[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 17, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S1002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARREST OF RAOUL WALLENBERG

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, there are still many puzzles left 
unsolved from the cold war. Perhaps one of the most frustrating is the 
disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg. To this day, a full account of why 
Raoul Wallenberg was arrested and what has become of him is still not 
forthcoming from the Russian government. I rise today to commemorate 
this brave hero of the Holocaust who worked tirelessly and with great 
courage to save thousands of Jews from Nazi concentration camps in 
Hungary.
  It is 50 years ago today since Mr. Wallenberg was arrested by agents 
of the Soviet Union at the time of the invasion of Budapest by the Red 
Army. He disappeared while in Soviet custody and despite the collapse 
of the Soviet Union, many questions concerning his fate are unresolved.
  This is matter which has long held my attention. In the summer of 
1979, I met with Nina Lagergren, Raoul Wallenberg's sister. Shortly 
thereafter, Senators Pell, Church, Boschwitz and I founded the Free 
Wallenberg Committee. This working group, with the active involvement 
of my wife Liz, Lena Biorck Kaplan and others, strongly encouraged the 
administration to pursue the facts of the Wallenberg case with the 
Soviet Union. Support from then Secretary of State Vance was strong, 
but the Soviets were not cooperative. In August 1980 I introduced 
Senate Concurrent Resolution 117, calling upon the President to raise 
the Wallenberg case at the Madrid Review Conference of the Helsinki 
accords which took place that year. Ambassador Max Kampelman and the 
other U.S. officials made several overtures to the Soviets at the 
Madrid Conference but found them to be as unyielding as ever.
  We too are unyielding. I later joined Senator Pell and other members 
of the Free Wallenberg Committee in sponsoring Senate Joint Resolution 
65 to grant Raoul Wallenberg U.S. citizenship. When President Reagan 
signed that legislation into law, Raoul Wallenberg became only the 
fourth person ever to be granted honorary U.S. citizenship.
  A truly remarkable man, Raoul Wallenberg was undaunted in his efforts 
to undo or prevent some of the evil done by Nazis. He was a hero of the 
best and boldest kind, and demonstrated what free men, even when acting 
alone, can accomplish against those who would crush the freedom of 
others.
  We await answers. Until there is satisfaction that we have the most 
thorough accounting of his life and whereabouts since being taken into 
Soviet custody 50 years ago, we will not let this rest. This is not a 
problem of the Russian Government's making, but of their Soviet 
predecessor. They should take it upon themselves to undo the nefarious 
deeds of the Soviet Union. The world deserves to know the fate of this 
brave Swedish soul.


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