In Sweden, Per Anger, an assistant and colleague of Raoul Wallenberg in Hungary of 1944, died this week at the age of 89. Anger, who himself was recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Gentile for his actions to save Jews during the last months of the Holocaust, said in the past that Wallenberg should be credited with the saving of 100,000 Jews.
The Nazis were in the midst of deporting the large Hungarian Jewish population to death camps while Wallenberg, with help from Anger, was preparing life-saving visas for thousands of them. In November 1944, for instance, Jews were marched on foot from Budapest to the Austrian border where trains were waiting to take them to death camps. Wallenberg and Anger traveled up and down the 120-mile route distributing vanloads of food, medicine, warm clothing and passports. Wallenberg also took measures to ensure that Jews with protection passes were not deported. An estimated 2,000 Jews were saved in this way. Wallenberg was arrested by Soviet forces in early 1945 and was never seen again.
The Nazis were in the midst of deporting the large Hungarian Jewish population to death camps while Wallenberg, with help from Anger, was preparing life-saving visas for thousands of them. In November 1944, for instance, Jews were marched on foot from Budapest to the Austrian border where trains were waiting to take them to death camps. Wallenberg and Anger traveled up and down the 120-mile route distributing vanloads of food, medicine, warm clothing and passports. Wallenberg also took measures to ensure that Jews with protection passes were not deported. An estimated 2,000 Jews were saved in this way. Wallenberg was arrested by Soviet forces in early 1945 and was never seen again.