Informs Sweden of Failure to Establish Fate of Diplomat Who Helped Jews

The Swedish Ministry today received a communication from the Soviet Government stating that investigations in the U.S.S.R. have ##ed to establish that Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat who “disappeared” from ##gary where he helped thousands of Jews from the Nazis by extending to them the ##tection of the Swedish Embassy and citizenship during the war, was ever on Soviet ## after the liberation of Hungary by the Red Army.The communication, signed by Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky, ##d that the young Swedish diplomat was probably killed in battles at Budapest two ##rs ago, or by the pro-Nazi Szalazi regime in Hungary prior to the liberation of country.

Twenty-three democratic and anti-fascist organizations with a membership of ##rs than a million Swedes have indicated that Vishinsky’s statement does not satis## them. They insist that a statement on the Wallenberg case should come direct from ##emier Joseph Stalin. Members of Wallenberg’s family refuse to give up hope that ## young diplomat is still alive somewhere in the U.S.S.R.

The belief that Wallenberg, who disappeared two years ago from the besieged ##mgarian capital, is somewhere in Soviet territory is based upon assurances given at that time by high Soviet officials, including Mme. Alexandra Kollontai, then Soviet ambassador to Sweden, that Wallenberg was alive, well and safe in Russian custody. ##is whereabouts were not revealed at that time.On the other hand, it is recalled that a street in Budapest, where Wallenberg was last reported alive on Jan. 17, 1945, has been named in his memory and that ##emorial services were held for him on the supposition that he had been killed by Hungarian fascists, along with his Russian escort, while en route to a meeting with Marshal Rodion Y. Malinovsky. Wallenberg was going to turn over to Malinovsky responsibility for the care of the Jews whom he had rescued from the Nazis.President Truman is known to be taking an interest in the efforts which the Swedish Government is making to trace Wallenberg. The interest of the United States Government springs from the fact that he accepted the mission of rescuing Jews at the request of the War Refugee Board, which was established by President Roosevelt during the war.