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March 19, 2012
Not a “nobody”: choice of Raoul Wallenberg in
1944 not accidental
by Susanne Berger / Dr. Vadim Birstein
A major challenge for researchers in the
Raoul Wallenberg case has always been how little original
documentation about the young Swedish diplomat survives
from his adult life before 1944. Few personal letters or
other documents have been preserved.
In particular, such papers would fill in important information
about Wallenberg’s personal and professional contacts
before he was sent to Hungary in July 1944 on a humanitarian
mission to aid its Jewish population. Hungary had been formally
allied with Nazi Germany since 1940, but Germany had nevertheless
moved to occupy the country on March 19, 1944. In a short
few months, almost 500,000 Jews were deported to exterminations
camps in Poland and Czechoslovakia.
For decades, the idea has prevailed that the choice of
Raoul Wallenberg for his dangerous assignment was largely
accidental, the result of a fortuitous set of circumstances
that settled on a smart young businessman just weeks before
he left for Budapest. Only 32 years old at the time, Wallenberg
has been routinely portrayed as highly intelligent, yet
stuck in a rather average career path as director of a small
import-export foodstuffs company (“Mellaneuropeiska”),
largely cut off from his powerful relatives, the bankers
Marcus and Jacob Wallenberg, and eager for a chance to make
his mark.
While much of this description is accurate, new documentation
recently discovered in Hungary suggests that Wallenberg’s
background story may be more complex than previously thought.
For one, as early as 1943, his personal network of contacts
ran deeper and broader than researchers have realized. This
raises new questions not only about Raoul Wallenberg’s
relationship with the Wallenberg business group, but also
what exactly prompted his selection for the Budapest assignment.
In addition, the documents add important pieces to the puzzle
why Soviet authorities may have been so interested in detaining
him.
Last year, we were contacted by Lovice Maria Ullein-Reviczky,
the daughter of the former Hungarian Minister in Stockholm,
Dr. Antal Ullein-Reviczky. Before his stay in Sweden from
1943-45, Ullein-Reviczky had been a high ranking member
of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry as head of its Press Department
and Cultural Section. More importantly, he was a well-known
opponent of Nazism and a key figure in the Hungarian resistance
movement that included leading diplomatic and political
figures around the Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós
Kállay. Ever since 1942, Ullein-Reviczky had been
instrumental in numerous efforts to contact the Western
Allies, especially Britain, to discuss a way for Hungary
to leave its alliance with Nazi Germany.
Lovice Maria Ullein-Reviczky produced papers which showed
for the first time that Raoul Wallenberg personally knew
Antal Ullein-Reviczky as early as September 1943, when he
was visiting Budapest on business for his company “Mellaneuropeiska”.
Both men attended a private lunch given by József
Balogh, the famous editor of the influential publication
Magyar Szemle (Hungarian Review) and a close friend of the
Ullein-Reviczky couple.
Excerpt of a social diary kept by Mrs. Ullein Reviczky
(Lovice Louisa Grace Ullein-Reviczky née Cumberbatch),
for September 18, 1943, courtesy of the Antal Ullein-Reviczky
Foundation, Magyarnandor-Kelecseny, 2694 Hungary
On September 18, 1943, Mrs. Ullein-Reviczky (British born
Lovice Louisa Grace Ullein-Reviczky née Cumberbatch)
noted in her diary:
“Went to Balogh’s for luncheon. Met Mr. Wallenberg
– old Mrs. Wallenberg’s grandson who is on business
here. Very charming.”
