Dear Speaker,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen!
When we think of a diplomat’s carrier, or even when outsiders think of a diplomat’s carrier
we do not mean Raoul Wallenberg’s life. The end of his life is so tragic: he escapes the grip of
the Nazi dictatorship but falls victim of the Soviet regime. He rescues tens of thousands of
Hungarian Jewish children and adults in Budapest and loses his own life in the Ljubljanka or
somewhere in the Gulag – where and when exactly, we still do not know. The very bitter
irony of his life is obvious for us, who live in Central-Europe. His life is far from the typical
carrier diplomat’s fate.
The picture of the typical diplomat probably includes well-dressed, comfortable people, who
attend receptions in residencies, drinking champagne. Or probably, a more Western picture
of the diplomat is the pragmatic diplomat, who consumes time and energy to do his best
seeking the use of his nation by all means. Which is very much all right, and legitimate if the
use of the nation is embedded in universal values. He, as a Swedish diplomat in CentralEurope, in Hungary served both national interests and universal values and lost his life in this
service. Wallenberg, however defines the mission of the diplomat profoundly in a morally
and existentially different way. His mission points far beyond partial political interests. That
is why today, after a hundred years of his birth, he became a role model, a ’heroic diplomat’,
the righteous man, the human in the time of inhumanity.
The political context was the depth of the 20th century, which never should return, however
still haunts Europe. In Hungary after the Nazi German takeover there was terror burdening
righteous people, because Hungarian turned against Hungarian: against the Jews, who
identified with the Hungarian people, against those Hungarians, who protected the Jews,
against those who identified or sympathised with them. It came to official state oppression
that made it possible to deport so many of civilian Hungarian Jewish people, who were
artificially and forcedly handpicked from their classmates, neighbours, colleagues, brothers
in arms. Like a surgical cut ordered by the so called responsible leaders. They were
responsible for that, indeed.
It seems so retrospectively, that an evil logic chased around its prey in the 20th century: one
kind of dictatorship handed over the victims to the other. It started with shaking hands in
Poland over the German-Soviet demarcation line in 1939, and when finally Nazism was
beaten down, communism took over its political refugees.
Raoul Wallenberg was not the only one in Central-Europe, who has fallen victim of the
prisons of the Soviet empire. Some Jews returning from Auschwitz from the race-enemy role,
found themselves in the so called class-enemy position, and ended up in communist labour
camps or prisons. Why? The answer is: the evil! There is a building in Budapest which served
as prison for the Nazis and later for the Communists. The very same building, even some of
the jailors were the same. The building is a modern museum today - House of Terror -, and
you can listen to the voice of Hungarian Jewish writer Imre Kertész saying that the two
regimes were essentially the same: evil.
Raoul Wallenberg resisted one of the 20th century dictatorships and was killed by the other.
Like János Esterházy, a Hungarian count and MP in Slovakia, who demonstratively folded his
arms and did not vote for the Jewish laws in the Slovakian Parliament alone, and later hid
Jews in his estate, was not killed by the Gestapo, but by the communists when the war was
over in Czechoslovakia. Mrs. Nemcova, thanks for his tombstone in Motol Cemetery!
The Hungarian government organised a Wallenberg year to raise his figure from the 20 th
century at the centennial anniversary of his birth date. Doing so, our intention was to make
our generation aware of what happened in Hungary, and have them realise the weight of
anti-Semitic slogans and behaviour which is unfortunately present among some folks
throughout Europe today as well. We organised school projects and competitions about
Wallenberg’s biography in which 120 schools participated and senior diplomats visited
schools to talk about him with students. We also aimed other generations with exhibitions,
and inaugurating new monuments – not only in Hungary, but all over the world.
Conferences, like this one in Prague are also part of the Wallenberg year. Speaker! Thank
you very much!
Jewish, Hungarian and Swedish diplomatic, political, academic and cultural communities
held common commemorations from Argentina to Albania. The Israeli-Hungarian Young
Diplomats’ Seminar in Budapest was a friendly and intensive event in this course as well.
Now, towards the end of this year we can conclude with some satisfaction that we managed
to evoke his figure in front of the eyes of quite many especially in Hungary; but all over the
world.
The figure of Wallenberg is not only symbolic, but also real, vivid, colourful and inspiring. We
see a handsome, agile, very inventive and brave young businessman-like man with
diplomatic entitlement, who fights with an enormous and merciless enemy like David against
Goliath in the Bible. God bless his memory!