Contact: Colleen Roche or Brenda Perez 212 788 2958
"In the midst of the Holocaust, a time when much of the world had turned a blind eye to the unfathomable cruelties perpetrated on more than 6 million Jewish people, we find a great man like Raoul Wallenberg," said Mayor Giuliani.
"Guided by morality, compassion, courage and love, he saved tens of thousands of Jews from Nazi death camps, by issuing falsified Swedish passports and even by boldly threatening a Nazi general, thereby preventing the bombing of a Jewish ghetto.
"This commemorative Raoul Wallenberg stamp will serve to remind us all of how one man's courage can change the lives of many. I could not think of a better place to hold this ceremony than next to A Living Memorial to the Holocaust --Museum of Jewish Heritage," added the Mayor. "I'm very proud to say that the museum will be opening in just a few months. This important museum is critical to the Jewish people of this City and is certainly overdue."
Born in Stockholm and educated in the United States, Wallenberg became the Swedish Ambassador to Hungary, where he changed the fates of thousands of Jews. He was rumored to have been arrested on a trip to the Soviet Zone and, according to documents released in 1991, he died in a Soviet prison on July 17, 1947.