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Deputy Minister Paweł Jabłoński honours the memory of Raoul Wallenberg

17.01.2020

“Honouring the memory of Raoul Wallenberg and people like him is an integral part of Poland’s mission to preserve the memory of six million Jews, including three million Polish Jews, who were victims of the murderous machine of German Reich,” the Polish deputy foreign minister said at a wreath-laying ceremony at the plaque commemorating Raoul Wallenberg which is located in Warsaw in the street that was named after him.

Wallenberg

The ceremony brought together representatives of the Chancellery of the Polish President and members of the Diplomatic Corps.

When speaking about Wallenberg’s actions, Deputy Minister Paweł Jabłoński said that by arresting him on 17 January 1945, the USSR, which liberated Central Europe from Nazism only to bring it the yoke of Communism, wished to erase the Swedish diplomat from history. According to the deputy minister, the Polish nation which suffered bitter deprivation of freedom in the past, highly appreciates people who were able to muster the courage of freedom in these inhumane times. He said: “Humanity is united in its respect and admiration of Raoul Wallenberg. Poland honours him in a special way.” He also highlighted that many Poles played an important role in rescuing Jews during World War II. In this context he recalled the Ulma family, the Żegota organization, Henryk Sławik and members of the Ładoś Group in Bern. Deputy Minister  Paweł Jabłoński also reminded that the Polish government-in-exile consistently informed the world about the Holocaust and repeated its appeals for help, taking its own actions at the same time, even though it had scarce resources and weak support.

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish businessman and diplomat who at the end of World War II saved tens of thousands of Jews from extermination. He worked as a secretary of the Swedish legation in Budapest, where he set up a special “humanitarian section.” On 17 January 1945, after the Red Army entered Hungary, Wallenberg was arrested by the NKVD and taken to Moscow. Historians believe that his arrest could have been caused by the fact that he knew the truth about the Katyn massacre, which the NKVD was aware of. We do not know what happened to him afterwards, most probably he was murdered in the USSR. In 1963, Raoul Wallenberg was posthumously recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Institute. He became a symbol of commitment to saving people’s lives.

 

MFA Press Office

Photo: Tymon Markowski / MFA

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