Excerpt of a social diary kept by Mrs. Ullein Reviczky
(Lovice Louisa Grace Ullein-Reviczky née Cumberbatch),
for September 18, 1943, courtesy of the Antal Ullein-Reviczky
Foundation, Magyarnandor-Kelecseny, 2694 Hungary
Balogh moved in a highly exclusive group of people, a mix
of aristocrats, industrialists, politicians, diplomats and
writers. They included the former Hungarian Prime Minister
István Bethlen; Baron Móric Kornfeld and the
extended family of Hungary’s powerful industrialist
Manfred Weiss; Lipót Aschner, the managing director
of Hungary’s largest electrical concern Tungsram (the
United Incandescent Light and Electricity Company); the
former Hungarian Prime Minister in 1917, Count Móric
Esterházy; Marquis György Pallavicini, Jr.,
a lawyer and businessman, and many others. These individuals
formed the core group of anti-Nazi sentiment around the
Hungarian Regent, Miklós Horthy. (note : Like Raoul
Wallenberg, István Bethlen and György Pallavicini
were arrested by Soviet authorities in 1945 and died in
Soviet captivity.)
The group had very strong ties to Britain, as well as close
personal and business contacts with Sweden. The enormous
Manfred Weiss industrial empire, which produced everything
from airplanes, trucks, and bicycles to tinned goods and
needles, had numerous subsidiaries and associations in Sweden,
especially with the business group of Swedish shipping magnate
Sven Salén (who owned Raoul Wallenberg’s firm
“Mellaneuropeiska”) and Salén’s close
associates, the Wallenberg brothers.
The Wallenberg family, in turn, had a powerful presence
in Hungary, with both their Swedish Match company and the
ball bearing trust SKF enjoying monopoly status. During
the war, Hungary constituted an important market for Sweden
for a variety of goods, especially for the import of foodstuffs,
textiles and critical raw materials, including bauxite,
flax and oil.
Hungarian Minister Dr. Antal Ullein-Reviczky, shown
here at a banquet in Stockholm’s Grand Hotel, March
15, 1944, courtesy of the Antal Ullein-Reviczky Foundation,
Magyarnandor-Kelecseny, 2694 Hungary
The introduction of the so-called “race laws”
in Hungary increasingly restricted the roles Jewish citizens
could play in public life. By September 1940 Jacob Wallenberg
had received a message from Jewish business owners who were
worried about further restrictions of their activities.
Some of these Jewish businessmen were looking to Sweden
for “the purpose of the [temporary] ‘aryanization’
of their businesses.” Should Jacob be interested, the
message stated, he should send a representative to Budapest.
Attached to the request Jacob Wallenberg had received was
a card by Tungsram’s CEO, Lipót Aschner. Incidentally,
most of Raoul Wallenberg’s closest aides in 1944 would
come from the managerial ranks of just this firm.
[note: By that time, Lipót Aschner himself had already
been deported to Mauthausen and saving him became one of
Wallenberg’s important concerns in Budapest]
It is quite possible that Aschner’s approach to Jacob
and the deteriorating conditions in Hungary were one of
the many reasons behind the creation of Raoul Wallenberg’s
company “Mellaneuropeiska” in 1941
Raoul Wallenberg had ostensibly joined “Mellaneuropeiska”
to learn the intricacies of international business, especially
in a world at war. But aside from his regular business tasks
related to the importation of foodstuffs like Hungarian
wine and geese, Wallenberg would also have been well suited
to take on the role of a confidential representative, as
Lipót Aschner had requested.
There are some indications that Raoul may have been working
for Jacob Wallenberg in some confidential capacity already
before he joined “Mellaneuropeiska”. On September
26, 1939, when German and Soviet troops marched through
Poland, he wrote to Jacob: “At our last meeting you
told me that the war would perhaps lead to a number of problems
and that you possibly would want to use me for their solution.“
While “Mellaneuropeiska” nominally belonged to
Sven Salén, it operated fully in the Wallenberg business
sphere. Under the umbrella of one of his flagship companies,
“Banankompaniet”, Salén ran a network of
smaller firms. After the outbreak of the war, the Manfred
Weiss family apparently transferred some of their assets
to these smaller entities such as “Svenska Konserv
AB Globus” (a cannery) In other words, Salén’s
businesses – and by extension the Wallenberg sphere
– provided important “cover” for key Hungarian
business interests in Sweden and in Hungary. As the historian
C.G. McKay has pointed out, Raoul Wallenberg’s colleague,
Kálmán Lauer, was an expert at such arrangements
which proved profitable for both sides. Because Lauer was
Jewish, however, he was unable to travel to Hungary himself
during the war.
