Remembering
Raoul Wallenberg
Remarks
by Hon. David Kilgour
Member
of Parliament for Edmonton
Southeast and
Secretary
of State for Asia-Pacific
At
Agudath Israel Synagogue,
1400 Coldrey Ave.,
October
27, 2002
Ottawa
Excellencies, ladies and
gentleman,
It
is an honour to be here this
evening to celebrate the memory
of a great hero, Raoul
Wallenberg
Permit
me to thank my colleague,
Raymond Folco, for graciously
accepting to be tonight’s
keynote speaker when it appeared
I would not be able to attend
because of a planned - now
cancelled - trip to North
Korea. Let me also thank and
congratulate the organizers,
especially Vera Gara, for
the countless hours I know
you have spent planning this
important event.
As
Raymond Folco has indicated,
Raoul Wallenberg “challenged
the entire machinery of Germany
by employing his imagination
and courage as an offensive
weapon.” Armed with unflappable
determination, charm, and
organization, he ingeniously
redesigned Sweden’s Safe Pass (Shulzpass) system and between
July 1944 and January 1945
has been credited with saving
the lives of more than 100,000
Hungarian Jews who where marked
for murder by the Nazis.
As
we all know, on January 17,
1945 Raoul Wallenberg was
arrested by Soviet troops
and tragically disappeared
never to be seen or heard
from again. Since 1989, various
accounts have surfaced as
to how he too was murdered
but I’m told that the government
of Sweden wants his friends
and family to continue the
search for the truth, the
whole truth and nothing but
the truth.
Raoul
Wallenberg’s heroism has shown
us that anyone can make a
difference. He is truly a
model of Groyse Rechteche Mensceh.
-30-
