http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080427/ap_on_re_eu/the_wallenberg_mystery
Fascinating!
I believe the nurse who served him soup. At least from the way it is reported, she seems trustworthy.
I thought “the mystery” referred to where has Jim Stone been all this time. Instead it’s just another conspiracy theory hanging around from WWII.
djm
He has been under my bed, playing with the dust bunnies.
I left the board when Dale prohibited discussions about
abortion, you recall he locked a civil thread in which I
was arguing that the abortion controversy ought
to be returned to the people to decide legislatively
and told us to talk about it elsewhere. Recently Dale
was good enough to reverse this, so I returned.
Really terrific of him, few people, having gone so far,
would be willing to reverse. Restores my faith
in humanity.
The story of this Swedish guy is a tragedy, because
he went to such lengths to save the lives of Jews
and then he himself was arrested by the Soviets
and dissappeared forever. He was 32. And
Sweden appears to have done nothing to
get him back. The guy risked his life repeatedly
for those in danger and got shafted as a result…
In the years following WW2, or The Great Patriotic War, depending on which side one could be on, Joe Stalin’s Soviet Russia put a vast number of people into the gulag system, many of them to never return. Others were shot.
Sweden and Novgorod, now known as Russia, have had numerous territorial wars with each other during the past several hundred years (where Finland was their battleground), and so Sweden had extra reason to be concerned about Soviet actions during WW2. Moreover, although Sweden declared neutrality at that time, apparently Sweden was also transferring raw material(s) to Germany, such as iron ore, which Germany then used for war materials to be used against the Soviet Red Army, and so by the end of hostilities in 1945, Soviet Russia would not necessarily have been a great friend of Sweden.
So, as Wallenberg was a Swedish government official, and possibly an undercover agent, he likely could have faced a stiff prosecution, trial or no trial.
Yes, it’s probably Stalin thought he was a spy; also he
was working for the USA on a covert operation to
save Jews. Likely he was shot after a couple of years
in prison. No story should end this way but this
one in particular is hard to accept–he saved many thousands of lives
at the risk of his own. And Sweden appears to have
done nothing to help him after he was arrested.
I agree with Cork about Sweden’s fear. Unfortunately even today Russia is revising previous disclosures made about Soviet atrocities, the Katyn Massacre being a good example.
Apparently Sweden did make efforts, especially during the 1950’s and 1960’s, to retrieve Wallenberg, but without success. Then again, even after the death of Stalin, apparently the Soviet Union was busy at containing various uprisings, especially in Eastern Europe, and so, in addition to having to present a resolute image, perhaps it could be seen that the Soviets had enough to be concerned about at that time, beyond the interest of any individual. After all, the Soviet Union had more to do with the prosperity of the state, at least officially, and much less to do with the prosperity of the individual.
BTW, I’m making an effort here to separate the identities of the Soviet Union of the past, and of the Russia of today.
Unfortunately with Russia appearing to be slipping into a autocracy some of the government behaviors present in the Soviet pass are again coming to the fore.
They’ve been all the way back there since at least the start of Putin’s reign.
Putin’s presidency amounts to a coup launched by the military and intelligence classes outraged at Yeltsin’s willingness to let the Chechens win.
The history of Russia dates back some fifteen hundred years or so (not counting its Ukrainian roots), and during that time there have been many, many turns of fate. For instance, try thinking of Russia as being the wild, wild East, complete with a subjugation of otherwise indigenous (non-Russian) populations.
Beginning several hundred years ago, Russia was effectively governed by a Czarist system, yet even during those times there were powerful “outlaw” factions within Russia. Eventually, however, the Czarist empire itself was overthrown, and replaced by a severely socialist system known as communism, apparently as a governmental experiment which eventually also failed. Today, moreover, the Czars are gone, and the Soviet governmental system is gone, but Russia and Russians remain, as a people who say that one who fails to keep one eye toward the future, while also keeping one eye on the past, is blind, as evidence to suggest that Russia will not elect to return to an apparently failed past.
In general, Russians are not stupid.
Images of Mad-Eye Moody arise …
djm
It’s easy for the russkies to say that, but you would have to be cock-eyed drunk to carry it off. 