Mr. Speaker. the earliest example of disappearances to be brought to the attention of our subcommittee is the case of a Swedish diplomat. Raoul Wallenberg. who went to Budapest in 1944 after the Nazis began deporting Hungarys 700.000 Jews to extermination camps. Arriving in Budapest in July. Wallenberg worked heroically at his task for the next 7 months. displaying an astonishing ingenuity in the means which he devised to foil the Germans and their Hungarian supporters. He printed thousands of Swedish passports and distributed them to Jews as a prelude to emigration to Sweden. while at the same time building a system of safe houses. that is. hospitals and shelters over which the Swedish flag flew. He continuously went to the railroad yards. pulling Jews off the death trains. he went to the SS. threatening them and forcing them to release their captives. He even organized an undercover group of young Jews. who raided Nazi prisons and released Jews held in custody.
Keywords matched
emigration deporting