Provenance
Various Parties
Purpose/Function
Reference, Research, Information
Arrangement
Arranged by Secondary Values (value of records to users)
Content
Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat who is renowned for using his power as an envoy to Budapest during World War 2 to issue passports that protected and allowed for the escape of Jews in Hungary from the Nazis. He is believed to have saved upwards of one-hundred-thousand lives, before being detained by the Soviet Union and disappearing, with the date and cause of his death still being disputed. Raoul’s legacy in Kew exists due to the migration of those he saved, notably Professor Frank Vajda. After Wallenberg saved him, and his family, from being executed, Vajda would migrate to Kew and would became the driving force behind the memorial that now sits at Kew Junction designed by Karl Duldig. The memorial, erected in 1985, was the first one dedicated to Wallenberg outside of Budapest, and has been credited with raising local awareness of his life and work. The file includes: Multiple newspaper articles about Wallenberg and the memorial, a notice from the Kew Library on a talk from Frank Vajda, a written address from Eva de Jong-Duldig given at the memorial, a document related to the naming ceremony, as well as a letter between the Kew Historical Society and the Department of Crown Lands & Survey.