History UsefulNotes / RaoulWallenberg

Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg was a Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat, and humanitarian, born 4 August 1912 to a old and rich family in UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}}. After doing his compulsory military service, he went to school in UsefulNotes/{{Paris}} and at the University of Michigan. The most notable event in his early life was the time he spent WalkingTheEarth in America. Following this, he got a series of jobs as representative of the FamilyBusiness. This dropped him in Budapest in the most inconvenient time possible -- UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. During this time he was made chairman of the local War Refugee Board, a committee with the patronage of several nations, including the United States (which was apparently using it to launder money for the funding of UsefulNotes/{{OSS}} operations, a fact which would be to Wallenberg's misfortune), and Sweden, which made Wallenberg an official part of the local diplomatic staff (a fact which he would find useful).

Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg was a Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat, and humanitarian, born 4 August 1912 to a old and rich family in UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}}. After doing his compulsory military service, he went to school in UsefulNotes/{{Paris}} and at the UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan. The most notable event in his early life was the time he spent WalkingTheEarth in America. Following this, he got a series of jobs as representative of the FamilyBusiness. This dropped him in Budapest in the most inconvenient time possible -- UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. During this time he was made chairman of the local War Refugee Board, a committee with the patronage of several nations, including the United States (which was apparently using it to launder money for the funding of UsefulNotes/{{OSS}} operations, a fact which would be to Wallenberg's misfortune), and Sweden, which made Wallenberg an official part of the local diplomatic staff (a fact which he would find useful).

* ''Wallenberg: A Hero's Story'', a 1985 US-made [[MadeForTVMovie television film]]. He's played by Creator/RichardChamberlain.

Wallenberg's name appears on monuments all around the world, including UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}, where he is praised as a Righteous Gentile by the people he died to save. In 1981, he was also granted the special honor of being an honorary citizen of the United States. He is currently the second of seven people granted this honor; only UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill received it before him. The Representative who pushed this through Congress, Tom Lantos, was [[TearJerker one of the Jews saved by him]]. Wallenberg is also an honorary Canadian citizen (as of 2016, only five other people have received this honor) and has been featured on a Canadian commemorative stamp.

Wallenberg was born in 1912 to a old and rich family in UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}}. After doing his compulsory military service, he went to school in UsefulNotes/{{Paris}} and at the UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan. The most notable event in his early life was the time he spent WalkingTheEarth in America. Following this, he got a series of jobs as representative of the FamilyBusiness. This dropped him in Budapest in the most inconvenient time possible -- UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. During this time he was made chairman of the local War Refugee Board, a committee with the patronage of several nations, including the United States (which was apparently using it to launder money for the funding of UsefulNotes/{{OSS}} operations, a fact which would be to Wallenberg's misfortune), and Sweden, which made Wallenberg an official part of the local diplomatic staff (a fact which he would find useful).

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raoul_wallenberg.jpg]]

This is the name which makes everyone who is not a Nazi hush his voice.

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!!Tropes:

* {{Ambadassador}}
* ArchEnemy: Eichmann. Also GPU may qualify.
* BadassBureaucrat: He practically made red tape into a new martial arts technique.
* BadassPacifist
* BewareTheNiceOnes: This quiet unnoticeable rich kid could scare Nazis!
* {{Biopic}}: ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099673/ Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg]]'', starring Creator/StellanSkarsgard, ''Series/WallenbergAHerosStory'' starring Creator/RichardChamberlain and [[http://www.wallenbergthemusical.com/ Wallenberg the Musical]].
* DiplomaticImpunity: Used for good.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Played with by the KGB. It is not quite sure that he was not an UsefulNotes/{{OSS}} contact, and his organization did have some curious aspects to it. Besides, who would go to so much trouble [[SarcasmMode just to save the lives of Jews?]]
* HeroicSacrifice
* JumpedAtTheCall
* IWillFindYou: Several of his admirers, including Wiesenthal and his half-brother.
* MagneticHero: Although he is the best remembered, he was hardly the only Rescuer working in Budapest at the time; there were a number, both Jews and Gentiles. But he was a great inspiration.
* NeverFoundTheBody
* NonIdleRich
* PrincelyYoungMan
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: One of the most heroic RealLife examples in human history.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight

