Addressing the event, Katalin Victor Langer, deputy state secretary in charge of social inclusion at the ministry of human resources, stressed the need to gather each year and remember Wallenberg, the rescuer, and celebrate contemporary heroes who demonstrate that “conscience should not flag in peacetime either”.

“It is our responsibility to preserve and pass on the culture of respect and love for each other”, she added. Holocaust Memorial Centre director Szabolcs Szita said Wallenberg’s life work is something “to hang on to”. Wallenberg awards were granted at the event to people whose actions and life show an example in humanity. Wallenberg was born in Stockholm on August 4, 1912.

He arrived in Budapest in July 1944 to serve as secretary at the Swedish Embassy. He saved the lives of many Jews by giving them false passports and other embassy documents.

On January 17, 1945, he left Budapest for Debrecen (E Hungary), but never arrived there. He was apprehended by Soviet authorities and taken to Russia. According to an official Soviet report, Wallenberg died in Moscow on July 17, 1947.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.