Last week I went to see a flat that a friend of one of my co-workers is renting. It was my first trip to the Buda side of the Danube! In Budapest (at least right now), guards are posted at every Metro stop to check that people have valid passes/tickets before boarding the train and sometimes after too. As I was waiting for the woman to meet me, another woman tried to walk off the escalator and get by the guards without a valid ticket/pass. She was immediately stopped and began to loudly argue w/ the guards. She tried, again, to get away and a very large Hungarian guard blocked her way w/ his massive body. The woman continued to argue and purposely throw herself against the guard in what seemed like an act of defiance more than another attempt to get away. Hungary has been hit hard in recent years and many people are jobless/homeless and struggling. Metro passes aren’t cheap either, by Hungarian standards.

The scene at the Metro started me thinking about access and luck. I just finished an excellent but tragic book called The Envoy: The Epic Rescue of the Last Jews of Europe in the Desperate Closing Months of World War II. It chronicles the valiant efforts of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands (some estimates are over 100,000) of Jews from extermination at the hands of Hitler’s Third Reich. Before moving to Budapest I had no idea just how horrifying the situation was here. Wallenberg (w/ some support from the Swedish and U.S. governments) and a small group of other diplomats and sympathizers worked diligently to save lives and one way was to issue Schutzpasses to Jews which declared them Swedish citizens and, therefore, protected by the crown of Sweden. As the author points out, the Wehrmacht (Hitler’s armed forces) still respected some level of rule and diplomacy (that sounds ridiculous, I know) and allowed many Jews reprieve based on the papers. However, as the Soviet Red Army began to close in on Budapest, Nazis (under the local command of Adolf Eichmann) became more determined to succeed at completing the “Final Solution” in Hungary. Schutzpasses were no longer a guarantee of safety and groups of Jews were being led to the banks of the Danube to be shot and cast into the river like human refuse. Ultimately Wallenberg was taken prisoner by the Soviets who thought he was a German spy due to his frequent meetings w/ Eichmann and other high-ranking Nazis. The meetings were, of course, attempts to win the freedom of as many Jews as possible. He was taken to Moscow, imprisoned and never heard from again. The Russian government claimed that he had died in his cell of an apparent heart attack but his family spent decades trying to find out what really happened to him to no avail. This year marks the 100th birthday of Wallenberg and there will be exhibitions and events all around Budapest.

Again, I get to thinking about the haves and the have-nots and how one little piece of paper can make all the difference.

Raoul Wallenberg