Musical Tribute:
Yerachmiel Mehl (starred in various musicals, including Starlight Express, The Wiz, Hair)
Esther Hirschberg (studies opera at Hebrew University Musical Academy)
Sandy Cash (singer and song writer; will sing Giorgio Perlasca from her new CD: A Thing So Real)
Ben Reuven (singer and song writer; wrote There is a man they won’t let go and Wallenberg)

Photos of Speakers and Singers, Taped Messages and Letters

	Recorded Message by Israel's Chief Rabbi  Yona Metzger Click above to hear
	Recorded Message by Professor Shevah Weiss Chairman of Board, Yad Vashem. Was Knesset Speaker, 1992-1996 (Labor) and Israel's ambassador to Poland Click above to hear
	Letter from Congressman Tom Lantos (California). He and his wife were saved by Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest Click above to read
	His Excellency Robert Rydberg Ambassador of Sweden
	Mr. Csaba Czibere Charge d’Affairs, Hungarian Embassy
	Martin Flax Councillor for Antisemitism and Holocaust Remembrance, Foreign Ministry
	Arie Bar-Zion Past President, B’nei B’rith Israel
Message	Recorded Message in Hungarian by Susan Winter. She and her close family were rescued by Raoul Wallenberg Click above to hear
Message	Recorded Message in English by Susan Winter. She and her close family were rescued by Raoul Wallenberg Click above to hear
	Naomi Gur  (Saved by Raoul Wallenberg at the Danube; husband was in Budapest Jewish underground)
	Eli Joseph Tnuat Reut Photo at Jerusalem Forest get together August 3 5PM
	Max Grunberg Raoul Wallenberg Honorary Citizen Committee Photo at Jerusalem Forest get together August 3 5PM
	Dr. Mario Ablin International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation Photo at Jerusalem Forest get together August 3 5PM
	Professor Andrew Hajdu was saved in one of Budapest's protected houses in his youth during the Shoah.  Received the Israel Prize for his work in musical composition Photo at Jerusalem Forest get together August 3 5PM
	Dr. Mario Ablin, Yacov Citon and Ben Reuven (left to right) Yacov and Ben sang in Raoul Wallenberg's honor on August 3, 2004 in Jerusalem's Wallenberg Forest Sachar Song written and sung by Yacov Citon Copyright (c) Yacov Citon (at low fidelity; needs to be re-recorded)
	Yerachmiel Mehl singer, actor and initiator of a number of creative concepts for the event. Before becoming ba'al tsuvah Yerachmiel starred in various musicals, including Starlight Express, The Wiz, Hair
	Esther Hirschberg  studies opera at Hebrew University Musical Academy. She is from Budapest and her father is a Holocaust survivor
	Ben Reuven   singer and song writer; wrote  "There is a man they won’t let go" and "Wallenberg" Lyrics Both songs Copyright (C) David Ben Reuven (recorded at low fidelity; need to re-record) Photo at Jerusalem Forest get together August 3 5PM
	Sandy Cash  is a singer and song writer. Her Web site is: www.sandycash.com Her song "Giorgio Perlasca" can be heard on Web page: www.geocities.com/eproceeding/liberation

The talks were often emotional and showed that many people have a deep and lasting gratitude for what Raoul Wallenberg did.

Swedish ambassador Robert Rydberg described Raoul Wallenberg as a truly great man, who belongs to Sweden, the Jewish people and the international community. He was offered a very unusual diplomatic mission: to save the remnants of Hungary's Jews. He accepted this difficult and dangerous mission without hesitation and acted with dedication, zeal and much wisdom. He had only one aim: to save Jews from the Nazis and Fascists. He paid a terrible prize for his noble efforts when he fell into the hands of the Soviet Union. Perhaps he perished during Stalin's time or maybe he is still alive languishing after six decades of captivity. He was one of the most positive figures during the Shoah and is a to date a permanent symbol of morality and symbolizing the on-going struggle against racism, antisemitism, abuse of human rights and genocide. He is an example of how one individual can make a difference.

