[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 144 (Thursday, October 6, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 6, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  THE 13TH ANNIVERSARY OF UNITED STATES HONORARY CITIZENSHIP TO RAOUL 
                               WALLENBERG

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, yesterday marked the 13th 
anniversary of Swedish Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg's honorary 
United States citizenship. This honor had been bestowed by Congress 
only once prior to 1981, on Sir Winston Churchill in 1963, and has been 
granted only once since then, on William & Hannah Penn in 1984. From 
July 1994 until July 1995, we will be observing the 50th anniversary of 
Raoul Wallenberg's heroic effort to save the last remaining Jews of 
Hungary from Nazi atrocities.
  As many of my colleagues know, in 1944, Raoul Wallenberg gave up the 
comfort and security of his home in Stockholm to go to Budapest, 
risking his life to save people he did not even know. This truly 
courageous man is credited with rescuing tens of thousands of Jews 
directly, by issuing protective passports or by negotiating with Nazi 
officials for their release.
  Most unfortunately, we are also approaching the 50th anniversary of 
Raoul Wallenberg's disappearance at the hands of Soviet military 
personnel. Over the past half century, Mr. Wallenberg's family, the 
Swedish Government and others worldwide have pressed for answers about 
his fate. In 1957, in response to evidence of eyewitness sightings, the 
Soviet Government reversed its claim of August 1947 that Wallenberg was 
not to be found in the Soviet Union. While not contradicting the 
eyewitness accounts, the Soviets stated that Wallenberg died of a heart 
attack in Lubyanka Prison in 1947. This was based on a handwritten 
note-to-file known as the Smoltsov Document. Mr. President, there are 
no official documents to support this claim or to account for Mr. 
Wallenberg's whereabouts.
  The collapse of the Soviet Union has led to the declassification of 
foreign ministry files. It has also led to the release of Mr. 
Wallenberg's arrest order signed by then Deputy Minister of Defense, 
Bulganin, and has given researchers access to the files of other 
diplomats who were arrested in Budapest at the same time as Wallenberg, 
but who were eventually returned. Combined with the testimonies 
accumulated by the Swedish Government over the years, and recently 
discovered documents in our own National Archives, there is now an 
impressive body of new knowledge on this compelling case--knowledge 
which must be enhanced and put to good use.
  Presently, an official Swedish-Russian working group, which also 
includes American representatives, is working side-by-side with 
independent human rights researchers, in a dedicated effort which has 
not only laid the foundation for understanding Mr. Wallenberg's fate, 
but now serves as a model in the search for other foreign prisoners in 
the Gulag.
  These efforts are to be highly commended. However, the dictates of 
time call for an accelerated effort on Mr. Wallenberg's behalf. Since 
his reported death in 1947, there have been a number of sightings 
sufficiently documented to require a thorough search of the psychiatric 
facilities, prisons and labor camps in the Gulag system where Mr. 
Wallenberg is said to have been held. The Honorable Sergei Kovalyev, 
chairman of the Presidential Human Rights Commission of the Russian 
Parliament and Mr. Vyacheslav Bakhmin, chief of the Department of Human 
Rights and Global Affairs of the Foreign Minister are presently working 
with the Russian Ministry to Health to make such a systemic search 
possible. Further cooperation will be needed from the Ministry of 
Internal Affairs that governs the prison system if Mr. Wallenberg is to 
be found or if an accurate, more historical record is to be 
established.
  This long awaited initiative, personally led by Mr. Wallenberg's 
half-brother, Dr. Guy von Dardel, will build upon the previous efforts 
of the ARK Project, the Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia, 
and Memorial, three human rights organizations whose findings in the 
Gulag have substantiated the claim that Mr. Wallenberg could indeed be 
languishing as an anonymous foreign prisoner or may have died more 
recently under another name. To focus this search, the team will make 
use of the most advanced forensic techniques as well as supporting 
material from recently declassified CIA documents, thanks to the 
efforts of our colleague Senator Carl Levin.
  To be successful, Dr. von Dardel's initiative needs our full support 
and that of the concerned international community. As we press 
President Yeltsin to allow access to the files and archives of the 
Serbsky Institute related to special prisoners, we must continue our 
own process of declassification and call upon other nations to do the 
same so that all evidence in this case may be made available to the 
international experts.
  Mr. President, Mr. Wallenberg took on a most dangerous and important 
mission 50 years ago. We should mark the 50th anniversary of his 
mission by redoubling our efforts to learn his fate.

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