Identity Statement

Reference Code

HU OSA 206-2-48

Title

Raoul Wallenberg. One Man Can Make a Difference

Date(s)

2007

Description Level

Series

Context

Name of creator(s)

Open Society Archives at Central European University

Administrative / Biographical history

In the autumn of 1944 Raoul Wallenberg, secretary of the Swedish Embassy in Budapest, arrived in the Hungarian capital with a mission: to do everything possible to save the persecuted Jews who were trapped in the city. During the period of the Arrow Cross regime and the siege of Budapest he rescued thousands of people from deportation and death. On January 17, 1945 he disappeared from Budapest. It became known only two decades later that he had been abducted by the Soviet authorities and held in the notorious Lubyanka prison in Moscow where, according to the latest version of events, he died in 1947. To this day, the real story of his kidnapping and death remains unknown.

Archival history

From March 2, 2007 Galeria Centralis in Budapest hosted the travelling exhibition about the life of Raoul Wallenberg organised and assembled by the Jewish Museum in Stockholm on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of his disappearance. The exhibition applies non-conventional forms and solutions: it is an exhibition within an exhibition, a building within a building. Two separate constructions will be erected within the Galeria Centralis in Arany János street 32, with rooms and corridors. The larger wing is the original travelling exhibition, a multi-media display of photographs, archival documents, and audio-visual records that trace the life of the Swedish diplomat from his childhood to his death, and include the story of the international efforts to shed light on his fate after his disappearance. The smaller wing houses a section added by the Open Society Archives, which tells the hectic and controversial story of Wallenberg`s memory in Hungary from 1945 to 1999. By displaying the life and deeds of Raoul Wallenberg, the organisers have tried to create the portrait of an ordinary man who was compelled by extraordinary circumstances to confront extraordinary challenges: a frail and weak human being who was able to become a hero. Let him be an example, particularly for young people: nobody is born to be a hero, but everybody can become one. Numerous joint programs accompanied the exhibition. There was a seminar (in English) at the OSA on March 1, 2007. The most remarkable event was an all-day educational seminar in the Auditorium of the Central European University (Budapest, 5th district, Nádor utca 9) on March 2, 2007. Entrance to the exhibition and to all the connected events (seminars, film-screenings, public lectures and student programs) was free.  Open: 2 March - 6 May, 2007. The organizers: Swedish Institute, Stockholm Swedish Embassy in Budapest Open Society Archives, Budapest Partner institutes: Jewish Museum, Stockholm Holocaust Memorial Center, Budapest Raoul Wallenberg Association, Budapest

Content and Structure

Accruals

Not Expected

Conditions of Access and Use

Conditions governing access

Not Restricted

Languages

English, Hungarian