Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 94 Part 3.djvu/1035

 CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—NOV. 19, 1980

94 STAT. 3679

RAOUL WALLENBERG—HONORED FOR H I S WORK IN H U N G A R Y DURING WORLD WAR II

Nov. 19, 1980 [H. Con. Res. 434]

Whereas in January 1944 the War Refugee Board was established by the United States to organize rescue operations to free persons being persecuted during World War II; Whereas the War Refugee Board requested Sweden to send a representative to Hungary; Whereas the Swedish representative, Raoul Wallenberg, is considered responsible for having saved the lives of twenty thousand Jewish citizens in Hungary through the issuance of protective Swedish passports beginning in July 1944; Whereas Raoul Wallenberg is recognized as saving indirectly the lives of an additional seventy thousand Jewish citizens in Hungary through collaborative efforts in the latter half of 1944 with neutralist representatives in Budapest and the Jewish Community in Hungary; Whereas Raoul Wallenberg was taken into Soviet "protective custody" on January 13, 1945, in violation of international standards of diplomatic immunity; Whereas Soviet officials originally denied having custody of Wallenberg, but subsequently stated that a prisoner named "Wallenberg" died in a Soviet prison on July 17, 1947; Whereas in 1949 he was nominated by Albert Einstein for the Nobel Peace Prize; Whereas reports from the Soviet Union, as recent as May 1, 1978, suggest that Raoul Wallenberg is alive; Whereas the continued internment of Wallenberg, if indeed he is still alive, is in direct contravention of the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe which requires signatories to "fulfill in good faith their obligations under international law"; and Whereas the Madrid Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, to be held on November 11, 1980, provides an occasion to discuss the status of Raoul Wallenberg with the Soviet Government as part of the review of the Helsinki Final Act; Whereas documents released by the Swedish Foreign Ministry in January 1980 indicate diplomatic efforts by the Swedish Government have not fully clarified the status of Raoul Wallenberg: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the Congress honors Raoul Wallenberg for his outstanding work on behalf of those persecuted in Hungary during World War II, and it is the sense of Congress that the United States delegation to the review meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe which will be held in Madrid in November 1980 should urge that the case of Raoul Wallenberg be considered at that meeting by the signatory countries to the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe; and be it further Resolved, That the Congress requests the Department of State to take all possible steps to discern from the Soviet Union the whereabouts of Raoul Wallenberg and, if he is alive, to secure his return to his native country. Agreed to November 19, 1980.

