Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg, Missing Hero of the Holocaust [Paperback]

John Bierman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1996

Half a century after he disappeared into the Soviet prison system, the fate of Raoul Wallenberg--who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust--remains a mystery. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, KGB files were opened, but the Wallenberg file had been destroyed, thereby eliminating any evidence to support the Kremlin's claim that Wallenberg died in prison in 1947. Bierman concludes that we may never know the truth. Photos.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Revised edition (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140246649
• ISBN-13: 978-0140246643
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,823,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fitting tribute to a great hero, January 1, 2002

By 

Jon K. Bornholdt (Ithaca, N.Y., U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg, Missing Hero of the Holocaust. (Hardcover)

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish aristocrat who managed to save thousands of Hungarian Jews from the gas chambers in the closing months of 1944. His relief agency in Budapest issued bogus Swedish passports to as many Jews as possible. By dint of his commanding personality, his ingenuity, and his talent for pulling the wool over the eyes of dimwitted Nazi functionaries, he contrived to convince the German and Hungarian authorities to respect these entirely extralegal documents. In mid-January 1945, he was summoned to the Soviet embassy in newly-"liberated" Budapest, and he was never seen again.

This is a great and inspiring story, and "Righteous Gentile" does justice to it. Bierman doesn't really succeed in explaining the origins of the idealism that led Wallenberg to volunteer for this job in the first place, but probably nobody could. What he does show is the skill and energy with which Wallenberg executed the task assigned to him. Actually "skill and energy" are ludicrously inadequate terms. Wallenberg not only distributed his passports, he tirelessly roamed around pulling Jews out of death marches and off trains bound for Auschwitz, he bossed Nazi thugs around in impeccable Hochdeutsch (and they listened), and he confronted Adolf Eichmann himself, all the while taking the most extraordinary risks. I can't say that Wallenberg was the greatest hero in recorded history, since I'm not familiar with all of it; suffice to say that he is by a very large margin the greatest hero I've ever read of, in fiction or history, and it is an inspiring and hopeful fact that someone like him ever existed. I am grateful to John Bierman for bringing this figure to such luminous and memorable life.

The only problem I have with the book is that half of it consists of speculations and rumor-cataloguing to the effect that Wallenberg was alive in the Gulag until about 1980. I believe that most authorities now think he was murdered by the Soviets long before this, perhaps after they failed to recruit him for espionage. This part of the book is therefore something of an anachronism. However, it doesn't detract from the general value of the book, which should be required reading for everybody, period.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raoul Wallenberg:A Hero Allowed To Slip Through a Russian Sewer Grate, February 23, 2006

By 

Brian Schiff "jaywilton" (Detroit Mi. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg, Missing Hero of the Holocaust (Paperback)

John Bierman's terrifically tragic Wallenberg biography,'Righteous Gentile' is divided into two parts;the first 119 pages lead up to his kidnapping by the Russians on
January 17,1945.The last 97 pages deal with the world's apathy in securing his release from the Gulag.Thousands of Jews and some non-Jews owe their lives to Wallenberg's intervention on
"behalf of the Swedish government"-which dealt with the Wallenberg kidnapping issue as buroucracies tend to do.Bierman's Wallenberg book was published in 1981-and there were credible reports that Wallenberg was still vegetating in the Soviet prison system.The sin of allowing this to happen-is beyond unforgivable.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweden's greatest samaritan, May 22, 2003

By 

John Elsegood (Perth, Western Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg, Missing Hero of the Holocaust (Paperback)

A five star book about a five star hero.

The second world war threw-up some gigantic figures but ironically Raoul Wallenberg from neutral Sweden towers over all the rest.

Like the Good Samaritan he didn't pass on by but instead left his safe homeland to assist others by putting himself in danger day after day in the inferno that was Hungary during the dreadful days of 1944-45.

The man who saved a 100,000 jews from the clutches of Adolf Eichmann, the SS, and the Hungarian facists, the Arrow Cross ultimately fell foul of the Russian 'liberators.' He was never seen again as a free man after being taken into 'protective custody' by the Reds on 17 January 1945.

I read John Bierman's excellent book some 20 years ago and he charts the extraordinary crusade of his subject with a deft touch.

This is a book that will both inspire you, with Wallenberg's humanity and courage, and anger you that such a man could lose his liberty after fighting so hard for the freedom and safety of others.

In the pantheon of heroes Raoul Wallenberg-the righteous gentile-would have to be at the very top