Monday, July 02, 2012

Hungarian Gov. Officials in Guided Tour of 13th Ave

Hungarian officials representing both the Foreign Ministry and the Jewish community in Hungary visited Boro Park today. The purpose of the visit was to learn more about the community within the context of the co-naming of 13th Avenue as "Wallenberg Way" which is to take place in the very near future. Legislation for this has been introduced in the City New York City Council by David Greenfield and Brad Lander. A tour of 13th Avenue was given by Councilman David Greenfield who explaind the various unique customs of the Chaisdic community.

Attending the breakfast were members of the Board of Governors of the Wallenberg Commission including: Peter Rebenwurzel; Sidney Greenberger; Leon Goldenberg; Jonathan Zalisky; as well as Simcha Eichenstein, who is a senior advisor to the NYS Comptroller Thomas Dinapoli; Rabbi Yeruchim Silber,JCC of Boro Park; Rabbi Avi Fishof, Boro Park Bikur Cholim; Dr. David Moskovits, Skulen Kehila and President, Endowment for Democracy in Eastern Europe; Ho. Yitzchok Fleisher, Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad.

Raoul Wallenberg (August 4, 1912 – July 17, 1947?) was a Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat, and humanitarian. He is widely celebrated for his successful efforts to rescue tens of thousands to about one hundred thousand Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust from Hungarian Fascists and the Nazis 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 saving tens of thousands of lives.

On January 17, 1945,during the Siege of Budapest by the Red Army, Wallenberg was detained by Soviet authorities on suspicion of espionage and subsequently disappeared. He was later reported to have died on July 17, 1947, while imprisoned in the Lubyanka, a building located in Moscow, Russia, housing both the KGB headquarters and its affiliated prison. The motives behind Wallenberg's arrest and imprisonment by the Soviet government, along with questions surrounding the circumstances of his death and his possible ties to US intelligence, remain mysterious and are the subject of continued speculation.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU FRIEDLANDER GROUP!