IRP page 20
1-800-4214141
volunteer groups," said Mr. Bar-
nett, the former head of the mu-
sic department at Chadsey High
School in Detroit who frequent-
ly lectures on music and has a
huge collection of klezmer tunes.
He will present a lecture next
spring, with musical accompani-
ment, on the origins of Jewish
music, from the European shtetls
to the music of immigrants to
modern Israeli music.
"We made new friends and re-
discovered old ones," said Mrs.
Barnett, a retired art and Eng-
lish teacher in the Detroit Pub-
lic Schools. "The Jewish
community here is very warm,
very together, very active."
She said the IRP is not an elit-
ist organization, but it tends to
attract seniors who don't want to
spend their retirement playing
Bingo and the like.
But, Mr. Barnett pointed out,
"You don't have to be a Mensa
member" (an organizations for
persons with high intelligence) to
belong to the IRP.
"This was a way to keep learn-
ing, to grow ourselves, not to let
our brains wither away," Mrs.
Barnett said. "Old age doesn't
mean you whine and complain.
It's not that we don't have sick-
ness or illness, but we don't have
time to talk about it." CI
L
, is $50
Menabershirri
annually, plus membership in
the Jewish Community Center.
Interested folks may attend an
IRP group meeting up to three
times without, membership.
Swedish Diplomat
Waits For Wallenberg
LISA DINES SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
he University of Michigan
honored former Swedish
Ambassador Per Anger Oct.
25 with the Raoul Wallen-
berg Medal, named for the former
Swedish diplomat who saved
thousands of Hungarian Jewish
lives during World War II.
T
Per Anger: One of the last to see Mr.
Wallenberg.
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Mr. Anger is the first recipient
of the medal who actually knew
Mr. Wallenberg. "He was a very
clever negotiator," Mr. Anger said.
"He always found a solution. He
always invented a new way to
save people."
The Nazi government agreed
that 4,500 Jews in Budapest di-
rectly connected to Sweden
through business relations and
relatives could receive life-saving
documents. Mr. Wallenberg, how-
ever, issued about 20,000, hous-
ing the recipients in Swedish
"safehouses" until the end of the
war.
Mr. Anger said the Germans
were aware of the Swedish prac-
tices, but tacitly allowed them be-
cause the Nazis feared neutral
Sweden would enter the war on
the Allied side. Wallenberg.would
stop trains bound for Auschwitz,
pulling Jews off the cars and dis-
tributing passports, Mr. Anger
said.
"With the Germans he
changed his attitude completely
and became very aggressive," Mr.
Anger said. "He had the whole
weight of the Swedish embassy
behind him, and the Nazi' were
anxious not to violate that near
the end of the war."
Mr. Wallenberg, a 1935 Uni-
versity of Michigan graduate,
worked to save Jews until the
Russians invaded Budapest in
January 1945. The Swedish em-
bassy was attacked and Mr.
Anger, Mr. Wallenberg and the
other diplomats went into hiding.
Mr. Anger last saw Mr. Wal-
lenberg on Jan. 10 when he urged
the diplomat to stay under-
ground.
Mr. Wallenberg was arrested
by the Russians on Jan. 17 on the
suspicion that he was a double
agent for the Germans. Soviet of-
ficials maintained that he died in
a Soviet gulag in 1947 of a heart
attack. Mr. Anger does not believe
the Soviet account, citing nu-
merous witnesses who claimed
they spoke with Wallenberg in
prison.
"As long as you have not been
able to prove that he died," Mr.
Anger said, "we take it as a pos-
sibility that he still may be alive
somewhere. So far no real docu-
ment has been found showing
what happened to Raoul Wal-
lenberg."
A Swedish commission is in-
vestigating and will give a report
within a year, Mr. Anger said.
❑
Lisa Dines is a student at the
University of Michigan.
trp.,
.
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