It was Per Anger who came back and Raoul Wallenberg that remained gone. It is over 50 years since Raoul Wallenberg and his chauffeur were taken away by the Russians from Budapest. Wallenberg has been honored all over the world and yesterday it was, a bit late some might think, time to honor Ambassador Per Anger. It was the Jewish Council of Sweden who took the initiative and the conference hall of the Jewish Community was full.
Per Anger and Raoul Wallenberg worked close to each other. Per Anger was the man who initiated
the issuing of Swedish protective passports for threatened Jews.
He is also the one who constantly during all the years worked within the Raoul Wallenberg
Committee to search for knowledge of what happened to Wallenberg, and to spread information
about his deeds. His firm conviction that Wallenberg was in Russian captivity went head-on
against the Swedish Foreign Department's and Und�n's opinion that the Russians were telling
the truth and that Wallenberg wasn't on Russian territory. It was then that Anger in the
beginning of the 50's resigned his post as dealing with the issue.
-In all these years I have traveled for his cause. That has been my mission. There has
never been a reason to speak about me. This is how Ambassador Anger comments the his late
honoring.
When he last summer was invited by David Metzler to speak for Jewish youth at a summer camp
about his experiences from Budapest it suddenly felt important to do something, David says.
-He is an extremely exciting person. A living hero among us. To honor him before it was
too late.
Last year Anger was awarded the medal of the Hungarian Republic, and before his meeting with
the Jewish Community he came straight from an honoring of the Raoul Wallenberg association in
Berlin. There they emphasized they were 50 years too late.
Per Anger emphasizes that the evening is an honoring of everyone who participated then.
-We are only three left now, me and two girls, well yes, of course they've gotten a bit
older now. The girls Margaretha Bauer and Birgit Brulin are sitting on the first row
this evening.
Per Anger speaks about Steven Spielberg's project Shoah, with interviews all over the world
with those who remember and were there.
-It must be direct memories. Nothing you've heard. But something you've seen.
Sure he can forget where he's placed his glasses. But he remembers like it was yesterday how
the Jews were forced on death marches through the snow, how they were stacked and pushed
together in the wagons.
-I have seen, he says.
The article was written by Lisbeth Borger-Bendegard.
Svenska Dagbladet © 1996