During that time. he made several trips to Nazioccupied Europe. His visits produced vivid impressions of Nazi brutality. These graphic experiences provided the spiritual underpinnings for the voyage which Wallenberg was about to undertake. In 1944. Wallenbergs combination of pragmatic and idealistic qualities came to the attention of the U.S. War Refugee Board. Under cover of his familys financial interests. he went to Budapest in charge of a special department responsible for the protection and relief of Hungarian Jews. Physically isolated from his homeland. he sought to save a people who had been thrown into a world of chaosdivorced from a society in which they had once shared.