Scholars Run Down More Cluels to Abiding Holocaust Mystery [Fate of Raoul Wallenberg]

Yahoo! News ^ | April, 28, 2008 | Arthur Max and Randy Herschaft (AP)

[justiceseeker93]

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Budapest, November 1944: Another German train has loaded its cargo of Jews bound for Auschwitz. A young Swedish diplomat pushes past the SS guard and scrambles onto the roof of the cattle car.

Ignoring shots fired over his head, he reaches through the open door to outstretched hands, passing out dozens of bogus "passports" that extended Sweden's protection to the bearers. He orders everyone with a document off the train and into his caravan of vehicles. The guards look on dumfounded.

Raoul Wallenberg was a minor official of a neutral country, with an unimposing appearance and a gentle manner. Recruited and financed by the U. S., he went to Hungary to save Jews. He bullied, bluffed, and bribed powerful Nazis to prevent the deportation of 20,000 to concentration camps and avert the massacre of 70,000 more in Budapest's Jewish ghetto.

Then, on Jan. 17, 1945, days after Soviet troops moved into Budapest, the 32-year-old Wallenberg and his Hugarian driver, Vilmos Longfelder, drove off with a Russian security escort, and vanished forever.

...............

But researchers still wrestle with two enduring mysteries: Why was Wallenberg arrested, and did he really die in Soviet custody in 1947?

[justiceseeker93]

Doesn't seem to be much new here, except for hope of release of important documents soon. Still, a fascinating story, as yet incomplete.

[justiceseeker93]

Ping!

[Billthedrill]

A BTT for a story I’d love to know the ending to. It may be one of super-secret agencies or it may simply be that people were shot for some very slim reasons in 1947 or even no reason at all. There was a lot of it going around. BTT.

[LouD]

Whatever any of this reveals, a 1979 State Department memo put the questions into perspective: "Whether or not Wallenberg was involved in espionage during World War II is a moot point at this stage in history. His obvious humanitarian acts certainly outweigh any conceivable 'spy' mission he may have been on."

It would take a member of the Carter State Department to view espionage as something that needed to be outweighed by humanitarian acts, rather than a noble calling.

[justiceseeker93]

Did the US ever officially admit to Wallenberg being an American agent?

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

The answer is in the Soviet files.... some of which are now open and available to the public. But it’d probably be a massive amt. of research to dig through those files.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks justiceseeker93. Years ago, 60 Minutes had a story (Mike Wallace reporting, if memory serves) regarding RW’s kidnapping by the Red Army. The troops who took him into custody were commanded by Leonid Breschnev.

[SunkenCiv]

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[VeniVidiVici]

The Russians concluded that "Wallenberg died, or most likely was killed, on July 17, 1947," and said they considered the case "resolved."

I'm sure today the Russians would say, "Who's Wallenberg?"

[JLS]

You are probably right. I have always thought this was an interesting mystery. I did at some point read that the post WWII KGB guy in Warsaw was Leonid Brezhnev which might explain why he was not released if he lived into the 1960s or 1970s.

Wikipedia says about Brezhnev, “At the end of the war in Europe Brezhnev was chief political commissar of the 4th Ukrainian Front which entered Prague after the German surrender.”

[Roy Tucker]

You beat me to it.

Espionage against our enemies who are sworn to destroy us and our way of life is a legitimate role of government, as opposed to, say, creating make-work jobs for social scientists in the Department of Education.

[Sir_Ed]

Interesting, that there was a secret group like the OSS, called The Pond.

I’ve never heard of that. I’m reading about Intrepid, the guy who set up the OSS-MI6 liason during WWII, and it doesn’t say anything about The Pond.

Ed

[Luke21]

The Russians were our supposed allies, but we let them spit in our face every chance they got. Then we gave them half of Europe.

[Esther Ruth]

Google search brought this up - lots in this article -
http://thespyreport.livejournal.com/155262.html

[justiceseeker93]

Yes, the article I posted to begin this thread (from Yahoo!) is merely an abridged version of the link you posted at # 14. Much thanks for your link.

The unabridged article goes into much more detail of the history of the search for Wallenberg's fate, but there seems to be no new information.

I knew that he had been educated in the US, but I wasn't aware of the fact that he had American relatives.

[justiceseeker93]

The existence of “The Pond,” the group that reported directly to FDR, might explain how the Soviets were tipped off about Wallenberg’s activities in Budapest. We now know that during this period the Soviets had agents planted very close to FDR himself - people like Alger Hiss and Harry Dexter White.

[betty boop]

Yes, a fascinating story justiceseeker93.

The late Tom Lantos, Hungarian-born congressman of California who passed away last February, credited Wallenberg for spiriting him out of Budapest during WWII. As a Jew, more than likely, Lantos otherwise would have wound up on a cattle car headed for a liquidation camp....

Thank you so much for posting this, justiceseeker93! I hope the mystery of Wallenberg's fate will be cleared up in due course.

[Sir_Ed]

Had you heard of “The Pond” beforez?

Ed

[justiceseeker93]

No, never heard of it, but by reporting directly to FDR, they were probably taking more of a risk with the Soviets than going through “normal” intelligence channels.

[Nailbiter]

ping