[note : The claim that Svenska Globus held Weiss family
assets is supported by a letter Baroness Weiss received
from Sweden on February 22, 1945, as reported by Britain’s
Economic Warfare Department on March 28, 1945. The letter
was written by Elisabeth Uggla, wife of Heinrich von Wahl,
the former Managing Director of the Manfred Weiss A.G ;
see C.G. McKay, Notes on the Case of Raoul Wallenberg, CLICK
HERE)
Wallenberg's visa application for his September 1943 trip
to Hungary specifically states that he intended to visit
the "Manfred Weiss A.G." and "Toledo Stahl,
A.G.", a steel company. The trip's sponsors were Jacob
Wallenberg, Sven Salén and Erik Björkman, a
Director of Skandinaviska Banken (and head of the Swedish-Hungarian
Chamber of Commerce).
According to the official Hungarian/Swedish trade register
for October 1943, the main Swedish trading partner for "Toledo
Stahl" was "Hellefors Bruk AB", a large iron
and steel manufacturing concern, then owned by Skandinaviska
Banken's investment arm AB Custos.
As for the Manfred Weiss A.G., it encompassed the ”Globus”
canning factory (trading partner to ”Svenska Konserv
A.B.” and to ”Mellaneuropeiska”), but at
the time it also did important business with a variety of
Swedish firms dealing in steel products, including the ball
bearing concern SKF, which was controlled by the Wallenberg
family. It therefore appears that while visiting Hungary
on behalf of ”Mellaneuropeiska ”, Raoul Wallenberg
also may have acted as an agent for business matters not
strictly limited to the importation of foodstuffs, at least
on this particular trip.
(Raoul Wallenberg's 1943 visa application he filed with
the Hungarian Legation, Stockholm is displayed on the website
of the Hungarian National Archives. It includes a previously
unknown photograph of him. CLICK
HERE)
In his visa application Wallenberg listed "Ritter
[Baronet] von Wahl” as one of his main contacts in
Hungary. This was certainly Henrik de Wahl, the managing
director of the Manfred Weiss A.G. who – like Salén
and Björkman – in 1944 would play a key role in
ensuring Raoul Wallenberg’s selection for the humanitarian
mission to Budapest. Heinz von Wahl, as he was known in
Budapest, was a nephew of Manfred Weiss’ wife Alice
von Wahl. He was closely involved in the founding of Svenska
Konserv Globus AB
Heinrich (Heinz) von Wahl; courtesy
of Peter Zwack, Hungary
This raises the important question how much Raoul Wallenberg
knew about the Salén/Wallenberg sphere’s sheltering
of Weiss family business assets and if he had any role in
these transactions. (note : Heinz von Wahl’s sister,
Vera von Wahl, was married to the beverage magnate János
Zwack. Both he and his wife are listed as “Friends”
in a private code list Raoul Wallenberg created for his
humanitarian work in Budapest in 1944. Before his departure,
Wallenberg and Lauer worked out a list of codenames to hide
people’s identities in their correspondence).
The Wallenberg family also found other ways to quietly
help the beleaguered members of the Hungarian elite to protect
their holdings. A good example is Count Móric Esterházy.
Some of his funds were held by Stockholm Enskilda Banken
in a so-called Special Account ”U” during the
war years. (The account was maintained in the U.S. by Brown
Brothers Harriman & Co.)
While his last name alone would have opened doors, these
facts make Raoul Wallenberg’s attendance at a private
lunch at József Balogh’s house in September
1943 all the more understandable.
The timing of the gathering too is noteworthy. The meeting
took place on September 18, two days before Antal Ullein-Reviczky
was to depart for Stockholm to take up his new post as Hungarian
Minister to Sweden.
