Reprising the Raoul Wallenberg Commemorative Year in Hungary: Generations Remember Moral Courage and Humanitarian Leadership in the Holocaust

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Presentation celebrates the moral courage and humanitarian leadership of Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat sent to Hungary in July 1994 under the auspices of the US War Refugee Board to save the Jews of Budapest, the center of the largest concentration of Jews left on the continent of Europe. In the waning days of Nazi tyranny, Wallenberg is credited with saving 100,000 Jewish lives in six months before he was taken in January 1945 by the Soviets to a fate not completely confirmed today.
The Wallenberg Commemorative Year was inaugurated in Hungary in 2012, the 100th anniversary of his birth. The website listed extensive materials on Wallenberg's life, his Holocaust actions in Budapest, and accomplishments in the crucible that was Hungary, thereby providing resources on his courage and leadership in 1944-1945 for past generations to inform and inspire future generations. Honors from Hungary, Israel, Sweden, USA, and other nations remember Wallenberg's mission to Budapest.
Wallenberg's worldview and humanitarian leadership skills were forged by experiences in his youth and adulthood (after Banks ethnic /cultural topology). Moral reasoning stages (after Lawrence Kohlberg's schemata) demonstrate Wallenberg's advanced stance of moral courage. Literature implications from theory and practice (literature web) signal the importance of curriculum programs and intergenerational reading. Study of the humanitarian mission of Raoul Wallenberg is significant for families, schools, universities, and democratic societies. Wallenberg's legacy is memorialized by those who experienced the Hungarian Holocaust, noted scholars, and monuments, stamps, awards, and other commemorations in Hungary, USA, and around the world.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Ruth G. Biro earned a B.A. in Political Science from Chatham College, a Master's in Library Science, and Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Pittsburgh. Now retired from the Department of Instruction and Leadership in Education at Duquesne University, she taught courses in children's and adolescent literature, multicultural and international literature, cultural diversity, and intercultural dynamics, and advised dissertation students in the ILEAD doctoral program in instructional leadership. She directed two Fulbright-Hays Group Projects in Hungary for university professors and in-service teachers. Dr. Biro earned two certificates from the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel. She researches aspects of prosocial development and influences in the lives of Righteous Gentiles who rescued Jews in the Hungarian Holocaust. Her presentations and/or publications relating to Raoul Wallenberg have been in Hungary, Israel, Poland, Italy, the UK, and USA.