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| You are here: 2000 / Other Activities / Exhibition, Visas for Life / Introduction to Ceremony in Honour of Raoul Wallenberg by the Swedish State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Jan Eliasson | |||||||||
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Participants Countries and organizations Conference documentation Conference programme 
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Introduction to Ceremony in Honour of Raoul Wallenberg by the Swedish State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Jan Eliasson Introductory Remarks at the Ceremony in Honour of Raoul Wallenberg by the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh Speech at the Ceremony by Ambassador Per Anger Speech at the Ceremony by Dr. Kati Marton Introduction to Ceremony in Honour of Raoul Wallenberg by the Swedish State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Jan Eliasson Eliasson, Jan Introduction to Ceremony in Honour of Raul Wallenberg Welcome to this ceremony in honour of Raoul Wallenberg and other diplomats who rescued Jews and other refugees during the Second World War. With me on the podium are Mrs Anna Lindh, Foreign Minister of Sweden, Ambassador Per Anger, who worked with Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest and Mrs Kati Marton who has written books about Raoul Wallenberg and Folke Bernadotte. Mr David Harris, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee would also have been with us, but due to bad weather on the American East coast unfortunately he could not make it. We want to honour Raoul Wallenberg and his fellow diplomats through the exhibition Visas for Life that will be shown in this building during the conference and later at Kulturhuset here in Stockholm. It is devoted to diplomats from a number of countries who helped Jews to escape the Holocaust by issuing passports, visas or other documents giving them protection and a means of escape. It also shows Count Folke Bernadotte’s rescue mission to Germany in early 1945, through which thousands of lives were saved. The main massage of the exhibition is that the individual counts, that no mater what his or her background or position is, humanity, compassion and a felling of responsibility for your fellow human beings are qualities that make a difference. Raoul Wallenberg and the other people we meet in the pictures of the exhibition are people who had these qualities and who had the courage to put them into practice. We are deeply indebted to Mr. Eric Saul of San Francisco, who is the initiator of the exhibition and who made it possible for us to show it here in Stockholm after it had been shown in several other capitals. Later this year it will be shown at the UN in New York. We also very much appreciated the advice and support of the American Jewish Committee during the preparations for this ceremony. We are particularly grateful that they have sponsored the participation of one of our keynote speakers today, Mr Kati Marton, who will talk to us about two great humanitarian Swedes, Raoul Wallenberg and Folke Bernadotte. Let me introduce our first speaker, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Ms Anna Lindh. She was earlier Minister for Environment and President of the Social Democratic Youth Organisation. She also had a leading political position in the City of Stockholm. The next speaker is Ambassador Per Anger, who actually worked together with Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest in 1944-45, shared the risks and dangers with him and took part in several daring rescue operations to save Jewish lives. Ambassador Anger then went on to make a distinguished career in the Swedish Foreign Service, where his final post was that of Ambassador to Canada, but the memories of the Holocaust in Budapest and of his friend Raoul Wallenberg have remained with him throughout his life. For many years he has devoted himself to telling the world what happened in those terrible days and to keep Raoul’s name alive in the hope that one day he would be found. The following speaker is Ms Kati Marton, a distinguished writer and journalist, who was born in Hungary but has spent the last two decades writing and reporting from the United States. She has also been active as a foreign correspondent and as a radio reporter. She has received several prestigious awards for her reporting and for the promotion of press freedom. Through her books Ms Marton has a particular relationship to Sweden. Her first book was a biography of Raoul Wallenberg, and her fourth and latest book is about Folke Bernadotte. So we look forward to hearing what Ms Marton has to tell about these two important Swedish personalities. >> Back to top |
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Introduction Opening Session: Messages and speeches Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches Workshops, Panels and Seminars Closing Session and Declaration Other Activities
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| For information about this production and the Stockholm International Forum Conference Series please go to www.humanrights.gov.se or contact Information Rosenbad, SE-103 33 Stockholm, Sweden | |||||||||