At that very moment the Hungarian diplomat was involved
in highly secret and sensitive separate peace discussions
via Turkey (Ullein-Reviczky’s in-laws were British
diplomats living in Istanbul). These discussions involved
representatives of the Special Operations Executive (SOE),
Britain’s foreign sabotage organization, which at the
time was headed by the British banker Charles Hambro. He
happened to be married to Marcus Wallenberg’s first
wife. Both Wallenberg and Hambro were in regular contact
concerning efforts to broker an end to the war.
Not surprisingly, while in Budapest, the Ullein-Reviczkys
maintained regular contact with the Swedish-Legation, inviting
both the Swedish Minister Ivan Danielsson and First Secretary
Per Anger to frequent lunches, dinners or bridge parties.
Due to Sweden’s neutrality, Swedish channels became
one of the few reliable routes to deliver news about Hungary
to the outside world.
Their social contacts with Swedish diplomats intensified
in Stockholm.
Regular guests at private dinner parties hosted by the
Minister and Mrs. Antal Ullein-Reviczky at the Hungarian
Legation building at Strandvägen 63 included high ranking
officials like the Swedish Foreign Minister Christian Günther;
Head of the Foreign Ministry’s Political Department,
Sven Grafström; Undersecretary of State, Erik Boheman;
head of the Swedish Foreign Ministry’s Bureau of Foreign
Trade, Gunnar Hägglöf; Östen Undén
who headed the Swedish Parliament’s Foreign Relations
Committe during the war; Chief of the Swedish Foreign Ministry’s
Legal Department, Gösta Engzell and others. And on
several occasions, Raoul Wallenberg is listed as someone
who attended these gatherings.
The entry in Mrs. Ullein-Reviczky’s diary for November
6, 1943 reads:
“Had Bohemans, Gripenberg, Exstrand (sic), Angelica
Bunde (sic), young Raoul Wallenberg to lunch.
[note: Eric Boheman had just been named Ambassador to France
and had been involved in trade negotiations with Britain
as well as the Soviet Union, Gripenberg was most likely
Finnish Minister Georg Gripenberg; Angelica Bonde was daughter
of Baron Knut Bonde and apparently Raoul Wallenberg's girlfriend
at the time; “Exstrand” may have been Envoyé
Einar Ekstrand, who was involved in refugee assistance issues]
Wallenberg reciprocated by inviting the Hungarian Minister
and his wife to a cocktail party at his home on December
2, 1943.
Then, on December 18 , Raoul Wallenberg attended an exclusive
dinner party at the Hungarian Legation.
On that day, Mrs. Ullein-Reviczky writes about the gathering
arranged by her and her husband:
Antal Ullein-Reviczky and spouse, Lovice Louisa Grace
née Cumberbatch. Hungarian Legation, Stockholm, September
30 1943 (Before Royal audience; courtesy of the Antal Ullein-Reviczky
Foundation, Magyarnandor-Kelecseny, 2694 Hungary
Foreign Minister and Mrs. Günther, Ramels, Thybergs
[Swedish Minister to Greece], Grippenberg (sic) [Gripenberg,
Finnish Minister], Nicolaeffs [Bulgarian Minister and his
wife], de Riba-Tamega [Portugese Minister], Dinicherts [Swiss
Minister and his wife], Haggelhoffs (sic) [most likely Hägglöf,
the above-mentioned head of the Swedish Bureau of Foreign
Trade] , [Harry] Sombor, Facht, Ihres, Kesceru (sic), Nordwalls,
etc. 44 guests. Great sucess!”
Two days later, the Hungarian Minister’s wife received
a letter from Raoul Wallenberg, “congratulating me
on everything, for arranging the Legation so beautifully.”
Wallenberg’s inclusion in this circle is somewhat
surprising to anyone familiar with the strict social rules
of both Swedish and general diplomatic circles at the time.
It is perhaps a sign of the relative importance Ullein-Reviczky
attached to him as a representative of a business sphere
that represented vital Hungarian economic interests.
