Raoul Wallenberg: Celebrating a Holocaust hero

August 27 is Raoul Wallenberg Day, a national day for equal rights and civil courage. The Holocaust Hero of Sweden may be gone, but his legacy influences thousands still today.

Published: 27 August 2015 15:38 CEST

Raoul Wallenberg: Celebrating a Holocaust hero

Wallenberg was posted as a Swedish diplomat to Nazi-occupied Budapest in July 1944 and rescued tens of thousands of Jews by issuing them protective passports in the final months of the Holocaust. He went missing after his arrest by Soviet forces in Hungary on January 17, 1945.

He has been compared to Oskar Schindler, the German who is credited with helping 1,200 Jews by employing them in his factories.

Soviet and later Russian officials have claimed Wallenberg died of heart failure in Soviet custody on July 17, 1947, but have never produced conclusive proof. Sceptics have questioned that version, with some saying he was executed.

His family and independent researchers have spent the intervening seven decades trying to find out what happened to him, and while they have uncovered some clues, there has never been complete closure.

Raoul Wallenberg is President Obama's personal hero and he was posthumously presented with a Congressional Gold Medal in July 2014.

In 2013, the Swedish Academy made August 27th Raoul Wallenberg Day to commemorate his legacy each year. There is also now a biannual Raoul Wallenberg Prize.

Although decades have passed since Wallenberg's disappearance, he is still an influential figure. Read on to learn more about his story and the search for truth, as it has appeared in the news in recent years.