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For Raoul Wallenberg

For Raoul Wallenberg
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
James Rosenquist, 29 Nov 1933 - 31 Mar 2017
Sitter
Raoul Wallenberg, 1912 - c. 1947
Date
1984
Type
Print
Medium
Etching with aquatint on paper
Dimensions
Image: 73.7 × 53.1 cm (29 × 20 7/8")
Sheet: 105.8 × 75.2 cm (41 5/8 × 29 5/8")
Topic
Religious\Star of David
Symbols & Motifs\Flag\National\Swedish
Raoul Wallenberg: Male
Raoul Wallenberg: Politics and Government\Diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Humanitarian
Raoul Wallenberg: Congressional Gold Medal
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Thomas More Society of America
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Estate of James Rosenquist/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Object number
NPG.85.37
Exhibition Label
During the Second World War, the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg was stationed in Hungary by the U.S. War Refugee Board. There, he helped save thousands of Jews who were at risk of being sent to concentration camps. Wallenberg distributed certificates of protection to Jews from neutral countries, provided them with a safety network, and personally intervened in numerous cases, doing his part to hinder the efforts of Nazi Germany and fascist Hungary to deport all Jews. Yet when the Soviet Army liberated Budapest, he was arrested on suspicions of being a spy.
The mysterious circumstances of Wallenberg’s subsequent disappearance and death became a Cold War flashpoint in Washington, D.C., with petitions asking for streets to be named in his honor to snub the U.S.S.R. In 1985, the U.S. Congress passed a bill that renamed a street after the diplomat, one in front of the site that had been chosen for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Durante la 2da Guerra Mundial, el diplomático sueco Raoul Wallenberg fue enviado a Hungría por la Junta de Refugiados de Guerra de EE.UU. Allí salvó a miles de judíos de ser enviados a campos de concentración. Wallenberg distribuyó certificados de protección a los judíos de países neutrales, les procuró una red de seguridad e intervino personalmente en muchos casos, haciendo lo posible por impedir los esfuerzos de deportación en la Alemania nazi y la Hungría fascista. No obstante, cuando el ejército soviético liberó Budapest, fue arrestado por sospecha de espionaje.
Las misteriosas circunstancias de la sucesiva desaparición y muerte de Wallenberg fueron un punto álgido durante la Guerra Fría en Washington D.C., donde se hicieron peticiones de nombrar calles
en su honor para manifestar el repudio a la Unión Soviética. En 1985 el Congreso aprobó una ley para poner el nombre del diplomático a una calle frente al sitio escogido para el Museo Estadounidense en Memoria del Holocausto.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view