Most interestingly, both Ullein-Reviczky and his wife attended
Raoul Wallenberg’s farewell dinner at his parents’
house on July 6, 1944. Mrs. Ullein-Reviczky noted:
“We dined at the Dardels with Raoul Wallenberg who
is leaving for Budapest tomorrow and couple Laurer”
(note: Ullein-Reviczky’s name does not appear in Raoul
Wallenberg’s calendar on that day. He was not a careful
note taker and often omitted sensitive data)
The Minister’s presence underscores both the official
importance of the mission and the personal rapport that
apparently had developed between the two men.
Numerous contacts listed in Ullein-Reviczky’s personal
address book match Wallenberg’s own contact list in
Budapest, most notably among them:
Dr. Géza Soós, a close colleague of Ullein-Reviczky’s
in the Hungarian Foreign Ministry’s Press Department.
He was one of the first people Raoul Wallenberg met when
he arrived in Hungary in July 1944. Soós was a leader
of an important Hungarian resistance group, the MFM (Magyar
Függetlenségi Mozgalom – Hungarian Independence
Movement). There were also the politician and newspaper
owner Count Gyula Dessewffy (whom Raoul Wallenberg hid in
his private residence in Budapest); “Micky” Horthy,
son of the Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy (with whom
Wallenberg met on several occasions); the wealthy and influential
Countess Hetta von Wenckheim (one of Raoul Wallenberg’s
earliest contacts); Count Ferdinand Orssich whose son Pizek
was Ullein-Reviczky’s close associate (Orssich’s
name appears on Raoul Wallenberg’s coded list of names
as a “friend”); as well as Heinz von Wahl (affectionally
referred to as “Heinzi” von Wahl in Mrs. Ullein-Reviczky’s
notes). Just as importantly, Ullein-Reviczky was a very
close friend of Tibor Eckardt, the leader of the Hungarian
Smallholders Party and a close advisor to U.S. President
Roosevelt during the war (he moved to the U.S. in October
1941).
All through his stay in Sweden, Antal Ullein-Reviczky’s
focus remained the fate of his home country and the plight
of the Jewish population. After the German occupation, the
Hungarian Minister’s official appointment was revoked,
but Swedish authorities allowed him to remain in Stockholm,
with full diplomatic authorization.
Already on April 8, 1944, Ullein-Reviczky sent an urgent
appeal to Swedish Foreign Minister Christian Günther
outlining the suffering of the Hungarian Jews and urging
active Swedish assistance.
“What appears to me to be of general interest …
is the undeniable fact that in the centre of Europe, 800,000
human beings are doomed to martyrdom. May I, Mr. Minister,
express the hope that the fate of these unfortunate people
will not be indifferent to the Government of Sweden..? …May
I solicit your government to take all measures it considers
appropriate in order to improve the situation of my Jewish
compatriots?”
Courtesy of Dr. Guy von Dardel, Private
Archive
This appeal was no doubt prompted by the increasingly horrific
reports of mass deportation of Hungarian Jews, as well as
the creation of the U.S. War Refugee Board by President
Roosevelt in January 1944. The Board was given the task
of rendering active assistance to Jewish refugees.
The Hungarian Minister’s formal request was clearly
intended to increase the pressure for official Swedish action.
That same day he forwarded a copy of his appeal to the American
and British governments, via their official representatives
in Stockholm, the American Minister Herschel V. Johnson
and Britain’s Minister Victor Mallet. Both responded
with strong expressions of sympathy and support.
There have been questions about exactly when the idea to
send a special Swedish representative to Hungary was conceived
and when the idea emerged that this person should be Raoul
Wallenberg. The actual choice was believed to have been
made in June, 1944, when Wallenberg formally met with the
U.S. War Refugee Board representative in Stockholm, Iver
Olsen and U.S. Minister Herschel Johnson.
Ullein-Reviczky’s letter probably further stirred
the already lively deliberations under way in the Swedish
Jewish community to find a way to aid Hungary’s Jews
and almost surely from the start these deliberations involved
Raoul Wallenberg. This conclusion is supported by the fact
that Wallenberg asked the commander of his Swedish Home
Guard unit where he spent his military service for leave
already on May 15, 1944 to go to Hungary for six months,
on a humanitarian relief mission ” for a committee
which is to be formed for that purpose”.
