Sweden: Hero to WWII Jews May Be Alive
S T O C K H O L M, Sweden, Jan. 12 -- Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedishdiplomat spirited away by the Red Army in 1945 after savingthousands of Jews from the Nazis, may still be alive, Swedensaid today.
After the release of the results of 10 years ofSwedish-Russian investigations, Swedish Prime Minister GoranPersson said there was no clear evidence that Wallenberg wasdead, and his government would try harder to find out what hadhappened to him.
Wallenberg, a member of a side branch of the powerfulSwedish business dynasty, saved the lives of tens of thousandsof Hungarian Jews in World War Two by issuing them with Swedishpassports from the Swedish embassy in Budapest.
He disappeared after being seized by Soviet Red Army troopsin the city in January 1945.
Searching for Answers
The Soviet and Russian authorities, most recently lastDecember, have asserted that Wallenberg died in Moscow'snotorious Lubyanka prison in July 1947.
But there have been persistent reports that he was alive ina Soviet gulag or psychiatric hospital, perhaps as late as 1989.If he were still alive, he would be 87.
The Swedish members of the government-level working group,presenting their conclusions, said no evidence had been foundthat Wallenberg died in July 1947.
"Even though all the versions from Russian sources largelyassume that Raoul Wallenberg had died at that point, the workinggroup has not uncovered any evidence to confirm a definiteconclusion to this effect," they said.
"The Russian announcement of Raoul Wallenberg's death couldonly be accepted if it were confirmed beyond any reasonabledoubt. This has not happened, partly for the want of a credibledeath certificate and partly because the testimony about RaoulWallenberg being alive after 1947 cannot be dismissed."
But a separate summary presented by the Russian half of theworking group stuck to the view that he was long dead.
"All the circumstantial evidence confirms that RaoulWallenberg died, or most likely was killed, on July 17, 1947,"it said.
