER’S GAS CHAMBERS.

ARMED ONLY WITH HIS SWEDISH DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT AND FUNDS PROVIDED BY THE AMERICAN WAR REFUGEE BOARD AND THE WORLD JEWISH COUNCIL, WALLENBERG RENTED OVER 30 LOCATIONS IN BUDAPEST AS SAFE HAVENS FOR FLEEING JEWS AND PROVIDED MANY WITH SWEDISH PASSPORTS FOR SAFE CONDUCT. HE IS CREDITED WITH SAVING MORE THAN 100,000 HUNGARIAN JEWS; HE EVEN INTIMIDATED NAZI SOLDIERS INTO OPENING THE DOORS OF CATTLE CARS TO FREE DOOMED OCCUPANTS.

BUT WALLENBERG’S HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS ENDED WHEN THE SOVIET RED ARMY OCCUPIED BUDAPEST IN JANUARY 1945. WHEN HE LEFT THE SWEDISH MISSION IN THE HUNGARIAN CAPITAL ON JANUARY 17, WALLENBERG SAID JOKINGLY, “I DON’T KNOW IF I AM BEING SUMMONED AS A GUEST OR A PRISONER.” THAT WAS THE LAST TIME HE WAS SEEN AS A FREE MAN.

THE SOVIETS DENIED ANY KNOWLEDGE OF WALLENBERG’S WHEREABOUTS UNTIL 1957, WHEN THEN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER ANDREI GROMYKO–NOW PRESIDENT OF THE SOVIET UNION–ADMITTED THAT THE SWEDISH DIPLOMAT HAD DIED IN MOSCOW’S LUBYANKA PRISON IN JULY 1947.

FORMER DETAINEES HAVE PROVIDED NUMEROUS REPORTS OF WALLENBERG’S PRESENCE IN MORE THAN A DOZEN SOVIET PENAL INSTITUTIONS AND PRISON HOSPITALS IN THE 42 YEARS SINCE HIS DISAPPEARANCE. WALLENBERG COMMITTEES HAVE BEEN FORMED IN WESTERN EUROPE, ISRAEL, AND THE UNITED STATES, BUT SOVIET LEADERS, FROM STALIN TO GORBACHEV, HAVE RESISTED EFFORTS TO REOPEN THE CASE.

JUST AS KATYN IS NOW BEING MENTIONED OPENLY IN POLAND, WALLENBERG IS NO LONGER AN UNMENTIONABLE NAME IN HUNGARY. WITHOUT FANFARE OR ANY PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT, THE KADAR REGIME RECENTLY ALLOWED THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING SWEDE IN BUDAPEST. THE MONUMENT, A BRONZED STATUE OF WALLENBERG SET ON A MARBLE BASE, WAS DEDICATED IN MAY. THIRTY-NINE YEARS AGO, AN EARLIER MEMORIAL TO WALLENBERG IN BUDAPEST WAS REPORTEDLY REMOVED BY SOVIET SOLDIERS THE DAY BEFORE ITS SCHEDULED UNVEILING.

WITH THE ADVENT OF GLASNOST, THERE ARE EVEN RUMORS THAT WALLENBERG IS STILL ALIVE IN A SOVIET PRISON AND THAT, IF THE RUMOR IS TRUE, MR. GORBACHEV MIGHT BE PERSUADED TO LET HIM GO. ONE UNCONFIRMED REPORT SAYS THAT HE HAS BEEN SEEN RECENTLY SOMEWHERE IN THE VAST SOVIET PRISON SYSTEM. IT WOULD, HOWEVER, BE A REAL TEST OF GLASNOST IF THE KREMLIN SHEDS ANY NEW LIGHT ON THIS TANTALIZING CASE–ESPECIALLY SO CONSIDERING THAT THE CURRENT PRESIDENT OF THE SOVIET UNION STATED IN WRITING 30 YEARS AGO THIS SUMMER THAT MR. WALLENBERG DIED IN LUBYANKA–SOME TWO YEARS AFTER HIS MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE. END OF TEXT“. (CIA JUL 87, Declassified 2006) See excerpt in context at bottom of blog post.

“Marie Dupuy, Mr. Wallenberg’s niece, is seeking to force the F.S.B. security agency, a successor to the K.G.B., to make public documents that could shed light on his fate.” NY Times: “Russian Court Will Hear Case on Raoul Wallenberg” Read the article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/10/world/europe/raoul-wallenberg-russia.html

From 1975 to 1991 Putin was a KGB man and he served as head of the FSB from 25 July 1998 until 9 August 1999, when he was appointed acting Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation by President Yeltsin. Later on that same day, Putin agreed to run for the presidency, as per Yeltsin”s request. He has been President or Prime Minister ever since: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin

Seventeen years ago: “A senior Russian official finally admitted yesterday that Stalin’s secret police shot dead Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of central European Jews from the gas chambers of Auschwitz in 1944 and 1945.” See: “War hero Wallenberg was executed in Soviet gulag“, Ian Traynor in Moscow, Monday 27 November 2000 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/nov/28/russia.iantraynor





KATYN-WALLENBERG-THE MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACT, CIA JUL 87, Declassified 2006
https://www.cia. gov/library/readingroom/docs/WALLENBERG%2C%20RAOUL%20%20%20VOL.%203_0094.pdf