Raoul Wallenberg Calendar

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat who, in 1944, saved thousands of Jews in Hungary by issuing them with false passports. Following the entry of the Red Army into Budapest, Wallenberg perished under unknown circumstances. He probably died in 1947 in one of Stalin’s prisons.

In Sweden, 2012 was declared the Year of Raoul Wllenberg.

The aim of the calendar in his name is to remember those, important to history, who risked their own lives for the lives of others or for the freedom of other people. The format of the calendar is reminiscent of the Swedish passport which Wallenberg would have issued to Jews during the War, thereby saving them from being transported to an extermination camp.

Each day on the calendar is marked with the biography of a different, important person. These 365 figures were selected by Swedish historians. Among the Poles whose biographies have been included in the Wallenberg calendar are  Irena Sendler, Maksymilian Kolbe, Lech Wałęsa, Anna Walentynowicz and Janusz Korczak.

The publication is in both Swedish and English and is aimed at high school students.

The Living History Forum (Forum Foer Levande Historia) operates within the purview of the Swedish Ministry of Culture. It undertakes educational projects aimed at encouraging, amongst youth, tolerance and the valuing of human rights. The Holocaust and other examples of genocide are used as part of the process of teaching these values.