Jan. 18, 2022
OTTAWA — B’nai Brith Canada is imploring Governments to seek justice for the late Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg, who saved up to 100,000 Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. Wallenberg’s fate remains a mystery since his detention by Soviet authorities in 1945.
Therefore, we have launched a petition to Sweden, asking its government to make it the priority of its upcoming IHRA presidency to obtain all documents from Russia that can provide answers to the myriad of questions that linger about Wallenberg’s fate. Sweden has not yet requested access to all necessary archival files from Russia.
Wallenberg, named an honourary citizen of Canada after his disappearance, used Swedish diplomatic protection and a network of safehouses to protect besieged Jewish communities. He is renowned for his heroics, as outlined in a recent op-ed by B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn.
In a virtual event presented by B’nai Brith Canada Monday night on Raoul Wallenberg Day – available for viewing HERE – expert panelists divulged details about the unsolved mystery surrounding Wallenberg’s disappearance.
“Historic truth matters because the issues that are at the heart of the Wallenberg case are as relevant today as they were 77 years ago, when Wallenberg disappeared,” Susanne Berger, Consultant to the Swedish-Russian Working Group on the Fate of Raoul Wallenberg, said during the panel discussion. “The search for historic truth isn’t just a laborious exercise but it is really remembrance – the key step in enabling us to learn from history. We are doing this for all of us.”
David Matas, B’nai Brith Canada’s Senior Legal Counsel and long time human-rights activist, also participated on the panel. “The Wallenberg case presents a great anomaly in the sense that he is very much honoured but very little helped,” Matas told viewers. “We should do something commensurate with what he has done for others to rescue his fate. . .”
B’nai Brith is collecting signatures for the aforementioned petition until Jan. 27, 2022, at which point the organization will present signatures to the Swedish ambassador. Mostyn and Marvin Rotrand, National Director of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights, already have held preliminary discussions with the Swedish ambassador. Mostyn described those discussions as positive.
“We can no longer merely celebrate the legacy of Wallenberg without also fighting for justice to his memory,” Mostyn concluded. “Please sign the petition to help make 2022 the year our world finally learns the true fate of this inspirational human being.”
