An Honorary Citizen of the U.S.A., and designated as one of the Righteous among the Nations by Israel, Raoul Wallenberg´s heroism in Budapest at the height of the Holocaust saved countless lives, and ultimately cost him his own.
A series of unlikely coincidences led to the appointment of Wallenberg, by trade a poultry importer, as Sweden´s Special Envoy to Budapest in 1944. With remarkable bravery, Wallenberg created a system of protective passports, and sheltered thousands of desperate Jews in buildings he claimed were Swedish libraries and research institutes.
As the war drew to a close, his invaluable work almost complete, Wallenberg voluntarily went to meet with the Soviet troops who were relieving the city. Arrested as a spy, Wallenberg disappeared into the depths of the Soviet system, never to be seen again.
For this seminal biography, Ingrid Carlberg has carried out unprecedented research into all elements of Wallenberg´s life, narrating with vigour and insight the story of a heroic life, and navigating with wisdom and sensitivity the truth about his disappearance and death.