[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 192 (Tuesday, December 5, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2285]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   A TRIBUTE TO HENRY AND BOBBIE SHAFFNER; TWO EXCEPTIONAL COMPOSERS

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                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 5, 1995

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in 
thanking and congratulating Henry and Bobbie Shaffner who composed an 
evocative and hauntingly beautiful musical score dedicated to Swedish 
humanitarian and Holocaust hero, Raoul Wallenberg. Their composition of 
the song, ``Wallenberg,'' together with the lyrics of Ms. Lillian 
Lewis, captivated an audience of over 650 people at the dedication of 
the bust of Wallenberg in the Great Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on 
November 2, 1995.
  The song, ``Wallenberg,'' is a tribute to Raoul Wallenberg the 
Swedish diplomat credited with savings 100,000 Jewish lives in Budapest 
in 1944. Using false passports, diplomat safe houses, and extraordinary 
bravery, Wallenberg repeatedly deceived and evaded the Nazis in his 
heroic mission to prevent the deportation of Hungary's Jews in the 
death camps. Wallenberg was arrested by Soviet authorities after the 
war and disappeared into the Gulag. His ultimate fate remains a 
mystery.
  The Shaffners' interest and concern about Wallenberg's fate grew 
after they read about him in a 1980 New York Times article. They joined 
the Wallenberg Committee of the United States decided to join those 
seeking to find him and honor his miraculous deeds.
  In 1986, the committee commissioned the Shaffners to compose an 
inspiring piece that would embody Wallenberg's heroic spirit. In 1992, 
the song was performed with the lyrics of Lillian Lewis at the 
committee's annual meeting in New York.
  Today's the Shaffners' inspirational music is part of a program 
titled: ``Raoul Wallenberg: A Study in Heroes'' which has been 
implemented in over 50 schools in New York, Massachusetts, and North 
Carolina, in kindergarten through the eighth grade. Plan call for the 
program to soon spread across the country.
  At the dedication ceremony of the Wallenberg bust, the song was 
performed by the U.S. Army Band, Sergeant First Class Beverly Benda, 
soprano, and Staff Sergeant Mary Beth Mailand, harp.

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