Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to honour the memory of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat whose courage, spirit and ingenuity saved the lives of over 100,000 Jews in Budapest during the Second World War. There are many memorials to Wallenberg in Melbourne and in Sydney, and there are trees planted in his memory in front of our parliament. Wallenberg has been remembered in many different ways. My father, George Dreyfus, in 1984 composed In Memoriam, Raoul Wallenberg, a suite for clarinet and piano, as a tribute to him. This year is the centenary of his birth, and his life and work are being celebrated around the world.

The Holocaust is a wound that time will not heal or diminish. Raoul Wallenberg has no grave. Arrested by Russian troops in January 1945, his fate has since remained a mystery. The lives of those he rescued are his greatest memorial—the tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews he saved from the Nazi machine. We are honoured to have survivors he rescued living in Australia today. One such survivor is Ervin Forrester, who arrived in our country in 1950. His son Ron is with us in the gallery today. Ervin's story is one of incredible personal bravery. As a young Hungarian boy he was forced by the Nazis into the 'working army' in 1944. He escaped and fled to Budapest where he was sheltered by the Red Cross. But Budapest was not an easy place in which to hide, and Ervin was recaptured and sentenced to death for his desertion. He told the Nazis he was a Swedish citizen. The authorities contacted the Swedish embassy and Raoul Wallenberg came to him in his prison cell and said, 'I'm going to save your life.' He issued Ervin with a Swedish passport and the protection of the Swedish nation.

I would also like to mention another Holocaust survivor he rescued. Professor Frank Vajda was denounced by the Nazi authorities for the simple yet symbolic act of removing the yellow star the Nazis forced him to wear. He was marched to a military barracks and lined up in front of a machine gun. At that critical moment, Raoul Wallenberg arrived, negotiated with the authorities and led him to safety. Frank became a professor of medicine in Australia and, along with Ervin Forrester, has made a large contribution to our society.

I take this moment to acknowledge the work of Judi Schiff and the Raoul Wallenberg Unit of B'nai B'rith in Melbourne in telling the story of Raoul Wallenberg. B'nai B'rith have contacted teachers and members of the clergy around the world and asked them to speak about him with the message that, even in the face of great adversity, one person can make a difference. Today I join with all Australians to honour his memory. Raoul Wallenberg's final resting place is in our acts of remembrance. My father remembered him with a piece of music, and I with this speech today.