A few weeks later, Swedish Undersecretary of State Erik
Boheman informed Herschel Johnson that he favored American
requests “of increasing Swedish representation in Budapest”
and pointed out “that Sweden already is considering
the possibility of sending food to [Hungarian Jews] in concentration
camps to be distributed under supervision…”
Letter dated April 8, 1944, from Dr. Antal Ullein-Reviczky
to Swedish Foreign Minister Christian Günther, published
in ‘Le Journal d’Orient’, March 5, 1946.
The letter is also cited in Dr. Ullein-Reviczky’s memoir,
“Guerre allemande – paix russe” (1947), soon
to be released in English, as “German War-Russian Peace”;
courtesy of the Antal Ullein-Reviczky Foundation, Magyarnandor-Kelecseny,
2694 Hungary
It appears likely that Raoul Wallenberg was referring to
this very project in his request for leave from military
service and that Boheman in return knew of Wallenberg’s
intentions. Boheman’s sister was married to Gunnar
Josephson, a leading figure in Stockholm’s Jewish community
[Mosaiska Församling]. For his part, Herschel Johnson
was well acquainted with Sven Salén who was a Vice
President of the Swedish-American Society and whose business
offices were located in the same building as the American
Legation, Stockholm.
In early June 1944, Ullein-Reviczky sent a second round
of official appeals to both Swedish and Allied representatives
which were met with the same assurances of support.
Throughout his stay in Sweden Ullein-Reviczky also continued
his clandestine discussions with American and British intelligence
representatives about possible Allied military intervention
in Hungary and the possibilities of limiting future Soviet
influence in the region. These talks included the very same
individuals who were involved in the preparation of Wallenberg’s
mission, such as Andor Gellert, a Hungarian journalist and
diplomat who worked for the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS, the predecessor of the CIA), Vilmos Böhm, a former
Hungarian Minister of War in 1919, who was employed by the
British Legation, R. Taylor Cole, head of the OSS’
Secret Intelligence Branch in Stockholm and of course Iver
Olsen who was also a member of OSS. No doubt the involvement
of all these people in activities like separate peace negotiatons
made Raoul Wallenberg’s role very suspicious in the
eyes of Soviet counterintelligence.
Given the fact that Wallenberg was close to Ullein-Reviczky
(who had the ear of both the official Swedish and the Allied
representation in Stockholm) and that he also enjoyed the
support of leading Swedish and Hungarian business circles
and the Jewish community, his selection to go to Hungary
appears much less surprising than commonly believed. That
Raoul Wallenberg was able to win the confidence of U.S.
representatives is even less surprising given the considerable
time he spent in America while attending the University
of Michigan. However, American officials also must have
noted that he had important professional and social connections
that uniquely qualified him for the planned mission.
The appointment of Raoul Wallenberg at a time when the
U.S. was formally investigating Wallenberg companies for
their continued economic exchange with Hitler’s Germany
adds yet another interesting facet to the case. His mission
offered the Swedish government a chance to gain favor with
American and British officials, a fact probably not lost
on either the Wallenbergs or Sven Salén (whose companies
had been added to Britain’s commercial blacklist).
In short, a number of mixed motives prompted Raoul Wallenberg’s
selection, including very important personal ones: Kálmán
Lauer’s relatives were still living in Hungary and
many staff members of businesses associated with Sweden
also faced immediate risk of deportation and death. As a
businessman, Raoul Wallenberg was the obvious choice, because
he already had established ties to key players – in
the business community, as well as in the Swedish and Hungarian
diplomatic establishment.
