Community celebrates anniversary of Raoul Wallenberg Square dedication
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Dr. H. E. Ferenc Kumin, Consul General of Hungary; Council Member Karen Koslowitz; Council Member Elizabeth Crowley; and Leif Pagrotsky, Consul General of Sweden
The 35th Anniversary of the dedication of Raoul Wallenberg Square was held last Sunday.
Dignitaries, residents and community and legislative leaders gathered at the intersection of Metropolitan Ave and Park Lane South in Kew Gardens to honor Wallenberg, a man who helped save 100,000 Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Hungary.
Born on August 4, 1912, Wallenberg was a Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat and humanitarian. While serving as Sweden’s special envoy in Budapest between July and December 1944, Wallenberg issued protective passports and sheltered Jews in buildings designated as Swedish territory and thereby bestowing upon them diplomatic immunity. In the absence of such intervention by Wallenberg, tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews would have been transported to extermination camps.
While his death is unknown, the square was dedicated to Wallenberg on April 25, 1982.
