Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg saved as many as 100,000 Jewish lives during the Holocaust.  Raoul Wallenberg: A Hero for Our Time honors his memory and examines his legacy  on this, the 110th anniversary of his birth.

Who was Raoul Wallenberg, and what can we learn from his heroic efforts to save Jews in the winter of 1944-45 in Budapest? Why did he disappear in January 1945, and what was his subsequent fate? What lessons can we learn for today’s world from Wallenberg’s legacy?

Esther Kovari, whose mother was saved by Wallenberg, will introduce the program, beginning with the screening of the first half of the German documentary The Case of Raoul Wallenberg – Saviour and Victim. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with law professor and diplomat David Scheffer, historian and Wallenberg expert Susanne Berger, and Stephen Kovary who will relate his personal experience during WW II in Budapest. There will be an opportunity to ask questions of the panelists.

In addition to the “live” presentation at CCA, ticket holders will be able to stream the complete film at home or purchase a ticket to steam the “film only” on September 11 and 12.

About the Film

The Case of Raoul Wallenberg – Saviour and Victim sheds light on the circumstances of Wallenberg’s disappearance in Budapest following its liberation in 1945 by the Red Army, his detention in the former Soviet Union, and his probable execution there in 1947. Drawing on the testimony of many well-placed witnesses, researchers and previously unpublished archival material, KGB and prison files, the film paints a disturbing picture of the machinations and cold war maneuvering that led to Wallenberg’s arrest, imprisonment and abandonment by the Allies. As Stalin’s personal hostage and trump card in his negotiations with the West, Wallenberg became one of the incipient Cold War’s first victims.