Remembering Wallenberg

While the details of Raoul Wallenberg’s death remain foggy, the life and accomplishments of the Swedish diplomat who saved the lives of 100,000 Hungarian Jews during World War II are famous enough to have merited international acclaim. But as wartime memories—and survivors—fade over time, the Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg International Movement for Humanity has been lobbying to keep interest in his life and work fresh. Celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, the Movement will also be celebrating the first Raoul Wallenberg Day in Canada on Jan. 17. Declared in June, the date falls on the anniversary Wallenberg’s 1945 arrest, when he was carted off by Soviets to eventually die somewhere, it is believed, in the Gulag archipelago.
Dr. Vera Parnes, the Movement’s elderly but sprightly founder, is also working on extending Wallenberg’s memory to the classroom, and is preparing an educational kit for elementary and high school kids in partnership with Heritage Canada. “It contains subjects to tell children about the heroic activities of Raoul Wallenberg,” says Parnes. “The teacher can use the objects to discuss what it means to be a hero and how one person can save so many.”
Agnes Kent, a 74-year-old Wallenberg survivor and Movement member, agrees. “It is important for the story to be told to children,” she says. “It is important to have a second witness to this story, or the story will die.”
There will be a conference on Sunday, Jan. 20 at 600 de Maisonneuve W. at 2:00 p.m. The free event is open to all. :

—Patrick Lejtenyi