Upon the attempted defection of Hungary to the Allies, the Germans invaded and conquered the whole country. With the Germans came Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief bureaucrats of the death camps. Eichmann began rounding Jews up to be sent off to their doom. Whereupon, in stepped Wallenberg. Wallenberg rented 32 buildings in the name of the Swedish Legation. With the help of others, he managed to give as many Jews as possible protective passports, the majority of which he had no actual authority to give. When the Nazis protested, he shooed them away by a mixture of bribes and ''threats'' (yes, really!) of a neutral nation's disfavor. At some point [[RefugeInAudacity he even climbed on top of train cars]] to hand over Swedish passports to Jews bound for the camps, ''while Nazis were shooting at him''. The number of lives he saved can not be determined -- estimates vary from around 4500 to over '''100,000'''.

Upon the attempted defection of Hungary to the Allies, the Germans invaded and conquered the whole country. With the Germans came Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief bureaucrats of the death camps. Eichmann began rounding Jews up to be sent off to their doom. Whereupon, in stepped Wallenberg. Wallenberg rented 32 buildings in the name of the Swedish Legation. With the help of others, he managed to give as many Jews as possible protective passports, the majority of which he had no actual authority to give. When the Nazis protested, he shooed them away by a mixture of bribes and ''threats'' (yes, really!) of a neutral nation's disfavor. At some point [[RefugeInAudacity he even climbed on top of train cars]] to hand over Swedish passports to Jews bound for the camps, ''while Nazis were shooting him''. The number of lives he saved can not be determined -- estimates vary from around 4500 to over '''100,000'''.

* {{Biopic}}: ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099673/ Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg]]'', starring Creator/StellanSkårsgard, ''Series/WallenbergAHerosStory'' starring Creator/RichardChamberlain and [[http://www.wallenbergthemusical.com/ Wallenberg the Musical]].

Upon the attempted defection of Hungary to the Allies, the Germans invaded and conquered the whole country. With the Germans came Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief bureaucrats of the death camps. Eichmann began rounding Jews up to be sent off to their doom. Whereupon, in stepped Wallenberg. Wallenberg rented 32 buildings in the name of the Swedish Legation. With the help of others, he managed to give as many Jews as possible protective passports, the majority of which he had no actual authority to give. When the Nazis protested, he shooed them away by a mixture of bribes and ''threats'' (yes, really!) of a neutral nation's disfavor. The number of lives he saved can not be determined -- estimates vary from a little over 10,000 to over '''100,000'''.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections

* {{Biopic}}: ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099673/ Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg]]'', starring Creator/StellanSkårsgard, ''Series/WallenbergAHerosStory'' starring Richard Chamberlain and [[http://www.wallenbergthemusical.com/ Wallenberg the Musical]].

* {{Biopic}}: ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099673/ Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg]]'', starring Creator/StellanSkarsgard and ''Series/WallenbergAHerosStory'' starring Richard Chamberlain.

* {{Biopic}}: ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099673/ Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg]]'', starring Creator/StellanSkarsgard.

* AristocratsAreEvil: In his case, absolutely not.

Unfortunately, his was not one of them. When the SovietUnion conquered Budapest, they arrested Wallenberg as a spy for the United States (even though the US was an EnemyMine at the time anyway; it's complicated). Thereupon Wallenberg disappeared into the gulag. In 1957, Soviet authorities claimed that he died in prison of heart failure in 1947. However, many remained unconvinced and searched for him, including [[NaziHunter Simon Wiesenthal]], and Wallenberg's half-brother, Professor Guy von Dardel. Though several claimed to have seen him, including former KGB spymasters, the exact story of his final fate is unsure. Whatever it is, it was unpleasant.

Wallenberg's name appears on monuments all around the world, including UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}, where he is praised as a Righteous Gentile by the people he died to save. In 1981, he was also granted the special honor of being an honorary citizen of the United States. He is currently the second of seven people granted this honor; only UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill received it before him. The Representative who pushed this through Congress, Tom Lantos, was [[TearJerker one of the Jews saved by him]].

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Played with by the KGB. It is not quite sure that he was not an {{OSS}} contact, and his organization did have some curious aspects to it. Besides, who would go to so much trouble [[SarcasmMode just to save the lives of Jews?]]