The Raoul Wallenberg Memorial LecturePeace Studies
In 1982, Gustavus Adolphus College awarded Raoul Wallenberg an honorary degree in absentia which was accepted on his behalf by his sister Nina. In 1983, Gustavus established an annual lecture to commemorate the heroic service of Raoul Wallenberg in his fearless support of persecuted Jews during the Second World War.
| Year | Speaker | Affiliation/Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Dr. Marica Cristina Garcia | "Climate Refugees: An Unrecognized Challenge at Home and Abroad" |
| 2014 | Dr. Stephen Zune | "The United States and the Middle East: Intervention, Reaction, and Hope for Change" |
| 2012 | Ingemar Eliasson | “Wallenberg” - Eliasson is a former Swedish politician, economist, and governor |
| 2011 | Dr. Jennifer McBride | “Bonhoeffer and Repentance: A Constructive Proposal for Christian Public Witness” - McBride is a professor of religion at Wartburg College |
| 2010 | Dr. Jo Ellen Fair | “Not a Simple Story: Mass Media and Mass Violence, The African Case” - Fair is a professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin, Madison |
| 2009 | Dr. Steven Miles | “Oath Betrayed: America’s Torture Doctors” - Miles is a professor at University of Minnesota Medical School |
| 2008 | Mark Hanis | "Never Again is Again in Darfur: Taking a Stand Against Genocide” - Hanis is founder of the Genocide Intervention Network |
| 2007 | Ben Olander | Swedish Folksinger performing songs inspired by Raoul Wallenberg |
| 2006 | Dr. Hugh Parmer | “Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur: Perspectives from the Field” - Parmer is president of the American Refugee Committee |
| 2005 | Dr. Peter Wallensteen | “Dag Hammarskjöld: Diplomat, Peacemaker, and International Civil Servant” - Wallensteen is a Swedish peace researcher |
| 2004 | Diane Orentlicher | “Saddam on Trial” - Orentlicher is a professor law at American University |
| 2003 | Douglas Johnson | “Human Rights Denied: Human Dignity Ignored” - Johnson is director of the Center for Victims of Torture |
| 2002 | Lucille Eichengreen | Holocaust survivor |
| 2001 | Dr. Robert Jan Van Pelt | "The Holocaust on Trial?: An Analysis of the Irving-Lipstadt Trial in London" - VanPelt is a professor of architecture at University of Waterloo |
| 2000 | Dr. Paul Levine | Wallenberg biographer from the Uppsala Program for Holocaust Studies |
| 1999 | Dr. Harvey Rosenfeld | Wallenberg biographer and professor of history at Pace University |
| 1998 | Fred Baron | Holocaust survivor of Bergen-Belsen Camp |
| 1997 | Ninotchka Rosca | Novelist and human rights activist from the Philippines |
| 1996 | Dr. Robert Fisch | Hungarian concentration camp survivor |
| 1995 | Harold Stassen | Former Governor of Minnesota |
| 1994 | Marjorie Agosin | Chilean poet and human rights activist |
| 1993 | Dr. Steven Koblik | President of Reed College and Scandinavia historian |
| 1992 | Sir Brian Urquhart | Former Undersecretary at the United Nations |
| 1991 | Gen. Indar Rikhye | Former Head of Peacekeeping at the United Nations |
| 1990 | Herb Frey | Minister at Alliance of the Streets |
| 1989 | Fr. Medardo Gomez | Lutheran Bishop of San Salvador |
| 1988 | Agnes Adachi | Volunteer associate of Raoul Wallenberg |
| 1987 | Per Anger | Swedish Diplomat and Raoul Wallenberg’s supervisor in Budapest |
| 1986 | Dennis Brutus | South African poet |
| 1985 | Jeri Laber | Executive director of the United States Helsinki Watch |
| 1984 | Theo Kotze | South African church leader and critic of Apartheid |
| 1983 | Mulford Q. Sibley | Professor of Political Science at University of Minnesota |
| 1982 | Stephen Spender | Essayist and poet |
Background on Raoul Wallenberg
Raoul Wallenberg is one of the least known and the greatest of heroes of our century. In the dark days of World War II, when so many people worldwide were silent, willfully opaque or simply afraid to act, Wallenberg energetically took up the cause of thousands of Hungarian Jews in imminent danger of mass extermination. He used a combination of moral outrage, bribery, and bluff to stand down Adolf Eichmann and his underling Nazi murderers. Their goal was the systematic extermination of Hungary’s Jews as part of the larger Nazi “final solution” of the so-called “Jewish Problem.”
Raoul Wallenberg saved thousands of Jewish lives by issuing hastily prepared “protecting passports,” which instantly made the bearers Swedish citizens. He provided them accommodation, board, and medical care in houses the Swedish Embassy bought up as safe houses. On the ensuing death marches, which he had fought fiercely to prevent, he dispensed food and blankets wherever he could and shamed the guards into more humane behavior. His most dramatic intervention came at the point when plans were imminent to exterminate the entire remaining Jewish population of Hungary in the Budapest ghetto. Acting only on his own moral authority, Wallenberg sent a note to the German commander, promising to make sure he would be hanged as a war criminal if he went ahead with the destruction of the ghetto. The commander blinked and the lives of around 70,000 Jews were saved right there, since they were soon thereafter liberated by the advancing allied forces.
Without Raoul Wallenberg’s conspicuous heroism, his civil courage in speaking out and acting on his convictions, it is certain that a great many lives would have been lost. In January 1945, Wallenberg was arrested by the Soviet authorities and vanished in the Gulag. He is now presumed dead.
For more information go to www.raoulwallenberg.se