Washington – NY Sen. Gillibrand Introduces Legislation to Honor Wallenberg

Washington – Bills have been announced in both the house and the senate to introduce legislation awarding a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal to Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish born businessman, diplomat and humanitarian who is credited with saving the lives of thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II. The announcement was made at a September 21st luncheon in the Capitol building attended by numerous congressmen, senators, spiritual leaders and notables including Swedish ambassador Jonas Hafstrom and Hungarian Deputy Chief of Mission Andras Bacsi-Nagy. The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award that can be presented in the United States.

The two bills, S. 1591and H.R. 3001, are part of the greater Raoul Wallenberg Centennial Celebration, a national campaign to highlight Wallenberg’s heroism in honor of his upcoming 100th birthday on August 4th 2012 and will also include renaming public streets and venues in his memory.

“I applaud and commend our very own Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who along with Senators Kirk, Levin and Cardin, are leading the efforts in the Senate and Representatives Meeks and Hayworth in the House to see through the legislative process culminating in this historic occasion,” Ezra Friedlander, CEO of the Friedlander Group, which is heading up the Raoul Wallenberg Centennial Celebration Commission, told VIN News. “By the Congress of the United States conferring the Congressional Gold Medal to Raoul Wallenberg in honor of his centennial, we hope to generate pressure upon the Russians, forcing them to disclose his fate beyond a reasonable doubt. The Raoul Wallenberg Centennial Celebration hopes that by focusing on this righteous individual in recognition of this major milestone coming up in 2012, we will finally bring closure to the fate of this great humanitarian”.

Wallenberg was recruited by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s War Refugees Board to protect Hungarian Jews and used his position as a Swedish diplomat in Hungary to save countless Jewish lives. Creating fake passports, safe houses and using other creative means, Wallenberg saved the lives of 100,000 Hungarian Jews over a six month period. Wallenberg disappeared on January 17th 1945, after arranging a meeting with a Russian commander to secure food for the many Jews under his protection and while the Soviet Union has offered several different accounts of Wallenberg’s death, his fate remains unknown to this day. Wallenberg was named an honorary citizen of the United States in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan, joining Winston Churchill as the only other person ever accorded that honor.

Also in attendance at the luncheon were Representatives Steve Cohen, Gene Green, Nick Rahall, Jerrold Nadler, Nan Hayworth, Michael Grimm, Gregory Meeks, Doug Lamborn, Dana Rohrabacher and Brad Sherman and Senators Carl Levin and Ben Cardin.

Below video from the event: Credit: Photos/Video by Shmuel Lenchevsky