Charge d’Affairs of the Hungarian Embassy, Mr. Csaba Czibere, spoke about Raoul Wallenberg, a rare source of hope during modern Hungary's darkest time when 600,000 of Hungary's Jews were murdered and the pain of that tragedy is still felt in Hungary. At the time when some Hungarians willingly collaborated with the Nazis and when Hungary's silent majority didn’t rise up against the murderous rampage of the Nazis and Hungarian Fascists there were a few non-Jews who took huge risks to save Jews and some of those are recognized by Yad Vashem. A less known chapter of the Shoah history is that there was also a small group of young Hungarian Jews who organized effective rescue. Some of them were recently awarded certificates of recognition by Hungary's government. Raoul Wallenberg and other activist diplomats like Per Anger, Carl Lutz, Angello Rocca and Giorgio Perlasca didn’t act like civil servants, but as men of conscience and showed the world the power of morality and humanity.

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger made a taped statement, because he could not be in Jerusalem for the event. He described an ironic encounter in a Soviet jail between Raoul Wallenberg the rescuer of Jews and a Nazi who sent many Jews to their death. Rabbi Metzger said that Raoul Wallenberg worked tirelessly to save Jews, and did so with his whole heart, soul and being. He said that just as Raoul Wallenberg heard our plea during our desperate time we too must hear his plea. The Chief Rabbi called on the world's governments to assure that Raoul Wallenberg is returned to his family if alive, or that his place of rest be disclosed if he is no longer among the living.

Professor Shevah Weiss was not Israel at the time of the event and gave a taped message. He said that Raoul Wallenberg was a truly exemplary figure at a time of darkness and hopelessness, when Eichmann, the Nazis and some Hungarians, Fascists were rushing to murder the Jews of Hungary and in a few months transported half of Hungary's Jews to Auschwitz and Birkenau. They worked in shifts around the clock and murdered, murdered and murdered. A noble soul, Raoul Wallenberg, appeared at that time in Budapest and at great personal risk he saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews. That was a lot during that chaotic and murderous time. There were thousands who saved a few Jews and a few even saved thousands like the Japanese diplomat Sugihara and Polish diplomat Slavika, but there was no other example of rescue at the scale which Wallenberg was able to achieve. It is tragic that when the Red Army liberated Budapest they abducted Raoul Wallenberg and that he was probably murdered during the Stalinist times. The cruelty of that regime is a story onto itself! We will never forget Raoul Wallenberg and hope that he will remain a universal symbol of how to remain human during barbaric, dark and evil times.

Naomi Gur described how Raoul Wallenberg saved her at the last minutes from Hungarian Fascist thugs who took her group to the shores of the Danube to be shot. Naomi was a teenager at the time and recalls Raoul Wallenberg as not only brave, but also someone who represented at that dark and fearful time all that was pure and good in mankind.

Naomi's husband, David Gur, was in the audience. He was one of the leaders of Hungary's young Jewish rescue group, which included members of the various Zionist movements. Based on David's and his colleagues' dedicated research the Hungarian government recently recognized the significant achievements of many members of the group.

Congressman Tom Lantos from California sent a letter, which expressed the following thoughts.

As millions were annihilated by Hitler, Raoul Wallenberg courageously defied the Nazi reign of terror during the years of World War II. As the Holocaust raged on while the War gradually came to an end, Hitler charged through Hungary to attack one of the last remaining Jewish populations in Europe. were and I, both Hungarian born, were in the land of our origin when Hitler’s forces ruthlessly and mindlessly tore through the country. Without the aid of Raoul Wallenberg, his "schutzpasses" and his safe houses, Congressman Lantos and his wife Annette would probably not have remained alive in Nazi and Fascist infested Budapest. He is remembered on his birthday with gratitude and respect. He is a hero unjustly punished for illustrating the power of one to make a difference. May we never forget his work and may we never forget his sacrifice.

We call on concerned and creative people around the world to write songs, plays and stories, to make movies, to paint and sculpt about Raoul Wallenberg and other rescuers and to otherwise spread the message of beacons in the dark.

Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger’s brief and moving statement summarized what many of the speakers said and what everyone felt. We, the Jewish people, owe a great debt to Raoul Wallenberg. Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger called on the world’s governments to help in this matter and we must amplify his message and petition the UN, EU, Vatican, World Council of Churches and the states of Israel, Hungary, USA and Sweden and all civilized nations to appeal to President Putin to assure that Raoul Wallenberg is returned to his family, which includes us.

