–A resolution granting Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat credited with saving the lives of 100,000 Jews in Hungary during World War II, honorary U.S. citizenship and calling on President Reagan to secure Wallenberg’s freedom from the Soviet Union, was introduced in the Senate yesterday.
The resolution, by Sen. Claiborne Pell (D. RI), the ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, co-sponsored by 40 other Senators, is similar to one introduced last month in the House by Rep. Tom Lantos (D. Calif.), which is co-sponsored by 255 House members.
In introducing the resolution, Pell noted that Wallenberg had gone on his mission to Hungary in 1944 at the request of then Secretary of State Cordell Hull. In January, 1945, he was seized by Soviet police in Budapest. The Soviet authorities deny that he is alive.
“For 36 years now, the Soviet Union has refused to account in a credible manner for the whereabouts and fate of Raoul Wallenberg,” Pell said. He noted that in 1957 the Soviets finally conceded that he had been taken prisoner but claimed that he died in 1947. “More recent reports from former Soviet prisoners indicate that Wallenberg may still be alive today,” Pell said.
“The U.S. owes a debt of gratitude to Raoul Wallenberg, ” Pell declared. “Since his humanitarian actions were undertaken at the behest of our government, it is appropriate that we express our appreciation for his unprecedented courage on our behalf by formally awarding him honorary citizenship, the highest honor we can bestow upon him. Certainly, the U.S. has an obligation to Raoul Wallenberg to try to secure for him the same freedom he brought to so many others.”
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