Series of Events Commemorating Raoul Wallenberg in Warsaw

, 16 November 2016
The City of Warsaw, the Embassies of Sweden, Hungary and Israel, together with the History Meeting House invites the public to a series of events dedicated to Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who, near the end of World War II, saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from deportation to Nazi death camps. The events are linked to the naming of a Warsaw street in Wallenberg's honour.

On Tuesday 19th April 2016, a memorial plaque will be unveiled in Warsaw in honour of Raoul Wallenberg, to mark the naming of the street. Guest of honour at the ceremony will be Cecilia Åhlberg, Raoul Wallenberg's great-niece.

Others to participate in the ceremony will include:

  • Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, Mayor of Warszaw
  • Gábor Bagdy, Deputy Mayor of Budapest
  • Inga Eriksson Fogh, the Swedish Ambassador
  • Iván Gyurcsík, the Hungarian Ambassador
  • Anna Azari, the Israeli Ambassador.

Representatives of government and the diplomatic corps will also be present. Rolf Ring, Deputy Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Lund will also be present in Warsaw on that day.

Following the unveiling of the memorial plaque, an exhibition dedicated to Raoul Wallenberg will be opened. The exhibition can be viewed at Plac Grzybowski until 16th May and will be in both the Polish and English languages.

Who wass Raoul Wallenberg?

Raoul Wallenberg (1912-?) - Swedish entrepreneur and diplomat who, near the end of World War II, established a special humanitarian department in the Swedish mission in Budapest and rescued tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust. On the 17th January1945, following the entry of the Red Army, he was arrested and disappeared. Wallenberg is an Honorary Citizen of the UNited States, Canada, Israel, Australia and Budapest. W 1963, the Yad Vashem Institute awarded him the title of Righteous Among the Nations. 

Program of events:

Wednesday, 19th April 2016, 10:30 am, ul. Świętokrzyska 30

Unveiling ceremony of the memorial plaque dedicated to Raoul Wallenberg, marking the naming of a street in his honour and the opening of the exhibition on Plac Grzybowski.

19th April to 16th May 2016 at Plac Grzybowski:

"I Could Not Have Acted Otherwise": Raoul Wallenberg - an exhibition dedicated to Raoul Wallenberg (in Polish and English).

The exhibition tells the story of the life and activities of the Swedish diplomat, from his childhood through his work in Budapest, to his mysterious disappearance in 1945. The exhibition will serve as a stimulus to discussion on tolerance, democracy and moral courage (educational materials will be available). It was prepared by the Swedish Institute and the Forum of Living History in Stockholm. The organisers in Warsaw are the City of Warsaw, the Embassies of Sweden, Hungary and Israel, together with the History Meeting House.