Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew unveiled the Congressional Gold Medal for Raoul Wallenberg earlier Thursday. Wallenberg is known for saving thousands of lives in Budapest during the Holocaust.
Raoul Wallenberg was made a United States honorary citizen in 1981 for his work saving thousands of lives during the holocaust. Wallenberg worked to issue passports to Jewish families declaring them Swedish so they could escape the Nazis. Wallenberg went missing during World War II and died in a Russian Prison in 1947. Last year, Wallenberg was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his achievements. The medal was unveiled today at the Treasury Department by Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf and Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.
“At a time when too many others turned a blind eye to murder and injustice, it would have been extraordinary if Raoul Wallenberg saved just one life. But Wallenberg saved 100,000 lives,” said Lew. “Wallenberg was, as it says on the front side of the medal we are unveiling, ‘a hero of heroes.’ The inscriptions on the other side of the medal are the words ‘he lives forever for those he saved.’ Etched just below. ‘one person can make a difference.'”
Wallenberg was accompanied by The King of Sweden Carl XV1 Gustav.