The title is indeed apt, Raoul Wallenberg's is the story that refutes all cynicism and reminds one that virtues such as selfless nobility of soul and character is not imaginary, it can and does exist in this very world that would often enough make one believe to the contrary - and for the latter tendency there is good reason! People, masses, or individuals without hope are easier to control, to use in service of any vicious act and plan at all. But then there are the rare souls such as Raoul Wallenberg who appear like comets on the scene and leave a trail of light, disproving the cynic and vicious thesis that would have the civilisation give up hope and humanity. And however much the adverse forces attempt to extinguish these noble agents of Divine, they leave an unmistakable, unshakeable trail of light that is forever. They are not to be forgotten, ever.
Simon Wiesenthal has said and truly enough, that there were no heroes in the WWII except Raoul Wallenberg. Perhaps there were numerous others that acted nobly enough in helping and saving lives of many others, whether singly or many, and those are not to be discounted or disparaged, either.
But Raoul Wallenberg's efforts and actions ended up saving lives of Jews of Budapest to the tune of a hundred thousand, directly and indirectly - he brought back hundreds from the deportation trains and walks, he gave out "shutzpasses" by thousands proclaiming a holder of such a pass protected by Sweden and in effect immediately a citizen of Sweden, gave hope to many more who took action for themselves and others as a result, and guidance by example that resulted in Swiss and other nations' diplomatic services in Hungary following examples and issuing similar passes; he went about bribing and intimidating those he could, writing letters to those that would be affected by officialdom, and generally thwarting the efforts of those that would wipe out all Jews from Budapest as they had managed (or so they thought) to do to Jews of most of Europe.
Eichmann is known more than Raoul Wallenberg, for the former was in charge of the implementation of the "final solution" as was decided at a meeting in Wannsee in 1942, and was thereby changed from a nazi who believed in Zionism to one who methodically went about the extermination that replaced the deportation to Palestine as a scheme, with complete determination to achieve a hundred percent "Judenfrei" Europe. He claimed at a conversation with Wallenberg that he did not care for his personal safety, but subsequently very much did, went into hiding in Europe and then in Argentina, and was hunted out only due to patient, painstaking efforts of those who would not allow such criminals to go scot free - and became famous over the world because of his being brought to justice.
But Raoul Wallenberg was the unexpected glitch in the nazi scheme of turning the humanity into a scenario of demons and victims, former without humanity and latter without hope, and the two acted opposed to each other for the short duration of few months that Wallenberg was in Budapest. That Raoul Wallenberg won in saving quite so many is what is marvellous not only for those he saved but for humanity as such, in not allowing the forces of dark in extinguishing Light from earth.
All the more tragic and horrible, therefore, what happened to him just as Europe was liberated - Soviet military took him in custody and transported him to Moscow to be thrown in prison, and shunted across the Gulag from one prison to another, forever denying his very existence with one lie or another. And this was partly because they did not believe anyone could be selfless or noble, so they took him for - of all the idiotic accusations - a nazi agent!
His clan in Sweden, Wallenberg, which is to Sweden what Rockefellers and Rothschilds are in US, UK et al, moreover, did not help either, any more that the Swedish government did, for the first decade or two - and by then it was too late, and Soviets were embroiled in their own lie that was preserved by successive regimes for sake of not admitting mistakes!
Fortunately, there were others, apart from his immediate family - his mother, stepfather, and half brother and half sister - who were not quite as willing to let him perish forgotten, and their efforts went into taking note of every person who came out of Russia having been in prison and being aware of or having met Raoul Wallenberg. This went on till '79, that is, he was seen or heard of last then, albeit the news came out later.
It is almost as if the hero with the shining noble soul who saved a hundred thousand from forces of evil was taken by the forces of darkness in revenge. One cannot help but admire him and weep at heart over this person, and yet be grateful that he existed, not only for the sake of those he saved - Budapest had about a hundred thousand surviving Jews despite Eichmann's personal and very determined efforts to wipe them all out - but for the sake of human civilisation, of very humanity.
The author has done a good job of recording his story, although by now more is known and can be found in other books. For example a detail about his incarceration from "The Nazi Hunter" that specifies that it was the then Major General Brezhnev who was responsible for the incarceration of Raoul Wallenberg - which is on par with the rest of the story and its ironies, tragedies.
For, unlike their perpetrators who were lumpen cadre whether of nazis or bolsheviks, both Simon Wiesenthal and Raoul Wallenberg in particular and a major part of the victims of holocaust in general were educated, refined people. This pattern alone goes to show the play that the whole era was, of the forces of darkness attempting to extinguish any Light from civilisation and humanity, if such evidence is required at all.
