[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 103 (Thursday, July 25, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   DISAPPEARANCE OF RAOUL WALLENBERG

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL FERGUSON

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 25, 2002

  Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Raoul 
Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat during World War II. He is attributed 
with saving the lives of up to 100,000 Hungarian Jews from death camps 
in 1944 and 1945.
  Raul Wallenberg was born on August 4, 1912. To this day, we do not 
officially have a date of when he died. In January of 1945, Wallenberg 
was taken into the custody of then Soviet Russia. The Swedish 
government has lobbied on a number of occasions for answers regarding 
his captivity--to little or no avail. On January 12, 2001, a joint 
Russian-Swedish panel released a report that did not reach any 
conclusion regarding Wallenberg's fate.
  If Adolph Hitler represents the worst of mankind, then Raoul 
Wallenberg represents the best. As a constituent of mine, Hyman 
Kuperstein of Springfield, New Jersey, said: ``There was no Wallenberg 
in France or Romania,'' and too many Jewish lives were lost there. 
Thank God for Raoul Wallenberg.
  This August 4 would be Raoul Wallenberg's 90th birthday. The world 
has a right to know when and how he died.

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