Raoul Wallenberg Monument, London

A monument to Raoul Wallenberg stands at Great Cumberland Place in London's Marble Arch district, outside the Western Marble Arch Synagogue and near the Swedish Embassy in London. The 10ft bronze monument was sculpted by Philip Jackson and is a larger than life representation of Wallenberg, standing against a bronze wall made up of 100,000 Schutz-Passes, the protective passes used by Wallenberg to rescue Hungarian Jews.[1]

The Wallenberg Memorial in 2005.

The monument was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in February 1997, in a ceremony attended by the President of Israel, Ezer Weizman, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, and survivors of the Holocaust. Annan also gave a speech at the ceremony.[2] The statue was unveiled during the second day of Weizman's state visit to the United Kingdom. The ceremony was also attended by Sigmund Sternberg, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Wallenberg Appeal and Robert Davis, the Lord Mayor of Westminster.[3]

The statue was described as a monument at the time of its unveiling rather than a memorial as Wallenberg's family believed that there was no evidence for his death.[4] Wallenberg would have been aged 84 in 1997.[2]

A second British monument to Wallenberg stands near the Welsh National War Memorial in Alexandra Gardens, in Cardiff, Wales.

References
  1. Margaret Baker (2002). Discovering London Statues and Monuments. Osprey Publishing. pp. 82–. ISBN 978-0-7478-0495-6.
  2. Richard Blystone (26 February 1997). "London statue unveiled honoring Swede who saved Jews". CNN.com. Archived from the original on 23 February 2006. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  3. "Court Circular.", The Times, London, 27 February 1997, pg. 20.
  4. Alan Hamilton. "Statue of war hero unveiled by Queen.", The Times, London, 27 February 1997, pg. 14.

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