Holocaust Survivor Report

Holocaust Survivor Report

During the Nazi regime the Nazis persecuted and jailed hundreds of Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, and political prisoners. In class we have read that millions of people died in the Holocaust but we were never able to truly comprehend, and learn the Holocaust until we have read an individual story such as Raoul Wallenberg’s . kmhIt is amazing what people have done and really makes you think what you would have done if you were there.

Raoul Wallenberg was born in Kapptsta, Sweden, on August 4, 1912. He remained humble, kind and sensitive t o cruelty despite being born from a long line of successful businessmen, diplomats, and naval officers. He despised seeing animals being hunted and killed just for sport.

As a young adult Wallenberg traveled widely and learned the English, French, German, and Russian languages in addition to his native Swedish. From 1931 to 1935 he attended the University of Michigan where he studied architecture. After graduating he started working as a trainee with a Dutch bank in Haifa, Palestine. During his six months in Palestine, he met Jews who escaped Nazi Germany. The sick, inhumane, and repulsive stories they told him disgusted and deeply impacted him not only because his kind loving nature, but his great-great-grandfather had been a Jew.

He returned to Sweden in 1936 he wanted to go into the field of architecture, but his American architecture did not qualify him for such work in Sweden. So over the next several years he engaged in various business ventures business ventures. In 1941, he became the foreign sales representative of the Central European Trading Company held in Hungary. In 1939 Hungary became an ally of Germany because of this Americans could not save the innocent Jews who came under Nazi persecution. So Sweden agreed to send a special diplomat whose sole purpose would be to rescue Jews. For this assignment the Swedish people selected Raoul Wallenberg, because he spoke German and understood the Nazi ways.

Wallenberg felt that some German and Hungarian officials were beginning to fear post war punishment for what they did to the Jews. He capitalized on this opportunity and quickly got the German and Hungarian officers to change their actions, by persuading them with threats and bribery. He invented a new document known as the Schutz Pass, with seals, stamps, and three royal Swedish crowns, the document helped Jews escape Hungary and live freely in Sweden. In fact Wallenberg coordinated and led all of the neutral countries in the rescue operation. Other than creating fake passports he rented or bought buildings to house Jews and provided

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