Nazi generals on notice that they would be held accountable and brought to justice, if not executed, for their war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Nazi generals desisted. Some 70,000 more Jews were saved, thanks to the indomitable courage of one person prepared to confront radical evil. In warning the Nazi generals that they would be held responsible for their war crimes, Wallenberg was a forerunner of the Nuremberg principles and what today we call international criminal law.

Open gallery view A statue of Raoul Wallenberg in Israel Credit: Tomer Appelbaum

Wallenberg’s heroism embodied and symbolized the universal lessons of the Holocaust with their contemporary international resonance and importance: The dangers of forgetting – the responsibility to remember.

The dangers of state-sanctioned cultures of hate and incitement – the responsibilityto prevent.

The dangers of indifference and inaction – the responsibility to act.

The dangers of impunity – the responsibility to bring war criminals to justice.

The dangers of mass atrocities – the responsibility to protect.

The dangers of the betrayal of the elites – and the responsibility to speak truth to power.

The dangers of racism and anti-Semitism amid a global resurgence of this oldest and most enduring of hatreds – and our individual and collective responsibilities to confront and combat them.

Yet, while Wallenberg saved so many, he was not himself saved by so many who could have done so. Rather than greet him as the liberator he was, the Soviets – who entered Hungary as liberators themselves on January 17, 1945 – imprisoned Wallenberg. He disappeared into the gulag. The Soviets