Recently Russia released to Poland large numbers of folders concerning the Katyn forest massacre. Since Mr. Putin made facts public about the Katyn massacre perhaps he is willing to also disclose remaining facts about Raoul Wallenberg - at least location of his grave, if there is one.

Raoul Wallenberg was abducted by Soviet forces in the east Hungarian city of Debrecen on January 17, 1945 - a day before the eastern part of Budapest was liberated from the Fascists and Nazis. We call on everyone to lobby toward establishing January 17 as "International Rescuer Day" - in honor of Raoul Wallenberg and other non-Jewish and Jewish rescuers. First and foremost we call on the government of Israel to declare January 17 as Rescuer Day and to have appropriate events commemorating that day.

Let us resolve to call on Israel’s Ministry of Education to have in place before January 17, 2005 a new course taught at all levels, toward character development and to help develop emotional intelligence. The course should include profiles of Raoul Wallenberg and other non-Jewish and Jewish major Shoah era rescuers as authentic role models. It is especially important that major Jewish rescuers like Rabbi Weissmandl and Mrs. Gizi Fleischmann and their Working Group in Bratislava, Hillel Kook (Peter Bergson) and his group in the USA, George Mantello (Mandel), Recha and Yitzchak Sternbruch, Rabbi Solomon Schoenfeld and others like them be finally recognized by us.

We also call on the Mr. Putin to consider taking the following additional steps concerning Raoul Wallenberg and other victims of the global Communist system’s extensive genocide:

1. set up a statue of Raoul Wallenberg in Moscow - ideally next to the Lubyanka or Lefortovo KGB prisons where he was held
2. turn part of Lubyanka, Lefortovo and other ex-KGB dungeons and gulags into living museums - somewhat like Auschwitz, Dachau and other death camps were preserved, and follow what Hungary did with Budapest’s "Andrasy Avenue 60": the World War II time Fascist headquarters and dungeon and after the war the Hungarian KGB (AVO) headquarters and dungeon. That once fearful building is now "The House of Terror" museum
3. set up a park of remembrance in Moscow with abstract or realistic statues in memory of Communist genocide victims, non-Jews and Jews alike, to remind all of the dangers of illusions in ideologies and the extremely narrow distance between Tikun Olam and Heresz Olam
4. Establish a number of university chairs to study the dynamics of how far too often what seems to be Tikun Olam quickly becomes Heresz Olam. It is hoped that creative research can help identify some ways in which the society can defend itself against similar large-scale man-made disasters taking tens of millions of lives.

Please pass this message on to others who you think care.

Thank you,

Larry Pfeffer - Event Chairman
Jerusalem Working Group

Organizers:
B’nei B'rith Jerusalem
International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation,  
Jerusalem Working Group - for Recognition of Major Jewish Rescuers during the Shoah
Raoul Wallenberg Honorary Citizen Committee
Tnuat Reut (Friendship Movement)

For information contact: lpfeffer@actcom.co.il

Photos in Jerusalem Forest and the Lecture Hall

Dr. Mario Ablin at the August 3 5PM get together in the Jerusalem Forest

Entrance to B'nei B'rith in Jerusalem (Rechov Keren Hayessod 3-5)

Photos at the B'nei B'rith Lecture Hall
(Due to overflow crowd the event was shown on closed circuit TV in an upper hall)

Robert Rydberg (Ambassador of Sweden) and 
Csaba Czibere (Charge d’Affairs, Hungarian Embassy)
Mr. Eliezer Even sitting behind them

Dr. Rose Bilbul, David Gur and Martin Flax (left to right)
Dr. Bilbul and Mr. Gur are from Hungary. Dr. Bilbul's grandfather's grandfather was the legendary "Kaliver Rebbe", who is credited with the well known Hungarian Jewish song "Szol a kakas mar" sung at the event by Eszther Hirschberg. During the Shoah David Gur was in the Jewish underground in Budapest. His wife, Naomi, gave a very moving and meaningful talk.

Katya Blom, "Loneliness"
A painting about Raoul Wallenberg,
in Mr. Ben Reuven's collection

Links to Web Sites

Web site by Marie Dupuy (Marie von Dardel) about her uncle: Raoul Wallenberg

The Jerusalem Working Group

Photos courtesy of Mario Ablin, Doron and Gal Erez, and Evelyn

Feb 11, 2006