Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States

Last updated May 04, 2019

The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States was created in May 1981 to "perpetuate the humanitarian ideals and the nonviolent courage of Raoul Wallenberg".^[1]

Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg was a Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat, and humanitarian. He is remembered for saving tens of thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust from German Nazis and Hungarian Fascists during the later stages of World War II. 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.

It bestows the Raoul Wallenberg Awards on individuals, organizations and communities that reflect Wallenberg's "humanitarian spirit, personal courage and nonviolent action in the face of enormous odds". As at 2013, the current chairman and CEO is Rachel Oestreicher Bernheim,^[2] a position that she has held since at least 1995.^[3]^[4]

The Raoul Wallenberg Award is bestowed by The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States on "individuals, organizations, and communities whose courage, selflessness and success against great odds personified those of Raoul Wallenberg himself." It has been awarded periodically since 1985, when the inaugural award was given to Wallenberg himself.

Rachel Oestreicher Bernheim is the chairwoman of The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States, a human rights organization in New York.

Accomplishments

Funded five Raoul Wallenberg International Human Rights Fellowships and a Swedish Fulbright Fellowship.
Published A Hero for Our Time and Raoul Wallenberg's Children.
Houses the Wallenberg research center.
Circulates an exhibit, A Tribute to Raouls Walleberg, throughout the United States.
Lobbied to add Raoul Wallenberg's name to the official list of American POW's.
Sponsored the renaming of the sidewalk fronting the United Nations as "Raoul Wallenberg Walk".
In 1985 the committee began work for the issuance of a United States postal stamp to honor Wallenberg. The stamp was issued in 1997.
Established October 5, 1989 as Raoul Wallenberg Recognition Day by a Congressional Resolution.

Awards

Raoul Wallenberg Award
The Raoul Wallenberg A Hero For Our Time Award
The Raoul Wallenberg Civic Courage Award

Honorary Chairmen

Per Johan Valentin Anger was a Swedish diplomat. Anger was Raoul Wallenberg's co-worker at the Swedish legation in Budapest during World War II when many Jews were saved because they were supplied with Swedish passports. After the war, he spent a lot of time trying to clarify Wallenberg's fate.

Guy Fredrik von Dardel was a Swedish physicist who researched particle physics and participated in the establishment of CERN.

Krister Stendahl was a Swedish theologian and New Testament scholar, and Church of Sweden Bishop of Stockholm. He also served as professor and professor emeritus at Harvard Divinity School.

Related Research Articles

Hans Axel Valdemar Corell is a Swedish lawyer and diplomat. Between March 1994 and March 2004 he was Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the United Nations. In this capacity, he was head of the Office of Legal Affairs in the United Nations Secretariat.

Nataša Kandić is a Serbian human rights activist and the founder and ex-executive director of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), an organisation campaigning for human rights and reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia, focusing on the Serbian role in conflict. It was formed in 1992. The HLC's research was integral to the war crimes prosecutions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), particularly the "smoking gun" video linking Serbian military forces to the Srebrenica massacres. She has won numerous international awards for her human rights work. She is a figure of controversy in Serbia where she is the subject of a defamation lawsuit by former President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolić.

Oestreicher or Österreicher is a German language surname with the literal meaning "One from Austria", "the Austrian". 'Oe' is a common rendering of "Ö" whenever the diacritics are not available.

Lyal S. Sunga is a well-known specialist on international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law.

The American Swedish Historical Museum is the oldest Swedish-American museum in the United States. It is located in Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park in South Philadelphia, on part of a historic 17th-century land grant originally provided by Queen Christina of Sweden to settlers of New Sweden.

The Wallenberg Medal of the University of Michigan is awarded to outstanding humanitarians whose actions on behalf of the defenseless and oppressed reflect the heroic commitment and sacrifice of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who rescued tens of thousands of Jews in Budapest during the closing months of World War II.

The Raoul Wallenberg International Movement for Humanity (RWIMH) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the education of the work of Raoul Wallenberg

The Civil Courage Prize is a human rights award which recognizes "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk — rather than military valor." The prize was founded in 2000 by the Northcote Parkinson Fund. The goal of the prize is not to create a "ranking", but "to draw attention individually to some extraordinary heroes of conscience." It was inspired by the example of Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Corinne Dufka is an American photojournalist, human rights researcher, criminal investigator, and social worker. She is the recipient of a MacArthur "genius grant" Fellowship. Dufka currently serves as Associate Director at Human Rights Watch and resides outside Baltimore, Maryland.

The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation (IRWF) is a non-governmental organization which researches Holocaust rescuers and advocates for their recognition. The organization developed educational programs for school to promote peace and civil service. Founded by Baruch Tenembaum, it has offices in Buenos Aires, New York, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro and Jerusalem.

Jared Genser is an international human rights lawyer who serves as managing director of the law firm Perseus Strategies, LLC. He is founder of Freedom Now. Genser is a Senior Fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, was an Associate of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University from 2014-2016, a Visiting Fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy from 2006-2007, and earlier in his career was named by the National Law Journal as one of "40 Under 40: Washington's Rising Stars."

Cephas Lumina is a Zambian lawyer and human rights expert. From 2008 to 2014 he was the "United Nations Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights", appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. He was succeeded by the Argentine lawyer Juan Pablo Bohovslavsky.

The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) is a Montreal-based non-governmental organization dedicated to pursuing justice through the protection and promotion of human rights. The RWCHR's name and mission is inspired by Raoul Wallenberg's humanitarian legacy.

References

↑ "The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States – Our Mission" . Retrieved June 8, 2013.
↑ "The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States – Our Leadership" . Retrieved June 8, 2013.
↑ "Ms. Oestreicher Haspel, Mr. Bernheim". New York Times . May 14, 1995. Retrieved November 18, 2011. Rachel Oestreicher Haspel, the president of the Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States, a human rights organization in New York ...
↑ Robin Finn (November 13, 2001). "Taking Time to Recognize a New Age of Heroes". New York Times . Retrieved November 18, 2011.

External links

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[Mission-1] "The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States – Our Mission" . Retrieved June 8, 2013.

[Leadership-2] "The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States – Our Leadership" . Retrieved June 8, 2013.

[3] "Ms. Oestreicher Haspel, Mr. Bernheim". New York Times . May 14, 1995. Retrieved November 18, 2011. Rachel Oestreicher Haspel, the president of the Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States, a human rights organization in New York ...

[4] Robin Finn (November 13, 2001). "Taking Time to Recognize a New Age of Heroes". New York Times . Retrieved November 18, 2011.