None of Raoul Wallenberg’s colleagues, including Per
Anger, Ivan Danielsson, Lars Berg and Kálmán
Lauer, who knew of Wallenberg’s personal contact with
Ullein-Reviczky and his circle mentioned this connection
in later accounts of the case. Anger merely refers to his
own discussions with the Hungarian Minister. [note: Per
Anger met with Dr. Ullein-Reviczky during his brief visit
home to Stockholm in August 1944. Both Anger and Ivan Danielsson
called on the Minister immediately after their safe return
from Hungary in April 1945]
Undoubtedly, the main reason for their silence was because
they understood that Wallenberg’s various social and
intelligence contacts heightened the already strong Soviet
suspicions about him. In short, these contacts made him
a target. It is very likely that Soviet intelligence representatives
in both Stockholm and Hungary reported to Moscow in some
detail about Raoul Wallenberg’s activities in the years
1943-1945. However, so far none of these reports have been
released from Russian archives, a critical gap in the official
case record.
Reply sent by the U.S. Minister to Stockholm, Herschel
V. Johnson, to an appeal authored on behalf of Hungary’s
Jewish population by Dr. Antal Ullein-Reviczky on April
8, 1944;courtesy of the Antal Ullein-Reviczky Foundation,
Magyarnandor-Kelecseny, 2694 Hungary
Soviet intelligence also probably noted that one focus
of Wallenberg’s mission was the protection of vital
Hungarian business assets and of the highly skilled professionals
employed by these businesses – “Zukunfts- menschen”,
as Kálman Lauer called them, “People of the
Future.”
Similar questions arose about deals Raoul Wallenberg made
with Hungarian and German Nazi representatives in order
to save the lives of thousands of Jews under official Swedish
protection. Lars Berg confirmed this in an internal Swedish
Foreign Ministry memo after the war: “Wallenberg received
considerable support from the wealthy industrial family
Weiss … Even Himmler’s Special Representative
and controller of the Weiss Family Kurt Becher …helped
Raoul Wallenberg in critical situations.”
Facts like this would have fueled Stalin’s paranoia
about a developing Anglo-American/German/Jewish conspiracy
– that Britain and the U.S. would ultimately make common
cause with a pacified Germany and wealthy Jewish business
owners, to then turn as a united front against the Soviet
Union. In short, Wallenberg’s mission was seen as an
integral part of a broader policy to limit future Soviet
influence in Eastern Europe and the world in general.
Documents from the Russian Foreign Ministry archives released
in the 1990s suggest that the main reason why Soviet officials
had detained Raoul Wallenberg was because he – like
two Swiss diplomats who were arrested with him - was considered
a valuable bargaining chip. Soviet officials were also clearly
interested to learn details about the various separate peace
initiatives that had taken place in the years 1942-1945
in which the Wallenberg family had played an important role.
By de-emphasizing Raoul Wallenberg’s early connections
and relative importance, the Swedish government in the immediate
aftermath of the war downplayed its own role in support
of these broader Allied policy goals. This may also help
explain to some extent the subdued American response to
Wallenberg’s disappearance.
The Wallenberg family’s lack of action on behalf of
Raoul Wallenberg after 1945 has been much noted and discussed.
The Wallenbergs’ immediate concern appears to have
been focused on positioning their businesses in the postwar
economy. This included extensive efforts to release Wallenberg
financial holdings that had been blocked by U.S. authorities
during the war (to stop trade with Nazi Germany), as well
as the fight to prevent the potential loss of millions of
dollars in business assets through the threat of Soviet
nationalization of foreign enterprises in Eastern Europe,
including in Hungary. Negotiations with the Soviet Union
for compensation agreements took decades to conclude.
In 1945, with the Soviet Union occupying the Baltic countries,
Sweden had enormous fears of its gigantic neighbor. Still,
it is becoming quite clear that Raoul Wallenberg was apparently
not as inexperienced and unknown to Swedish decision makers
as it has appeared until now. He was not the ‘Nobody’
he has been made out to be. Given Raoul Wallenberg’s
important political and business connections, new questions
arise why Swedish officials did not make a stronger effort
to secure his repatriation.
Dr. Antal Ullein-Reviczky’s role in originating the
Swedish humanitarian mission in 1944 also deserves closer
examination than it has received so far. In spite of his
obvious affection for Raoul Wallenberg, like other former
Hungarian diplomats, he was rendered essentially powerless
after the war and died in exile in London in June 1955.
For
a full (PDF) version of the report, please click here. 
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