Sweden Rebuffed Soviet Offer to Trade Wallenberg, Paper Says
The Soviet Union was willing to trade captured Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg after World War II for Soviet citizens who had defected to Sweden, but Stockholm turned down the offer, a Swedish newspaper said Wednesday.
Wallenberg, credited with saving thousands of Jews in Hungary from Nazi death camps by granting them protection under the neutral Swedish flag or by issuing false passports, was last seen when he was arrested in 1945 by Soviet troops in Budapest, the capital.
Moscow maintained for years that Wallenberg died of a heart attack in 1947 in Moscow’s notorious Lubyanka jail at age 34. But last month, Russian authorities said Wallenberg had been “unjustifiably arrested by nonjudicial bodies” and was a victim of Stalin’s purges.
A Swedish-Russian investigation that is to present its findings Jan. 12 will show evidence that Sweden turned down the chance to negotiate Wallenberg’s return, Svenska Dagbladet said, citing informed sources.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
