In 1957, after additional inquiries, the Soviet government offered a different answer. The then Deputy Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko, said Wallenberg had been imprisoned in Moscow and had died in July, 1947. The “evidence” in support of that statement was a hand-written report from the medical head of the Lubyanka Prison, A. L. Smoltsov, to the Security Service Minister, Abakumov, quoting Smoltsov as declaring “I report that the prisoner, Wallenberg (sic) who is known to you, died suddenly in his cell last night, probably following a myocardial infarction.”
However, it was pointed out at the press conference, information that Wallenberg was still alive continued to crop up, with the Soviet government always replying Wallenberg was dead but without providing any proof. Von Dardel told the press conference that there is “almost a bullet-proof case” that Wallenberg was alive “as late as 1959” and that there is a strong possibility that he is alive now.
Ms. Biorck-Kaplan said that because Wallenberg bad initially gone to Budapest at the request of the U.S. War Refugee Board, “we feel it is an American responsibility” to determine what has happened to Wallenberg and that the only way to help free the diplomat is “by putting public pressure on.” She said the committee plans to set up local committees throughout the United States.
Friedman said that the Swedish government had a “special obligation to do everything we can” and that, the Swedish government has, on many occasions raised the issue with the Soviet government but received “no satisfactory clarification.” He declined to elaborate.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
