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A Quiet Courage: Per Anger, Wallenberg's Co-Liberator of Hungarian Jews
1944. The Russians are advancing on Budapest. The Nazis, in a last desperate attempt to destroy Hungarian Jewry, have sent Adolf Eichmann to round up as many Jews as possible for the gas chambers of Auschwitz. This is the backdrop for Raul Wallenberg's story.
- GenresHistory
187 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 25, 2020
Elizabeth Skoglund’s account of two Swedish diplomats’ brave selfless action in liberating thousands of Hungarian Jews from certain annihilation was extremely revealing and touching. This well written book opened my eyes to the brutality of the Nazi’s in Hungary in 1945 and the cruelty of the so-called Russian liberators to the country’s Jewish people. But this is the story of Raoul Wallenberg and his successes in risking his own life to supply a means of rescuing Jews on their way to extermination camps by providing papers to send them to Sweden. Per Anger his associate diplomat worked to help Wallenberg. When the war ended and Wallenberg was taken prisoner by the Russians, Anger who became an ambassador at various places in the world for Sweden, took the rest of his life trying to find out if Wallenberg was still alive and could be freed. It did not happen but this was a story of strength and humanitarian dedication of two men’s extraordinary resolve. This was a story of true-life heroism.
What I discovered by reading this book was that the Nazi SS leader responsible for the atrocities poured upon the Hungarian Jews was none other than the notorious mass murder, Adolf Eichmann. When he arrived in Hungary as the war was ending in 1945 there were about one million Jews. But he had no mercy:
“Many people believed that the war against Hitler had already been won. Yet when Eichmann was asked about the necessity of bothering with this last group of Jews, he clearly answered that the Jews of Hungary must not be left to breed and carry on the Jewish race.” Further, Eichmann’s statement at his trial showed his disregard for human life, especially Jewish life: “A hundred dead people is a catastrophe, six million dead is a statistic.”
And this book reminded me how the Iron Curtain was set to further devastate Eastern Europe:
“Responsible people throughout the world foresaw what was going to happen if Russians liberated Eastern Europe: The British saw it, the Hungarians saw it, the Russians saw it, and—perhaps first or all—the Nazis saw it. Only the Americans seemed blind. Roosevelt may have seen it, too, but he was not willing to endanger Stalin’s so-called goodwill and his promised participation in the war against Japan by crossing his path.”
What I discovered by reading this book was that the Nazi SS leader responsible for the atrocities poured upon the Hungarian Jews was none other than the notorious mass murder, Adolf Eichmann. When he arrived in Hungary as the war was ending in 1945 there were about one million Jews. But he had no mercy:
“Many people believed that the war against Hitler had already been won. Yet when Eichmann was asked about the necessity of bothering with this last group of Jews, he clearly answered that the Jews of Hungary must not be left to breed and carry on the Jewish race.” Further, Eichmann’s statement at his trial showed his disregard for human life, especially Jewish life: “A hundred dead people is a catastrophe, six million dead is a statistic.”
And this book reminded me how the Iron Curtain was set to further devastate Eastern Europe:
“Responsible people throughout the world foresaw what was going to happen if Russians liberated Eastern Europe: The British saw it, the Hungarians saw it, the Russians saw it, and—perhaps first or all—the Nazis saw it. Only the Americans seemed blind. Roosevelt may have seen it, too, but he was not willing to endanger Stalin’s so-called goodwill and his promised participation in the war against Japan by crossing his path.”
July 1, 2025
always good to learn more historical context of my favorite setting for historical novels
November 3, 2013
Very interesting part of WWII history. It gave me a different perspective of the Swedes. Well researched and documented. I found many paragraphs repeated throughout the book. Some editing would solved this problem. It is distracting.
January 20, 2012
Per Anger, Swedish diplomat, helped Jews escape Hungary in 1944
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews