Friday, December 18, 1981

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Wallenberg in Maccabee Tradition

By ROBERT E. SEGAL

ci;

candlelight observance
across the street from the
Soviet Embassy. The can-
dles were carried by mem-
bers of the Lutheran Place
Memorial Church and the
Washingotn Jewish Corn-
munity Council.
Those candles burn on
symbolically in the cause of
a man of superb courage;
their glow is one in a uni-
versal spirit with the lights
marking Hanuka.

(A Seven Arts Feature)

"There is one who deliv-
ereth and saveth Israel," it
is written in the first book of
the Maccabees. Well may
we think of that stirring
line when we celebrate
Hanuka, commemorating
the heroism of Judah Mac-
cabee and his small, valiant
band of fighters for religious
freedom.
This year, as we mark the
holiday with justifiable
pride, we have good reason
to honor one who delivered
nd saved somewhere be-
ween 20,000 and 100,000
Jews when the pincers of
the Nazis of Germany and
their depraved comrades,
members of the Arrow Cross
Party of Hungary, closed in
on them.
The modern hero, this
mighty man of valor, whose
herculean efforts to rescue
Jews from death have too
long gone insufficiently rec-
ognized, is, of course, Raoul
Wallenberg, scion of a weal-
thy Swedish family.
After the United States
Senate and House of
Representatives voted to
grant Wallenberg honor-
ary citizenship,
President Reagan in
signing the measure,
spoke of his accom-
plishments as a deed of
biblical proportions.
"Wherever he is," the
President said, his hu-
manity burns like a
torch," an observation
that can well be repeated
in the season of Hanuka.
It is the prayerful hope of
thousands that the recogni-
tion now accorded Raoul
Wallenberg is not post-
humous; but it would be a
miracle if the next chapter
in his illustrious career
finds him still alive.
Born Aug.. 4, 1912, in
Sweden, Wallenberg had
one Jewish ancestor who
converted to Christianity in
the 18th Century. As a
child, he enjoyed vacations
in France, Germany and
Holland. He traveled
widely; and he was
graduated in 1935 from the
University of Michigan
where he studied architec-
ture. In that same era, when
he worked in a Dutch hank
in Haifa, he met German
refugees.
Fate placed him in
Budapest as a special at-
tache to the Swedish lega-
tion in 1944. In those hours,
as Hitler faced defeat, the
Nazi tyrant called upon
Adolf Eichmann to mount
final murderous acts
against the 900,000 Jews in
Hungary. In that period
also, under the urging of
Henry Morgenthau, Secre-
tary of the Treasury, the
Roosevelt Administration
created the War Refugee
Board.
Armed with Swedish
credentials and a passion
for cheating death, Raoul
Wallenberg distributed
20,000 passports to Jews
in Budapest in one re-
sponse to the behests of
the War Refugee Board.
He did much more: he
snatched Jews from

er

RAOUL WALLENBERG

Eichmann-inspired death
marches, pulled Jews off
deportation trains, placed
hunted Jews in Budapest
houses flying the Swedish
flag; he personally brought
medical supplies for Jews
who were ill and bread for
hungry Jews.
He even faced Eichmann
across the table. Eichmann
failed in his attempt to have
the brave Swede murdered;
but where the Nazi flunked
out, the Russians succeeded
in ending Wallenberg's
mercy mission. Coming as
victors into Budapest, they
thought he might be an
American spy. Since he had
funds for his rescue efforts,
did not this money come
from contemptible
capitalist sources? Trapped
by Kremlin paranoia, Wal-
lenberg spent more than 30
years in Russian prisons.
Some who have shared in-
carceration with him be-
lieve he may still be alive.
Now Washington has a
fulcrum — Wallenberg's
honorary American citizen-
ship — for digging into the
mystery. Is he alive in Cell
77 of the Soviet Union's
Spats Korpus Prison? The
Free Wallenberg Commit-
tee of the U.S. has offered $1
million for information
leading to his freedom.
Along this thorny road,
Congressman Tom Lan-
tos of California, and his
wife, Annette Tillemen —
two of the thousands of
Jews saved by Wallen-
berg — have led a splen-
did band of adherents to
the cause.
The ceremony in Wash-
ington honoring Wallen-
berg ended with a

Poland Beckons
Haig From Israel

BRUSSELS (JTA) — Sec-
retary of State Alexander
Haig postponed his
scheduled visit to Israel
Sunday because of the tense
situation in Poland where
the government imposed
martial law in a new con-
frontation with the Solidar-
ity trade union movement.

New Assignment

NEW YORK — Gershon
Avner, who has served Is-
rael in ambassadorial posts,
as the state's official om-
budsman and as secretary
to the Cabinet, has just been
named director of political
affairs in the American
Jewish Committee's Israel
office.

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Audrey Lorber
585-7223 or 559-6022

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A memory you will have forever .. •

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